Jim Thorpe borough officials were finally able to exhale this week after the U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal that could have sent the remains of the town's namesake back to his native Oklahoma.

Instead, the legendary Olympic athlete's final resting place, and a memorial in his honor, will stay along Route 903 on the east side of town.The decision comes after a five-year legal battle that began with two of Thorpe's sons, Richard and William, and the Sac and Fox Nation arguing that the Olympian's body was swiped by his third wife, Patricia, during a burial ceremony in Oklahoma.According to attorney William Schwab, who has been defending the borough in its fight to keep the remains, it's almost the final nail in the coffin."They have 25 days to ask for a reconsideration of the Supreme Court's decision not to hear the case," Schwab said Tuesday. "It's very unlikely to be granted as they would have to prove the Supreme Court missed something."Schwab couldn't recall the last time such a request had been granted.The Supreme Court's decision did not come as a surprise to the attorney."The Supreme Court looks for certain things when deciding whether to hear a case," Schwab explained. "There was no conflict between circuits, this is not a situation that is likely to happen again and it's not a case of national importance like Obamacare."Named in the original lawsuit suit were the borough of Jim Thorpe, and current or former borough officials Michael Sofranko, Ronald Confer, John McGuire, Joseph Marzen, W. Todd Mason, Jeremy Melber, Justin Yaich, Joseph Krebs, Greg Strubinger, Kyle Sheckler and Joanne Klitsch.From the very beginning, the borough believed there was no precedent for the case to go as far as it did, Sofranko, now borough mayor, said."The law that was cited did not fall under the guidelines of what it was for," he added. "That being said, there was a lot of uncertainty and concern on both sides of the table. We're relieved we can tell residents there is some light at the end of the tunnel."Locals chimed in on the Times News Facebook page Monday."Why don't they let that man rest in peace," said Barbara Eckhart.Not everyone saw it the same way.At a recent borough council meeting, Gerald Strubinger suggested council allow the body to go back to Oklahoma but try to keep the Jim Thorpe name."I'm thankful the residents were patient," Sofranko said. 'There was a lot of coffee table discussion on this and everyone thankfully kept it civil."In a statement to the New York Times, Kay Rhoads, principal chief of the Sac and Fox Nation in Oklahoma, called the matter a "serious injustice.""For now, it appears we will have to continue living with this memory and without tools under the law to remedy this abuse of our human and religious rights," she said.BackgroundIn 1957, four years after Thorpe's death, Patricia struck a deal with what was then Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk, the sons contend. After a nickel-a-week fundraising campaign, the two towns agreed to merge, build a memorial and name the new municipality Jim Thorpe.Richard, William and the Sac and Fox Nation cited the 1990 Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act in their quest to have the body returned.The Act requires agencies and institutions that receive federal funding to return Native American cultural items and human remains to their respective peoples.U.S. District Judge Richard Caputo sided with the sons and the tribe in a 2013 ruling, interpreting the borough as a "museum" because it received federal money in the form of grants for sewer and water projects.Earlier this year, however, the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Caputo's decision."Congress could not have intended the kind of patently absurd result that would follow from a court resolving a family dispute by applying NAGPRA to Thorpe's burial in the borough under the circumstances here," according to the Third Circuit's opinion. "NAGPRA was intended as a shield against further injustices to Native Americans. It was not intended to be wielded as a sword to settle familial disputes within Native American families."CostAccording to borough records, it has paid attorney William Schwab $26,825 for travel, transcripts and other expenses dating back to 2012.To offset the expense, donations were submitted to the borough.The Jim Thorpe Sports Hall of Fame raised $7,820 last year.Anne Marie Fitzpatrick, who runs the Jim Thorpe birthday events, raised $950, which was presented to the borough in January 2014.Borough secretary Louise McClafferty said after a Times News article earlier this year, residents again started to send in contributions."We received eight donations totaling $705," she said. "They ranged anywhere from $5 to $300."Sofranko thanked Schwab for doing a lot of pro bono work on the case."He (Schwab) saved the borough hundreds of thousands of dollars," he explained. "To pay someone with his expertise could have really put us in a financial hole. The people he put us in touch with were also amazing."Schwab connected the borough with the University of Pennsylvania Law School Supreme Court Clinic to represent the borough at no cost in a potential appeal.