The Jim Thorpe Award, named in memory of multi-sport athlete
Jim Thorpe
James Francis Thorpe (; May 22 or 28, 1887March 28, 1953) was an American athlete who won Olympic gold medals and played professional American football, football, baseball, and basketball. A citizen of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was ...
, 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 ...
in
college football
College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
since 1986. It is voted on by the
Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. 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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant coll ...
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