How a Pennsylvania Town Bought an Athlete's Body and Changed Its Name Jim Thorpe Pennsylvania, Mauch Chunk Pennsylvania, Jim Thorpe athlete, Pennsylvania town names, Pennsylvania history, coal region Pennsylvania, unusual town stories The town of Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania was economically dying in the 1950s, so it made a deal to receive Jim Thorpe's body in exchange for renaming itself after him. Jim Thorpe never visited the town, and his sons fought for decades to move the body back to tribal l