It was always his.

The Culture Of Amateurism — And Who It Actually Protected

To understand why Jim Thorpe’s disqualification lasted as long as it did, you have to understand what the amateurism rule was actually protecting — and for whom it was designed.

The word “amateur” derives from the Latin for love — the amateur, in the original conception, plays for the love of the game rather than for financial reward.

In the world of late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century athletics, this distinction carried enormous social weight because it was, in practice, a class distinction.