When most people think of national athletes, they commonly think of athletes that have accomplished championships, gold medals, and individual records. Generally, the greatest athletes are from the United States of America. This may be true for most sports, but the athletes that mean the most to Native Americans and Inuit natives are Jim Thorpe and Jordin Tootoo, respectively. Although the athletic careers of Thorpe and Tootoo are a century apart, they are ironically similar. They possess outstanding athletic ability, have native traditional back rounds, and made an impact on modern sports. Where they are different is how Thorpe had an established career that has become a legacy while Tootoo, entering only his second year, has yet to establish himself status as a professional athlete.
             Jordin Tootoo is revered as a hero among his native Inuit people. Since Tootoo became the first Inuit to play in the National Hockey League (NHL), the magazines, newspapers, and the Internet have carried Jordin Tootoo's name (Associated Press 1). Tootoo, who comes from a home less then 250 miles south of the Artic Circle, who calls the Nunovit Territory in northern Canada home, is already legend in his hometown of Rankin. "I'm just trying to pave the way for the young kids out there trying to set goals," he said (source). After a successful training camp last September with the Nashville Predators,
             Tootoo, a 20 year old, earned a spot on the Predators roster for the 2003-04 season after being drafted in 2001. This achievement is also an Inuit first (1).
             Jim Thorpe is revered by sports media as a sports icon. Thorpe was named the greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th century. Nick Lemann, an ESPN Classic SportsCentury series writer, says of Thorpe, "He's kind of half modern sports figure, and half a kind of Paul Bunyan, American mythic figure. The appeal is the idea of the kind of frontier, superhe...