Opening briefs are due September 23 in the repatriation case of Jim Thorpe, the legendary athlete whose remains are buried in Pennsylvania.

The town of Jim Thorpe was ordered to return the remains to Thorpe's sons. They are planning to rebury him in Oklahoma, where he lived as a member of the Sac and Fox Nation.

The town is fighting the decision before the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. “We have no intention of letting him go,” Anne Marie Fitzpatrick, an organizer of the town’s annual Jim Thorpe birthday bash, told the Associated Press.

Thorpe's sons filed the lawsuit under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which allows lineal descendants to claim the remains of their ancestors. They say their father wanted to be buried in Oklahoma before he died in 1953.

Get the Story:
Town of Jim Thorpe, Pa., puts up fight to keep the body of its famous namesake (AP (9/5)

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