Thorpe's family vows suit over body buried in Pa.

Relatives of legendary American Indian athlete Jim Thorpe are ready to go federal court to win the return of his body to Oklahoma.

The Olympic gold-medal winner and football MVP has been buried for decades in a Pennsylvania town that changed its name to give him a final resting place -- although Thorpe never set foot there.

After his death, Thorpe's wife said she didn't have the money to give him the burial she thought he deserved. In stepped civic leaders in an eastern Pennsylvania community, who promised to build a Thorpe monument and pledged to create the town of Jim Thorpe. That happened in 1954.

In their lawsuit, Thorpe's family members are planning to cite a 1990 federal law requiring the return of American Indian remains to their peoples.

Jim Thorpe Mayor Ronald Confer calls the idea "incredible" after a half-century. But Thorpe's youngest son, Jack, says the town is "already a great success, and they don't need the bones of my father."