The Ghost of Jim Thorpe Rests Easily

King Gustav V of Sweden was an odd chap, an apparent Nazi sympathiser who fought against the democratic movement and threatened to abdicate when the government of the day would not assist Hitler in the movement of troops through Scandinavia. He was, however, right on the money when he said to Jim Thorpe as he presented him with the gold medal for the decathlon at the 1912 Olympic Games: “You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world”.

Thorpe replied “Thanks, King” with his understated confidence. Thorpe knew what a brilliant athlete he was and feared no sporting challenge.

Thorpe not only won two gold medals at the 1912 Olympic Games-the decathlon and the pentathlon, both multi-sport disciplines- but was a pioneering star in football, baseball and basketball.

At college, during his first ever play in football practice, he ran around and through and over the entire team not once but twice. When he was done, he walked up to his coach, who was initially reluctant to have Thorpe play football considering his value in track and field, and said “nobody is going to tackle Jim”. Thorpe became a running back, defensive back, kicker and punter and was the first great football player, pushing the sport into national consciousness with his amazing deeds for Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Thorpe led the college to the national title in 1912, scoring 25 touchdowns and scoring 198 points including a 97 yard breakout touchdown against champion Army. He scored it after his 92 yard touchdown the previous play was disallowed due to a penalty from a teammate. Thorpe was capable of virtually anything.

Thorpe almost single-handedly turned football into a national game, popularising the sport and playing a key role in the formation of the predecessor to the National Football League, the American Professional Football Association, of which Thorpe was the first president as well as the star player for the Canton Bulldogs. Those Canton Bulldogs still hold the NFL record for the longest undefeated streak, not losing in 25 games over three seasons with Thorpe the main draw and finest player.

During his football years he played baseball in the summer months and was a major leaguer with the New York Giants, the Cincinnati Reds and the Boston Braves. Thorpe, an outfielder, hit a very credible .252 during the Dead-ball Era where hitting was no easy feat. His finest moment came in Cincinnati when Thorpe broke a double no-hitter in the tenth inning against the Cubs to get the Reds home in baseball’s greatest pitching duel.

Thorpe also played basketball professionally as part of a touring troupe in an age before an organised and national professional league had been established.

Thorpe won Olympic gold, is a member of both the College and Professional Football
Hall of Fames, played America’s three major sports professionally and is generally regarded as the greatest athlete to ever lace a boot and enter the cauldron of sporting competition. Former President Eisenhower said of Thorpe: “There are some people who are supremely endowed…he never practiced in his life and he could do anything better than any other football player I ever saw”.

His deeds as a cross-sport superstar are unparalleled though there have been a number of multi-sport superstars.

Bo Jackson was one of the most fearsome running backs of his era on the gridiron, the winner of the 1985 Heisman Trophy who ran for an average of 5.2 yards per carry in the NFL and hit 141 Major League home runs. Jim Brown, another great running back, is considered the greatest lacrosse player ever. Deion Sanders is one of the all-time great NFL cornerbacks who was also an above average big league baseball player for nine seasons. Bob Hayes was an Olympic gold medal winning sprinter who, by virtue of his speed as a wide receiver, virtually created the need for the zone defence and is now enshrined in Canton. Jackie Robinson was an outstanding track star and basketballer who made his name as one of the greatest baseball players ever to grace the diamond. Big league slugger Dave Winfield was drafted by four different teams in three different sports. Babe Zaharias won three Olympic gold medals, eleven golf majors and was an All-American basketballer in college. Denis Compton played both cricket and soccer for England.

Australia has had its fair share of multi-sport athletes too. Forty-six men from Dally Messenger through to Timana Tahu have represented both the Kangaroos and the Wallabies. Michael Cleary and Dick Thornett were among that lot with Cleary also representing Australia on the track at the Commonwealth Games and Thornett in Olympic Water Polo. Fast bowling great Ray Lindwall was the Grand Final fullback and goal-kicker for St. George. There is a long list of cricketers, led by Keith Miller and Max Walker, who have worn the Baggy Green and played in one of the VFL, SANFL or WAFL. Ray Smith played 104 matches in the VFL after a career playing rugby league in the QRL. Ben Graham, Sav Rocca and Darren Bennett played AFL football before punting in the NFL. Anthony Mundine won a Super League title with Brisbane and a world title in the ring.

All the above athletes proved themselves as cross sport champions. Karmichael Hunt will not be added to that list.

Rather, like the attempts of boxer Jeff Fenech, American footballer Manfred Moore, rugby player Garrick Morgan and runner Darren Clark to play rugby league and Michael Jordan to play baseball and many others too innumerable to mention, Hunt’s cross sport foray will be remembered as nothing more than a whorish fuck for cash that will end in either spectacular disaster or, more likely, stunning mediocrity.

Hunt’s defection to the AFL is nothing more than a gold digging grab for the cash on his part and an insecure seizure of some low rent publicity from the AFL. Hunt claimed he was going for the challenge of playing AFL football yet anybody old enough to read and with the intelligence to count to three could see that he was going for nothing more than the cash. He was willing to sell his ass to the highest bidder and when Japanese rugby fell through Hunt all of a sudden fell in love with the AFL. He originally claimed he wanted to escape the fishbowl existence of Brisbane but will now move less than two hours down the road. And never mind the publicity he attracted by defecting codes but remaining in the same state. His love of the almighty dollar is so great that he would rob a blind beggar of his final twenty cent piece. Worse, he would justify this hobo robbery by claiming he had every right to steal the coin and was merely doing it for the challenge.

Hunt is, in fact, so committed to learning AFL football that he will spend the first half of 2010 playing rugby union overseas. He will not begin training for his new career until midway through next year and most likely will only play a handful of games in the VFL before the Gold Coast Football Club’s first preseason proper.

There is no doubt Karmichael Hunt was a very good rugby league player and one fans enjoyed watching. When he first started out he was a hard running return man, fearless under the high ball and smart with the ball in hand. His most important asset in his career was always courage. He was never regarded as the best fullback in the game. He was never viewed as a natural speedster. He has never been seen as having outstanding hands. He was more revered for his fearless play rather than for any brilliant athletic gift.

As entertaining as Hunt was to watch playing rugby league, particularly to those who prize hardness above all else, it would seem highly doubtful that his skill set will translate to AFL football. His leaping ability has never been anything special. He is not overly fast. He is not an overly effective tackler, at least by NRL standards. He has a very ordinary kick and has punted for only 399 metres all season.

What role Hunt plays in an AFL team is a total unknown to those in both league and rules. That is not a wonderful scenario for a club that is paying $1 million a season for the privilege. The smart money is that Hunt will not play 40 AFL matches. More costly than the money the Gold Coast will have burned on Hunt, however, is the impact his contract will have on the recruitment of others. No genuine marquee or second tier players will join the Gold Coast knowing they will likely be paid less or the same as some sideshow with a dubious work ethic and questionable motives who has never played the game before. Hunt’s contract would leave even the most team-oriented teammate bitter.

Hunt’s defection is also not the end of time, the world and human existence as is being proclaimed by many in the AFL media. The NRL has lost a fullback that would not rank in the top five players at his position. He was a player the NRL has been resigned to losing for nearly a year due to Hunt’s severely inflated sense of worth. The NRL has lost more important players to rugby and Super League in the past and yet they are quickly replaced. The NRL talent pool is always replenished. AFL experts decry this as yet another victory for their code when time will prove it as one of the southern code’s great embarrassments. It takes a great insecurity to not only throw millions of dollars at a player from a foreign code who has never displayed any transferrable skills but to contextualise it as a victory in a supposed war of the codes. The AFL and its lackeys in the media would be well advised that even if the entire Queensland State of Origin team jumped to the Gold Coast AFL club, the state would still be a red blooded rugby league one.

It has also been somewhat amusing to hear Patrick Smith and Caroline Wilson and the like take a critical view of the NRL and its relationship with the Sydney media over the last week. Those who have been firing potshots at the code all year now take some offence at Hunt being labelled a recidivist, a possible drug user and party animal who was getting his drink on during the lead-up to Origin III. The AFL media now seems to be of the opinion that their Sydney counterparts are not only overreacting but may in fact have some agenda to besmirch the reputation of Hunt and are possibly embittered about his defection. While every other allegation against an NRL player is taken as fact by these moral guardians, the same standard does not apply to their own. We don’t just have to look at Hunt. Nathan Lovett-Murray anybody? The outrage spat at Brett Stewart, Matthew Johns and numerous others from Wilson and Smith and their comrades was, not surprisingly, missing when it came to Lovett-Murray and the newly signed Hunt.

But I digress. The point here is that the Hunt experiment is doomed to failure. It will embarrass the AFL and damage the new Gold Coast franchise. His defection is interesting but only in the same sense as a car crash or an Amsterdam sex club is. The only sure thing is that once the money has dried up, Hunt will be back in the NRL. Like an old junkie whose most recent dealer cut him off, he will trawl his black book and make the calls and return sheepishly, cap in hand, looking for one last “challenge” for old time’s sake.

The ghost of Jim Thorpe will continue to rest fairly easily. Karmichael Hunt won’t be challenging his legacy. The one who needs to be concerned is Garrick Morgan. He may be about to lose his number one honour of worst code defection in Australian sports history.