James Francis Thorpe was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe became the first Native American to win a gold medal for the United States. Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, he won Olympic gold medals in the 1912 pentathlon and decathlon, played American football, professional baseball, basketball, he lost his Olympic titles after it was found he had been paid for playing two seasons of semi-professional baseball before competing in the Olympics, thus violating the amateurism rules that were in place. In 1983, 30 years after his death, the International Olympic Committee restored his Olympic medals. Thorpe grew up in the Sac and Fox Nation in Oklahoma, attended Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, where he was a two-time All-American for the school's football team. After his Olympic success in 1912, which included a record score in the decathlon, he added a victory in the All-Around Championship of the Amateur Athletic Union.

In 1913, Thorpe signed with the New York Giants, he played six seasons in Major League Baseball between 1913 and 1919. Thorpe joined the Canton Bulldogs American football team in 1915, helping them win three professional championships, he played as part of several all-American Indian teams throughout his career, barnstormed as a professional basketball player with a team composed of American Indians. From 1920 to 1921, Thorpe was nominally the first president of the American Professional Football Association, which became the NFL in 1922, he played professional sports until age 41, the end of his sports career coinciding with the start of the Great Depression. He struggled working several odd jobs, he suffered from alcoholism, lived his last years in failing health and poverty. He was married three times and had eight children, before suffering from heart failure and dying in 1953. Thorpe has received various accolades for his athletic accomplishments; the Associated Press named him the "greatest athlete" from the first 50 years of the 20th century, the Pro Football Hall of Fame inducted him as part of its inaugural class in 1963.

A Pennsylvania town was named in his honor and a monument site there is the site of his remains, which were the subject of legal action. Thorpe appeared in several films and was portrayed by Burt Lancaster in the 1951 film Jim Thorpe – All-American. Information about Thorpe's birth and ethnic background varies widely, he was baptized "Jacobus Franciscus Thorpe" in the Catholic Church. Thorpe was born in Indian Territory of the United States, he was considered to have been born on May 22, 1887, near the town of Prague, Oklahoma. Thorpe himself said in a note to The Shawnee News-Star in 1943 that he was born May 28, 1888, "near and south of Bellemont – Pottawatomie County – along the banks of the North Fork River... hope this will clear up the inquiries as to my birthplace." However, most biographers believe that he was born on May 22, 1887, as, what is listed on his baptismal certificate. Bellemont was a small community, now disappeared, on the line between Pottawatomie and Lincoln Counties. Thorpe referred to Shawnee as his birthplace in the 1943 note.

Thorpe's parents were both of mixed-race ancestry. His father, Hiram Thorpe, had a Sac and Fox Indian mother, his mother, Charlotte Vieux, had a French father and a Potawatomi mother, a descendant of Chief Louis Vieux. He was raised as a Sac and Fox, his native name, Wa-Tho-Huk, translated as "path lit by great flash of lightning" or, more "Bright Path"; as was the custom for Sac and Fox, he was named for something occurring around the time of his birth, in this case the light brightening the path to the cabin where he was born. Thorpe's parents were a faith which Thorpe observed throughout his adult life. Thorpe attended the Sac and Fox Indian Agency school in Stroud, with his twin brother, Charlie. Charlie helped him through school, he ran away from school several times. His father sent him to the Haskell Institute, an Indian boarding school in Lawrence, Kansas, so that he would not run away again; when his mother died of childbirth complications two years he became depressed. After several arguments with his father, he left home to work on a horse ranch.

In 1904 the sixteen-year-old Thorpe returned to his father and decided to attend Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. There his athletic ability was recognized and he was coached by Glenn Scobey "Pop" Warner, one of the most influential coaches of early American football history; that year he became orphaned after Hiram Thorpe died from gangrene poisoning after being wounded in a hunting accident, Jim again dropped out of school. He resumed farm work for a few years and returned to Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Thorpe began his athletic career at Carlisle in 1907 when he walked past the track and beat all the school's high jumpers with an impromptu 5-ft 9-in jump still in street clothes, his earliest recorded track and field results come from 1907. He competed in football, baseball and ballroom dancing, winning the 1912 intercollegiate ballroom dancing championship. Pop Warner was hesitant to allow Thorpe, his best track and field athlete, to compete in a physical game such as football.

Thorpe, convinced Warner to let him try some rushing plays in practice against the school

Tomáš Sivok is a Czech professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Dynamo České Budějovice in Czech First League. He made his debut for the Czech national team on 3 September 2005, his primary position is defender but he can play in midfield. In September 2005, Sivok became a captain of Sparta, he was captain of the Czech Republic national under-21 football team in 2006. In the middle of 2006, Sivok became a main face of a Czech government anti-racist campaign, called Together Against The Racism, he signed for Udinese during the January 2007 transfer window. In May 2008, he was sold by Udinese to the Turkish side Beşiktaş J. K. for €4.7 million. He signed a four-plus-one-year contract worth up to € 100,000 in bonuses. Sivok married Michaela Šachlová on 9 March 2009 in Istanbul, their first child is a son named Andre Tomas. As of 30 May 2015 As of 13 November 2015Scores and results table. Czech Republic's goal tally first: Sparta Prague Czech First League: 2002–03, 2004–05 Czech Cup: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08Beşiktaş Süper Lig: 2008–09 Turkish Cup: 2008–09, 2010–11 Official website Tomáš Sivok – UEFA competition record Tomáš Sivok at FAČR Tomáš Sivok at official AC Sparta Prague website

Frances "Fanny" Brawne Lindon is best known as the fiancée and muse to English Romantic poet John Keats. As Fanny Brawne, she met Keats, her neighbour in Hampstead, at the beginning of his brief period of intense creative activity in 1818. Although his first written impressions of Brawne were quite critical, his imagination seems to have turned her into the goddess-figure he needed to worship, as expressed in Endymion, scholars have acknowledged her as his muse, they became secretly engaged in October 1819, but Keats soon discovered that he was suffering from tuberculosis. His condition limited their opportunities to meet, but their correspondence revealed passionate devotion. In September 1820, he left for the warmer climate of Rome, her mother agreed to their marrying on his projected return, but he died there in February 1821, aged twenty-five. Brawne drew consolation from her continuing friendship with Keats' younger sister, called Fanny. Brawne married and bore three children, whom she entrusted with the intimate letters Keats had written to her.

When these were published in 1878, it was the first time the public had heard of Brawne, they aroused interest among literary scholars. But they attracted much venom from the press, which declared her to have been unworthy of such a distinguished figure. By contrast, the publication of Brawne’s letters to Fanny Keats showed her in a more favourable light improving her reputation. Frances Brawne was born 9 August 1800 to Samuel and Frances at the Brawnes’ farm near the hamlet of West End, close to Hampstead, England, she was the eldest of three surviving children. By 1810, her family was in Kentish Town, on 11 April of that year her father died, at age thirty-five, of consumption. Subsequently, Mrs. Brawne moved the family to Hampstead Heath, it was in 1818 that the Brawnes went to Wentworth Place—“a block of two houses, white-stuccoed and semi-detached, built three years before by Charles Armitage Brown and Charles Wentworth Dilke”—for the summer, occupying Brown's half of the property. Fanny was introduced to a society, “varied and attractive.

After living at Wentworth Place for a brief time the Brawnes became friends with the Dilkes. At eighteen, Fanny Brawne “was small, her eyes were blue and enhanced by blue ribbons in her brown hair, she was not conventionally beautiful: her nose was a little too aquiline, her face too pale and thin. But she knew the value of elegance, she could answer, at a moment’s notice, any question on historical costume.... Fanny enjoyed music.... She was an eager politician, fiery in discussion. Indeed, books were her favourite topic of conversation”, it was through the Dilkes. Their initial meeting was cordial and expected—the Dilkes were fond of Keats and spoke of him to the Brawnes often. Fanny enjoyed his company, recalling that “his conversation was in the highest degree interesting and his spirits good, excepting at moments when anxiety regarding his brother’s health dejected them”. Keats's grief was deep, as “Some years before, Keats had written that his love for his brothers was “an affection ‘passing the Love of Women’”...

Fanny showed him the depth of her understanding. She gave him invigorating sympathy, keeping his mind from introspection. Remarkably soon his own gaiety returned.”In a letter begun 16 December 1818 to his brother George, in America, Keats mentions Fanny in two separate passages. The first: "Mrs. Brawn who took Brown's house for the summer still resides in Hampstead, she is a nice woman and her daughter senior is I think beautiful, graceful, silly and strange. We have a little tiff now and then—and she behaves a little better, or I must have sheered off", she is about my height—with a fine style of countenance of the lengthen'd sort—she wants sentiment in every feature—she manages to make her hair look well—her nostrills are fine—though a little painful—he mouth is bad and good—he Profil is better than her full-face which indeed is not full ut pale and thin without showing any bone—Her shape is graceful and so are her movements—her Arms are good her hands badish—her feet tolerable—she is not seventeen—but she is ignorant—monstrous in her behaviour flying out in all directions, calling people such names—that I was forced to make use of the term Minx—this is I think no from any innate vice but from a penchant she has for acting stylishly.

I am however tired of such style and shall decline any more of it" It was not long before Keats fell in love with Fanny. “He had transfigured Fanny in his imagination, his passion creating in her the beauty which for him became the truth. On 18 October 1819, Keats proposed to Fanny Brawne, who accepte