Marlin’s natural hot springs, discovered in 1892, attracted many folks longing for its alleged curative powers in its time.

Some of those taking in the warmth were elite athletes of the day, including the New York Giants baseball team along with Jim Thorpe, who played several seasons with the team beginning in 1913.

Although a number of people in Marlin remember seeing Thorpe in those days when financial bounty flowed into the city via a health industry spawned by the hot springs, it was an unlikely football game on a cold day around 1950 (or 1951) in Marlin that some residents remember most about the athlete.

Thorpe came to town on an icy day in December to help promote a “pee wee” football game championship, known as the Milk Bowl, between Thorndale and Sequoyah Indian School from Oklahoma.

Richard Butts of Thorndale coached the Thorndale Red Raiders, which earlier had beaten a Marlin team to get to the championship game in Marlin.

“I remember it was so cold,” he said. “During the game it was sleeting and most of our kids were playing barefoot.”

He said the Oklahoma team, which lost 33-0, might have been mismatched.

“You could tell they had not practiced a whole lot,” Butts said. “We had several good players that went on and did good in college.”

Butts said he remembered that Thorpe, who was just a few years from his death at the time, had begun to show ill health when he met him at the game.

“There was one vivid reminder - I was smoking in those days and Jim had a lip cancer and had a big hunk of lip cut out,” he said. “That really made in impression on me.”

Dick Severson, a retired postal worker from Marlin, coached the Marlin team in the losing effort against Thorndale in the playoff.

Severson volunteered at the championship game and also met Thorpe. He said the local quarterback club had gotten Thorpe to show for the game.

He said although his meeting with Thorpe was short, it created a memory that has stayed with him all these years.

“(In addition to) shaking hands with him on the football field, I got an autograph for my oldest son,” he said. “We just had a short talk and I welcomed him to the game. I recognized instantly who he was when he walked up.”

He said Thorpe went to both benches and talked to the teams before the game.

James McDaniel, a player for Severson’s team, saw the game also. McDaniel said he remembers seeing Thorpe at the game, but also remembers seeing him on warmer days when he signed autographs at the local hotel while visiting the springs.

“We would go to the hotel and see him periodically,” McDaniel said. “When he was there he kind of kept to himself.”

He said Thorpe did not talk much about his Olympic career after he had his medals stripped from him in 1913 when he was deemed a professional.

“After they took his medals, he didn’t say anything,” McDaniel said. “He didn’t talk about that. None whatsoever.”

But he said Thorpe did tell how he occasionally demonstrated his long jump skills to fans.

“He (said he) would go out and look at the pit and mark it and go back inside,” McDaniel said. “Then he came back out and jumped within an inch of where he marked.”

Tommy Breshears of Marlin also remembers seeing Thorpe around town.

“He came back to Marlin quite a bit to take in the baths,” he said. “I’d seen him when he was sitting under the pavilion at the hospital when he was signing autographs.

“I remember just talking to him there, not about football. I guess just more about the mineral baths and things like that - how good the hot water feels in wintertime and how much better it made you feel,” he said. “He really believed in them.”

Histories of Thorpe say he sank into poverty and alcoholism after his professional sports career ended. He died in 1953 at the age of 64. His Olympic medals were reinstated in 1983.