Thorpe, Jim

“Path Lit by Lightning” ends with words from Grace Thorpe, Jim’s daughter, neglected by her father as a child but determined to preserve his memory: “My father had his faults. Who doesn’t? He was not a businessman and he left only a small estate when he died. He dug ditches to support his family during the Depression when he was too old for athletics. But in his chosen field he had no peers. He stood alone. He was remarkable in magnitude, degree, and effectiveness. He was great.”

But he showed what he might have accomplished in his prime and paved the way for Lee Elder, Calvin Peete, Jim Thorpe, Jim Dent and Tiger Woods.

She exchanged a rueful glance with Thorpe, "Jim, tell me, did you know the polka was dead?"