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Best Athlete: Jim T orpe


ur readers have done it again! T ey have chosen “the best of the best” our state has to off er in this year’s categories. But the truth


is Oklahoma is full of hidden treasures. We hope these stories will inspire you to explore this beautiful state where the wind comes swee- pin’ down the plain and the wavin’ wheat can sure smell sweet ...


By Lindsey Morehead


n 1912, Jim Thorpe swept the Stockholm Olym- pics, earning gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon. Nearly a century later, the Prague native is still remembered as the best athlete of all time. “No other athlete in history has accomplished any- thing near what that man did,” said Lynne Draper, president of the Jim Thorpe Association. “Professional football, baseball and basketball – he did everything under the sun, and he did it well. He even won a na- tional dance contest.”


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Fifty-nine years after his death, Draper and others are continuing to build Thorpe’s legacy through the Jim Thorpe Association and the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. The Jim Thorpe Award, annually pre- sented to the best college defensive back, is one of col- lege sports’ greatest honors.


Oklahoma native Jim Thorpe is famous for bringing home gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon during the Stockholm Olympics in 1912.


Courtesy photo/ Jim Thorpe Association By Lindsey Morehead


Named Best Newspaper of 2011 by the Society of Professional Journalists, Newspaper of the Year by the Great Plains Journalism Awards, and “Best News Source” by Oklahoma Living readers, the Tulsa World is using changing technologies to improve its product and expand readership.


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“We are a print newspaper, but we’re also much more than that,” said Joe Worley, executive editor of the Tulsa World. “We’re lucky to have a robust and award-win- ning website, tulsaworld.com, where we try to bring additional, unique ideas to our readers.” Always among the fi rst in its industry to embrace new technologies, the Tulsa World recently instituted a paywall on its website requiring non-subscribers to pay for web content. “We’ve been very pleased with the response,” said Worley. “All print subscribers get full access to our


t’s no secret the media business is changing, but the Tulsa World is keeping up.


website, and we have some online subscribers.” Locally owned by the Robert E. Lorton family, the Tulsa World is one of the few remaining independently owned newspapers. Its family ownership allows the daily to invest in investigative journalism, an area many media conglomerates have abandoned as too costly. “We’ve actually expanded in the last year to create our enterprise team,” said Worley. “We have seven people on that staff full time. I think that’s what our readers depend on us to do and that is to be a watchdog of our government and different issues.” Despite recent layoffs, the Tulsa World remains the largest newsroom in northeastern Oklahoma with 120 employees. It’s the second largest newspaper in the state, with a weekly circulation of 500,000. “Because we’re locally owned, I think that makes a


big difference,” said Worley. “The people who work in the Tulsa World newsroom are people who want to live in Tulsa. This is a great community and the Tulsa World is dedicated to making it an even better community.” OL


“The original purpose of the Thorpe Award was to create some positive spirit and national publicity for Oklahoma,” said Draper. “That mission remains to- day, but it’s expanded to include a number of youth programs and awards, the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame and the preservation of Oklahoma sports his- tory.”


Located about a mile north of the state capital at


Best News Source:


Tulsa World


4040 N. Lincoln, the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame museum annually attracts about 36,000 visitors. Oklahoma greats like Mickey Mantle, Troy Aikman and Wayman Tisdale are honored on site. The Jim Thorpe Association annually provides more than $16,000 in student-athlete scholarships and its Bright Path Youth Programs promote academics, health and fi tness in elementary schools. The asso- ciation also hosts the Jim Thorpe All-Star Events for high school athletes in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metropolitan areas.


“Over the years, we’ve offered a lot of youth pro- grams,” said Eddie Griffi n, executive director of the Jim Thorpe Association. “Our Jim Thorpe Red Ribbon Week is the state’s largest drug-free initiative. Over 50,000 kids sign pledges to be drug free.” “The association touches thousands of people all across the country,” Draper said. “It’s nationally rec- ognized for its awards and scholarships, but I believe it has only scratched the surface of its potential. I think it will continue to grow and have an impact on young people in our state and nation for many, many years to come.” OL


The Tulsa World, established in 1905, is locally owned. Courtesy Photo/ Tulsa World


JANUARY 2012 17


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