the railroad station was jammed. students from lafayette college were crowding onto the train platform eagerly awaiting the arrival of the carlisle indian school's track and field squad. no one would have believed it a few months earlier. a school that nobody had heard of was suddenly beating big， famous colleges in track meets. surely these carlisle athletes would come charging off the train， one after another，like a marine battalion .
the train finally arrived and two young men——one big and broad，the other small and slight——stepped onto the platform.
“where is the track team？” a lafayette student asked.
“this is the team，” replied the big fellow.
“just the two of you？”
“nope ， just me，”said the big fellow.“this little guy is the manager.”
the lafayette students shook their heads in wonder. somebody must be playing a joke on them. if this big fellow was the whole carlisle track team， he would be competing against an entire lafayette squad.
he did. he ran sprints， he ran hurdles， he ran distant races.he high-jumped， he broad-jumped.he threw the javelin and the shot. finishing first in eight events， the big fellow beat the whole lafayette team.
the big fellow was jim thorpe， the greatest american athlete of modern times.
火車站擠得水泄不通。拉斐德學院的學生們一齊擁上站台，熱切地等待著卡萊爾印地安人學校田徑隊的到來。倘若在幾個月前，準沒有人相信，一個誰也沒聽說過的學校，會在田徑場上突然大敗許多有名的大學。不用說。這些卡萊爾的運動員抵達後，準會象一營海軍陸戰隊隊員那樣，一個接一個衝下火車。
火車終於到站了，兩個年輕人——一位，個兒高，體態魁梧；另一位，個兒矮，長相瘦弱——踏上了站台。
“田徑隊在哪兒？”一位拉斐德的學生問道。
“就在這兒，”大個子回答道。
“就你們兩個？”
“不，就我一個，”大個子說。“這位小兄弟是領隊。”
拉斐德的學生們詫異地搖搖頭。一定有人在和他們開玩笑。如果卡萊爾田徑隊就只有大個子一人，那他就得和整個拉斐德田徑隊比試高低了。
確實如此。他短跑、跨欄、長跑、跳高、跳遠。他又投標槍又擲鉛球。大個子贏得八項第一，一個人擊敗了整個拉斐德田徑隊。
這位大個子就是美國現代最偉大的運動員吉姆。索普。