The Jim Thorpe Association is a civic and charity organization based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Its parent corporation is the Jim Thorpe Athletic Club. [1] It is named in memory of multi-sport legend Jim Thorpe.
The organization has awarded the Jim Thorpe Award to the top defensive back in college football since 1986.
To determine the awards, a screening committee follows the players during the season. [2] The award is presented at an annual awards banquet along with a commemorative plate of spaghetti. [3]
The Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, founded in 1986, became a part of the Jim Thorpe Association in 1989. At least two inductees are selected for the Hall of Fame each year, based on athletic accomplishments and identification with the State of Oklahoma. [4]
James Francis Thorpe was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was the first Native American to win a gold medal for the United States in the Olympics. Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, he won two Olympic gold medals in the 1912 Summer Olympics. He also played football, professional baseball, and basketball.
Allie Pierce Reynolds was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher. Reynolds pitched 13 years for the Cleveland Indians (1942–1946) and New York Yankees (1947–1954). Reynolds was nicknamed "Superchief" because of his Muscogee heritage. Reynolds attended Capitol Hill High School and the Oklahoma Agricultural & Mechanical College (A&M), where he was a multi-sport athlete. Henry Iba, baseball coach of the Oklahoma A&M baseball team, discovered Reynolds while he was practicing his javelin throws. After excelling at baseball and American football at Oklahoma A&M, Reynolds turned to professional baseball. During his major league career, Reynolds had a 182–107 win–loss record, 3.30 earned run average, and 1,423 strikeouts. He was an All-Star and World Series champion for six seasons. In 1951, he won the Hickok Belt as the top American professional athlete of the year. He also has received consideration for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, though he has not been elected.
The Jim Thorpe Award, named in memory of multi-sport athlete Jim Thorpe, has been awarded to the top defensive back in college football since 1986. It is voted on by the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. In 2017, the award became sponsored by Paycom and was named the Paycom Jim Thorpe Award.
The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) is a professional association for journalists writing about Major League Baseball for daily newspapers, magazines and qualifying websites. The organization was founded in 1908, and is known for its annual awards and voting on membership in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Lee Roy Selmon was an American professional football player who was a defensive end for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football as a defensive tackle at the University of Oklahoma, the youngest of three brothers to play football there.
The Jim Thorpe Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest award presented by the Jim Thorpe Association. Without consideration of athletic accomplishments, the award recognizes a lifetime of achievement by people who "set the living examples that influence others to strive for the highest goals and leadership of men, and who blaze the trails of accomplishments which leave behind the pathways of tradition for others to follow."
The 1920 APFA season was the inaugural season of the American Professional Football Association, renamed the National Football League in 1922. An agreement to form a league was made by four independent teams from Ohio on August 20, 1920, at Ralph Hay's office in Canton, Ohio, with plans to invite owners of more teams for a second meeting on September 17, 1920. The "American Professional Football Conference" (APFC) was made up of Hay's Canton Bulldogs, Akron Pros, the Cleveland Tigers and the Dayton Triangles, who decided on a six-game schedule to play each other at home-and-away, an agreement to respect each other's player contracts, and to take a stand against signing college students whose class had not yet graduated.
The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his ownership of Helms Bakery. Bill Schroeder founded the organization with Helms and served as its managing director. The men were united in a love of amateur athletic competition.
The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions across 24 states and is divided into 3 divisions.
The Oklahoma Sooners football program is a college football team that represents the University of Oklahoma. The team is a member of the Big 12 Conference, which is in Division I Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The program began in 1895 and is one of the most successful in history, having won 934 games and possessing a .725 winning percentage, both sixth all time. As of the end of the 2022 season, Oklahoma has appeared in the AP poll 882 times, including 101 No. 1 rankings, both third all time.
Donald Gene "Babe" Chandler was a professional American football player. He was a punter and placekicker in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons in the 1950s and 1960s. Chandler played college football for the University of Florida, and thereafter, he played professionally for the New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers of the NFL.
Rickey Dixon was an American professional football player who was a safety in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Oklahoma Sooners. Dixon was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the first round of the 1988 NFL draft with the fifth overall pick. He played five seasons with the Bengals and one for the Los Angeles Raiders.
Howard James Twilley Jr. is a former American football player. He played college football at the University of Tulsa and was the runner up for the Heisman Trophy in 1965. Twilley played professionally as a wide receiver with the Miami Dolphins of the American Football League (AFL) and the National Football League (NFL) from 1966 to 1976. He and tackle Norm Evans were the only two players on the original 1966 Dolphins squad to play on the 1972 Dolphins team that had the NFL's only perfect season and won Super Bowl VII.
Johnnie Johnson is a former American college and professional football player who was a cornerback and safety in the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons during the 1980s. Johnson played college football for the University of Texas, and was a two-time unanimous All-American. A first-round choice in the 1980 NFL Draft, he played professionally for the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks. Johnson was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in May 2007. Johnson's son, Collin Johnson, plays for the New York Giants as a wide receiver.
Lawrence D. Wright, III is an American former college and professional football player who was a safety in the National Football League (NFL) for two seasons during the 1990s. Wright played college football for the University of Florida, where he was a member of a national championship team. Thereafter, he played professionally for the Cincinnati Bengals of the NFL.
Caesar Felton "Zip" Gayles was an American college football and college basketball coach. He served as the head football coach at Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State College—now known as Tennessee State University—in 1927, Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical & Normal College—now known as University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff–from 1928 to 1929, and at Langston University from 1930 to 1957. He was also the head basketball coach at Langston from 1930 to 1965, tallying a mark of 571–281. Gayles was inducted into the Oklahoma Athletic Hall of Fame in 1974, the NAIA Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1986, and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.
Eddie Griffin is a former American collegiate athletic director and collegiate wrestling coach. He served as the athletic director at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, Oklahoma from 2017 to 2020. Prior to this Griffin served as the athletic director at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and the head wrestling coach at Central Oklahoma, and Clemson University.
The Jim Thorpe Memorial Trophy was an American football award presented by the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) to the most valuable player (MVP) of the National Football League (NFL) from 1955 to 2008. It was the only NFL MVP award whose winner was chosen by a poll of NFL players. By 1975, the Jim Thorpe Trophy was described by the TimesDaily as "one of the pros' most coveted honors." In 1983, the Del Rio News Herald called it the "highest professional football award, period." Earl Campbell was the first player to win the award in consecutive seasons, capturing three straight from 1978 to 1980. Quarterbacks Charlie Conerly (1959) and Roman Gabriel (1969) won the trophy despite not being voted to the NEA's All-Pro first team in their respective seasons—Johnny Unitas was named to the first team over Conerly, while Sonny Jurgensen got the nod over Gabriel.
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