Report: Early Prison Release Expected for Jim Thorpe

LAST APRIL CHAMPIONS TOUR player Jim Thorpe entered a minimum-security Federal Prison Camp located on Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, to serve a one-year sentence for failing to pay more than $2 million in income taxes.

The winner of 13 Champions Tour and three PGA Tour titles had pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to pay income taxes. In addition to the prison sentence, the 61-year-old Thorpe was also sentenced to two years of supervised release and 200 hours of community service. He also must attempt to repay the owed taxes.

Golfweek’s Jeff Rude reported earlier this week that Thorpe expects to be released early, possibly this month, according to Thorpe’s pastor, Keith Wilkins of Crossings Community Church in Lake Mary, Florida.

Thorpe has been suspended from the Champions Tour since last February. He plans to resume his tournament golf career once he’s released from prison.

Born in Roxboro, North Carolina, the ninth of 12 kids whose father was a golf course superintendant, Thorpe attended Morgan State University on a football scholarship. The running back turned golf pro in 1972 and earned nearly $2 million in 459 events on the PGA Tour before joining the 50-and-older tour in 2000.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Photo credit: Ted Van Pelt, Flickr, Creative Commons license)