When Thorpe joined the Canton Bulldogs in 1915, professional football was still in a pre-organizational period — teams competed in various regional leagues, rules were not standardized, and the sport occupied a decidedly lower status in American sports culture than college football or major league baseball.

Thorpe’s presence in the Ohio League and later in the early NFL was one of the things that began to change this.

He was a powerful tailback, a punter, a place kicker, a return man, a defensive force.

He could do everything a football player of the early twentieth century was asked to do, and he could do it better than most of the people who had been doing it for years.

The Canton Bulldogs, with Thorpe as the centerpiece, won three Ohio League championships.