Olympic medalist's family wants reburial

JIM THORPE, Pa., Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Family members of 1912 Olympic gold medalist Jim Thorpe said they plan to sue for the return of his remains from a Pennsylvania town named in his honor.

Thorpe's sons said the family has tried for 25 years to gain access to Thorpe's remains. Thorpe had said he wanted to be buried in a cemetery near Shawnee, Okla., where his father and other relatives are buried, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Sunday.

Thorpe's third wife had him buried in the Pennsylvania town in 1954 on condition the town be renamed "Jim Thorpe, Pa."

Carbon County borough, where Thorpe is buried, must give up Thorpe's remains under the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the newspaper reported. The law requires federal agencies receiving federal funds to return Indian artifacts and human remains to their native peoples, Sean W. Pickett, a Kansas City, Mo. lawyer specializing in American Indian Rights, said.

Pickett said unless the town complies with the law, he will file suit in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.

"According to Sac and Fox tradition, Dad's soul will never be at peace until his body is laid to rest, after an appropriate ceremony, back here in his home. Until then, his soul is doomed to wander. We must have him back," Jack Thorpe, 72 -- Jim Thorpe's youngest son -- said.

"This is incredible," Jim Thorpe Mayor Ronald Confer said. "It's been more than 50 years. It's too late. No one in this town is going to be for that."