The Greatest Athlete in America Jim Thorpe.

An orphaned child from the Sac and Fox Indians of the Oklahoma territories. (His mother called him Wa-Tho-Huck meaning Bright Path.) He was raised by the government after his parents passed.  He started college as a slight person at 5'9 and grew into a powerful 6'1 185lb freak of an athlete. 

In 1912 Thorpe won the decathlon and pentathlon at the Stockholm Olympics. (15 Events plus the long jump 4th place and high jump 7th place.) . The scary part is that he really didn't train to be an Olympian and never competed as Decathlete again.

Some of the records he shattered at the Olympics lasted for decades. His point differential will never be broken evidently. 
It was 36 years later before an Decathlon Olympian matched Thorpe's time in the 100 meter dash of 11.2.
His 110 hurdles was faster than Bob Mathis during his 1948 Gold medal run. 
The 1500 meters time he ran wasn't matched until 1972.... 60 years it last....Only Joe DiMaggio gets into that class. 

As a side note:
After the Olympics, Thorpe returned to his Sr Year at Carlisle and ran for 1,869 yards on 191 attempts and was widely considered the best football player in America. 
After college he was a superstar in pro football. 
He also played 7 years of Pro Baseball (6 years for John McGraw and the New York Giants.) 

Jim Thorpe was inducted into these:.  (I am sure there are others.) 

1. College Football Hall of Fame
2. Pro Football Hall of Fame-  Football Digest has him 17th greatest to ever play. 
3. Track and Field Hall of Fame 
4. US Olympic Hall of Fame. 

He was an overwhelming choice as greatest athlete of the century in 1950 and in 2001 Wide World of Sports named him athlete of the century. 
ESPN had him 7th in North American Greatest Athlete, which is rather disrespectful and flattering. In my opinion, he definitely had more accolades on his checked off list than any person on the list.    

He is the greatest Athlete of the 20th Century in my opinion.  
He tops Pele out of sheer versatility in what he did.  

He was best football player of his era, the greatest Olympian also and played professional baseball against Babe Ruth, Roger Hornsby, Ty Cobb, Shoeless Joe Jackson and was a teammate of Christy Mathewson. 

That my friend is a resume. 

J.