The Oklahoma Historical Society announced Monday it has sold Jim Thorpe’s former home to his grandchildren through the Thorpe Family Foundation. The home is located in Yale and Thorpe bought it in 1917 and lived there until 1923.
Thorpe was a famous multisport Oklahoman athlete and a member of the Sac and Fox Nation. He was the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal, winning two gold medals in the 1912 Summer Olympics — one for the classic pentathlon and one for the decathlon. Though his medals were revoked for breaking the amateur competitor rules of the time, they were eventually restored to him after his death.
Earlier this year, President Joe Biden awarded Thorpe the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The Oklahoma Historical Society had owned the home since 1968, but it said over the years deferred maintenance issues had piled up.
According to OHS, Thorpe’s grandchildren became interested in the home last year.
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