The Jim Thorpe Award, named in memory of multi-sport athlete

Jim Thorpe James Francis Thorpe ( Sac and Fox (Sauk): ''Wa-Tho-Huk'', translated as "Bright Path"; May 22 or 28, 1887March 28, 1953) was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was the first Native ...

, has been awarded to the top

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

since 1986. It is voted on by the

Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame The Jim Thorpe Association is a civic and charity organization based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Its parent corporation is the Jim Thorpe Athletic Club. It is named in memory of multi-sport legend Jim Thorpe. Jim Thorpe Award The organization has ...

. In 2017, the award became sponsored by Paycom and was named the Paycom Jim Thorpe Award.

Winners

† In 1996, finalist Chris Canty of

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public inst ...

withdrew his name from consideration, which caused a re-vote.

References

;General * ;Footnotes

External links

* {{College football award navbox College football national player awards Awards established in 1986