The Mysteries of History (July 7 Edition)
Jim Thorpe; Hoover Dam; London Terror ("7/7")
1912 — “Bright Path” Wins Pentathlon at the Olympics
public domain images from wikimedia commons
He could seemingly do it all in the field of sports: he was a track star, a standout football player, and also played basketball and baseball at a professional level. Jim Thorpe (1887-1953) is considered by many to be the best athlete of the first half of the Twentieth Century.
Besides James Francis Thorpe, he was also named Wa-Tho-Huk, which means “Bright Path” in the indigenous Meskwaki, or Fox, language. Thorpe/Path was born in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) as part of the Sac and Fox Nation.
Thorpe attended Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, where he was on the track team first but later also played on the football team, which was coached by Glenn Scobey “Pop” Warner (1871-1954). Thorpe rarely if ever sat on the bench during the games, as he played offense (Running Back), defense (Defensive Back), and Special Teams (Punter and Kicker).
Future U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower played a football game against Thorpe once. On that occasion, Carlisle Indian School defeated the West Point Army team 27-6. Thorpe had a 92-yard touchdown run called back because a teammate committed a foul. That put the ball five yards back on the three yard line, and on the next play Thorpe scored on a 97-yard touchdown run. Eisenhower later said:
Here and there, there are some people who are supremely endowed. My memory goes back to Jim Thorpe. He never practiced in his life, and he could do anything better than any other football player I ever saw.
It was on this date in 1912 that Thorpe won the Pentathlon (a sporting event comprised of five separate feats of athleticism) at the Olympics. He won first place in four of the five events (1,500 meter run; 200-meter sprint; Broad jump; and Discus throw) and third in the other (Javelin throw).
Thorpe later also not only won the Decathlon (ten events), but broke the previous record for that event while doing so.
Besides also playing lacrosse (a Native American-originated sport), Tennis, Handball, and Boxing, Thorpe also won the Dancing with the Stars intercollegiate Ballroom Dancing championship in 1912.
Thorpe’s Olympic medals were stripped from him when it was discovered that he had not always been an amateur athlete — due to his having played semi-professional baseball for a time. That professional stint disqualified him from retaining the medals. Decades later, though, the Olympic Committee changed their minds about it and restored the medals to him. By then, though, he was dead.
Besides Baseball (New York Giants), Thorpe also played professional Football (Canton Bulldogs) and Basketball (barnstorming with The World Famous Indians, a team comprised solely of Native Americans).
Questions: Have you read Lars Anderson’s Carlisle vs. Army: Jim Thorpe, Dwight Eisenhower, Pop Warner, and the Forgotten Story of Football's Greatest Battle? Have you seen the movie Jim Thorpe — All-American starring Burt Lancaster? What happened to Jim’s twin brother Charlie? How many professional sports did Chuck Conners play?
1930 — Construction of Hoover Dam Begins
image generated using Google Gemini
During the “Great Depression,” Hoover Dam began to be built on the border of Arizona and Nevada. When the 21,000 men who worked on it finished the project, it was the largest dam in the world.
Work on the dam itself actually began a little later, but the project was begun on this date in 1930 with the building of the roads and laying of tracks to bring in material by trucks and trains). Also, a town to house the workers was erected before the “real work” on the dam could begin in the spring of 1931.
In a seldom-heard-of turn of events, the construction of the dam was completed ahead of time and under budget: two years ahead of the projected end date, and millions of dollars less than what was estimated. Especially when compared with modern building projects, that seems like a more miraculous feat than the actual building of the dam.
Questions: Who was the dam named for? What had been his profession prior to getting involved in politics? Did this Hoover have any connection with the vacuum cleaner company? How many workers died while building Hoover dam? What is a Hooverville?
2005 — Simultaneous Terrorist Attacks in London
public domain image from wikimedia commons
England suffered it’s “9/11” on this date twenty years ago. They call it “7/7.”
During the morning rush hour on this date twenty years ago, bombs were set off in three separate “tubes” (subway trains) on the London Underground. A double-decker bus was also bombed about an hour later. In this worst attack on London since World War 2, fifty-six people died (52 innocent victims along with the four suicide bombers, who rightly judged themselves as being worthy of death); in addition, hundreds more were injured, many severely, with amputations of limbs not uncommon.
Two weeks later, on July 21, another set of four bombs were attempted to be detonated by the same terrorist group, but they were duds, and nobody was killed. Those four evil buffoons were arrested by the end of the month.
On September 1st, Al-Qaeda admitted responsibility for the abhorrent mayhem they had perpetrated.
Questions: Have you seen the Netflix documentary Attack on London: Hunting the 7/7 Bombers? Do you think terrorists are evil, crazy, or both? If insane, are they still culpable (I assert that they are, as they doubtless contributed to their own insanity — they “drove themselves crazy” by accepting heartless opinions and outlooks)?
