Jim Thorpe at 139

Today marks the 139th birthday of Jim Thorpe, who long before and after becoming an international track and field icon at the 1912 Olympics is a solid baseball player.

Thorpe plays for a variety of teams – including the 1915 Harrisburg Senators, for whom the outfielder hits .303 in 96 games.

Five years after playing for Harrisburg, Thorpe – the pride of Prague, Okla., and the Carlisle Indian School – decides to play professional football.

He joins the Canton Bulldogs as a running back in 1920 for the inaugural season of the American Professional Football Association, which today is better known as the NFL.

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