CARLISLE BARRACKS, PA (April 6, 2012) - The Army War College's sports competition, the 35th annual Jim Thorpe Sports Days, April 12-14, this year celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the Stockholm Olympic Games in which Jim Thorpe won Gold Medals in both the Decathlon and Pentathlon – a feat that has never been duplicated.
To mark this Olympic Centennial, special guest Anne Marie Fitzpatrick, Co-chair of the Jim Thorpe Council of the Carbon County Chamber of Commerce will provide Jim Thorpe's collegiate medals for display at the Army War College. Competing teams in this year's games represent the Army War College, the National War College and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.
Fitzpatrick will be joined by Jim Thorpe's grandson, John Thorpe, and George Yuda of Carlisle, whose father, Montreville 'Speed' Yuda graduated from the Carlisle Indian School in 1913 and was a baseball team-mate of Jim Thorpe.
This year's sports events and opening ceremony are free and open to the public.
The Opening Ceremony is Friday, Apr. 13 at 2 p.m. on Carlisle Barracks' historic Indian Field, where Jim Thorpe and others displayed the teamwork, discipline and physical fitness that inspires today's athletes at the Army War College.
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The colorful ceremony will include the Joint Service Color Guard from the 3rd Infantry Regiment in Washington, D.C.; music from the West Point band; a 13-gun salute from the 108th Field Artillery of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard; an Olympic-style walk-on with the athletes of every school; a flyover by a B-52 from the 5th Bomb Wing, Minot AFB, North Dakota; Welcome remarks by USAWC Commandant Maj. Gen. Gregg Martin, and a torch relay culminating in the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron.
In commemoration of the Civil War 150, a detachment from the 1st Pa. Volunteer Cavalry will deliver the batons for the relay races.
Sports events include the women's one-mile relay and 5K run, men's two-mile relay and five-mile run, men's and women's bowling, cycling, soccer, trap and skeet, softball, basketball, volleyball and tennis.
Check out the schedule
Scores and updates will be added throughout the games at www.facebook.com/usawc.
Visit the Jim Thorpe Sports Day website at: http://carlislemwr.com/events/jim-thorpe-sports-days
