Clifford Sanchez Jr. Plays in Jim Thorpe Classic

Jim Thorpe Considered ‘Athlete of the Century’

By Kenny Bayon

LAWTON, OK — Seminole Tribal citizen and Hollywood resident Clifford Sanchez Jr. was not only chosen to play in the Jim Thorpe Indian All Star game but started as well. He was joined by fellow Seminole Jarrid Smith, who was selected as a coach. The game was played at Cameroon Stadium in Lawton, Okla. on July 1.

The game pitted an all star team from Oklahoma called Team Oklahoma and players from the rest of the country called the National All Stars. Cliff spent the entire week leading up to the game at Camp Y’Shua.

This remote camp is a year round retreat and conference center located on 160 acres in the heart of the beautiful Wichita Mountains. The camp is about 45 minutes from Lawton and was where both teams practice for the game. Furthermore, it was where the youth football camp for Native Americans was held.

Clifford, the son of the late Clifford Sanchez Sr. and Alicia Cabal, is a member of the Panther clan. Cliff just recently graduated from Hollywood Christian High School. He was a two year starter on the varsity football team and played two positions as starting offensive tackle and defensive tackle. The six-foot-one 220 pound Clifford was considered small for these positions but it was where the team needed him most.

For the All Star game, Cliff wanted to play linebacker, a position he had practiced at and always wanted to play. After his graduation from high school he spent the rest of his summer dedicating himself to learning the new position as well as getting into prime shape.

He practiced hours a day with his personal trainer and personal football coach Kenny Bayon. He would workout with weights in the morning and then would go out in the middle of the day to practice the intricacies of the position. Finally, he would finish the workout with sprints, most of the time with a parachute, which it is a piece of equipment to help gain speed.

At camp, Cliff’s daily routine was to wake up and eat breakfast. That would be followed by morning football practice, mostly individual drills and then have lunch. After an hour of rest they would head back to the lake and resume afternoon practice, where it was more team orientated.

“It wasn’t all that bad; I had a lot of fun and consider it an honor to be playing in such a prestigious game,” he said. “A few times we got to go to a water theme park to cool of and hang out and meet all of my teammates from around the country as well as go hiking in the mountain which was really nice.”

After all the practicing and conditioning, the time was finally here. Because of his great week of practice, Cliff was selected as one of the captions of the team. As one of the team captains, he was able to walk out to midfield and engage in the coin toss.

The first half was a tough beginning for Cliff’s team as they trailed early on and never could get into rhythm. It was the second half where Cliff showed why he was capable of playing this type of game. He simply dominated his side of the ball and even made a few bone crushing tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

Even though the final outcome was lopsided, all these athletes participated in a once in a lifetime game. The game was in honor of the great Jim Thorpe.

Jim is known throughout Indian country as the greatest athlete that ever lived. In the 1912 Stockholm Olympics he won gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon. Thorpe was a three time all-American in football star while at Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. He was a professional football world champion as a member of the Canton Bulldogs and in 1920 was the first president of what is now called the NFL; formerly the American Professional Football Association.

Jim was named the greatest athlete of the first half-century in 1950. In 1999 both houses of Congress honored Jim Thorpe by designating him as the athlete of the century and in 2000 ABC’s Wide World of Sports honored him as their athlete of the century. He is enshrined in the following Hall of Fames: NFL, College Football, Track & Field, Indian Athletic, Olympic, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.