On this day: Born May 28, 1888: Jim Thorpe, American athlete

(Reuters) - Jim Thorpe, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and formidable American football and baseball player, was one of the greatest U.S. athletes of all time but the public often failed to recognise him as one of their own during his lifetime.

Thorpe was born on May 28, 1888 (though some reports have him born on May 22 while others put the year as 1887) on Sac and Fox Nation land in Oklahoma to parents who were each half American Indian and half Caucasian.