jim thorpe played in many sports.in whatever sport heplayed， he excelled. he was a star in baseball，track and field，wrestling，lacrosse，basketball and football.he was so good infootball，in fact，that most other schools refused to play carlisle.the indian school's football schedule soon listed such major pow－ers of the early twentieth century as pittsburgh， harvard，pennsylvania， penn state and army.
the united states military academy at west point，newyork， has always had excellent football players， too. it has al－ways been a matter of great pride for a football team to succeed inbeating west point.in 1912 ，with thorpe alone scoring 22 points，the carlisle team defeated west point by a score of 27－6.one of the men who tried to stop thorpe that day was a member ofthe west point team named dwight d.eisenhower，who laterbecame an outstanding general and president of the united states.
吉姆·索姆参加了多项运动。不管他参加哪项运动，他都表现得非常出色。他是棒球明星、田径明星、摔跤明星、长曲棍球明星、篮球明星和橄榄球明星。事实上，他的橄榄球打得十分出色，以至于大多数学校都拒绝与卡莱尔比赛。不久，这个印第安学校的橄榄球比赛日程上列出的都是些二十世纪初的一些强队，比如匹兹堡队、哈佛队，宾西法尼亚队、宾州队及陆军队等。
纽约的美国西点军校也一向拥有最佳橄榄球运动员。橄榄球队历来把击败西点引为极大的自豪。1912年卡莱尔队以27比6击败西点，索普一人独得22分。那天在试图阻拦索普的人中，有一个西点队队员名叫德怀特·d·艾森豪威尔，此人后来成为杰出的将军并作过美国总统。