Story of Jim Thorpe, Pa., includes greed, hope, tender moments and tragedy.(Originated from Knight-Ridder Newspapers)

From: Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service | Date: July 5, 1996| Author: Fitzpatrick, Frank | Copyright information

JIM THORPE, Pa. _ In this Olympic summer, the idle old men who congregate on the benches at the foot of Broadway Street find themselves musing about the sad fate of Jim Thorpe, and about the curious way their town came to bear the name of the great Indian athlete.

If booming Atlanta is a symbol of the new money-driven Olympics, then this musty old Pennsylvania railroad town, a charming but spiritually sagging community, remains in a way a reflection of its simpler past.

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