Jesse Owens

James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete. He participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany where he achieved international fame by winning four gold medals; one each in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the long jump, and as part of the 4x100 meter relay team.

Early years

Owens was born in Oakville, Alabamain 1913. His family moved to Cleveland, Ohio when he was eight years old as the last of the ten children of Henry and Emma Owens. Owens was the grandson of a slave and the son of a sharecropper. He was often sick with what his mother reportedly called "the devil's cold". He was given the name Jesse by a teacher in Cleveland who did not understand his accent when the young boy said he was called J.C.

Cleveland was not prosperous for the Owens family, in which they lived very poorly. Jesse had taken different jobs in his spare time. He delivered groceries, loaded freight cars and worked in a shoe shop repair shop(Retrieved April 5, 2007, from www.jesseowens.com/jobio2.html) During this rough period Jesse realized that he had a love for running.

Throughout his life Owens attributed the success of his athletic career to the encouragement of Charles Riley, his junior-high track coach at Fairview Junior High, who had put him on the track team (see also Harrison Dillard, a Cleveland athlete inspired by Owens). Since Jesse worked in a shoe repair shop after school, Riley allowed Jesse to practice before school instead.

Owens first came to national attention when, as a student of East Technical High School in Cleveland, Ohio, he tied the world record of 9.4 seconds in the 100-yard dash and long-jumped 24 feet 9 1/2 inches (7.56 m) at the 1933 National High School Championship in Chicago.

NCAA

Owens attended Ohio State University only after employment was found for his father, ensuring the family could be supported. He was affectionately known as the "Buckeye Bullet" and won a record eight individual NCAA championships, four each in 1935 and 1936. The record of four golds at the NCAA has only been equaled by Xavier Carter, in 2006, although his titles included relay medals too. While Jesse had all these success's, Most people don't know that Jesse had to live off campus with other African Amerian athletes. When he traveled with the team, Jesse could either order carry out or eat at "black-only" restaurants. Likewise, he slept in "black-only" hotels. Jesse ownes was never awareded a scholarship, so he continued to work part-time jobs to pay for school.(Retrieved April 5, 2007, from www.jesseowens.com/jobio2.html)

Owens's greatest achievement came in a span of 45 minutes on May 25, 1935 at the Big Ten meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he set three world records and tied a fourth. He tied the world record for the 100 yard (91 m) dash (9.4 seconds) and set world records in the long jump (26 feet 8¼ inches (8.13 m), a world record that would last 25 years), 220 yard (201 m) dash (20.3 seconds), and the 220 yard low hurdles (22.6 seconds to become the first person to break 23 seconds). This incredible feat is widely considered one of the most amazing athletic achievements of all time. In fact, in 2005 both NBC sports announcer, Bob Costas, and University of Central Florida Professor of Sports History, Richard C. Crepeau chose this as the most impressive athletic achievement since 1850. ^[1]

Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium was completed in 2001 on The Ohio State University campus. It is a multi-sport facility that hosts the university's varsity track and field, lacrosse and soccer teams.

Berlin Olympics

In 1936 Owens arrived in Berlin to compete for the United States in the Summer Olympics. Adolf Hitler was using the games to show the world a resurgent Nazi Germany. He and other government officials had high hopes German athletes would dominate the games with victories. Meanwhile, Nazi propaganda promoted concepts of "Aryan racial superiority" and depicted ethnic Africans as inferior.

Owens surprised many by winning four gold medals: On August 3 1936 the 100m sprint, defeating Ralph Metcalfe; on August 4, the long jump, after friendly and helpful advice from German competitor Lutz Long; on August 5, the 200m dash; and, after he was added to the 4 x 100m relay team, his fourth on August 9 (his performance wasn't duplicated until Carl Lewis won gold medals in the same events at the 1984 Summer Olympics).

On the first day, Hitler shook hands only with the German victors and then left the stadium (some claim this was to avoid having to shake hands with Cornelius Johnson, who was African-American, but according to a spokesman Hitler's exit had been pre-scheduled). Olympic committee officials then insisted Hitler greet each and every medalist or none at all. Hitler opted for the latter and skipped all further medal presentations.^[2][3] On reports that Hitler had deliberately avoided acknowledging his victories, and had refused to shake his hand, Owens recounted:^[4]

Owens was cheered enthusiastically by 110,000 people in Berlin's Olympic Stadium and later ordinary Germans sought his autograph when they saw him in the streets. Owens was allowed to travel with and stay in the same hotels as whites, an irony at the time given that Negroes in the United States were denied equal rights. After a New York ticker-tape parade in his honor, Owens had to ride the freight elevator to attend a reception for him at the Waldorf-Astoria. He later recounted:^[5]

Post Olympics

After the games he had difficulty making a living and became a sports promoter, essentially an entertainer. He would give local sprinters a ten or twenty yard start and beat them in the 100 yd (91 m) dash. He also challenged and defeated racehorses although as he revealed later, the trick was to race a high-strung thoroughbred horse that would be frightened by the starter's pistol and give him a good jump. His self-promotion eventually turned into a public relations career in Chicago, including a long stint as a popular jazz disc jockey there. In 1968, Owens received some criticism for supporting the racially turbulent XIX Olympic Games that year. Despite his success, the financial stability of the Ownes family continued. When Ownes back for the Olympics their were no endorsement deals because he was black. Jesse left Ohio State his senior yesr to run professionally, and took on numerous speaking engagements. Jesse would travel the world and spoke to companies like Ford Motor Company, United States Olympic Committee. He always would stress the importance of religion, hard work, and loyalty.(Retrieved April 5, 2007, from http://www.jesse-owens.org/about2.html)

Through out all the trial and successes, Jesse Owens was a devoted loving family man. In the belief's of Jesse Ownes the Jesse Ownes foundation was founded 1980, which is a non-profit organization whose goal is to promote the development of youth to their fullest. The Jesse Ownes Foundation provides information, materials, and direction for research on the life and legend of Jesse Owens. The Jesse Ownens Foundation is governed by a Board of Directors with oversight provided by a Managing Director.(Retrieved April 5, 2007, from http://www.jesse-owens.org/about2.html) The Foundation is supported by special events and contributions from the community-at-large. Since 1983, the Foundation has provided more than 350 young people, throughout the country, with support for their college education.

Jesse Owens was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1976 by Gerald Ford and (posthumously) the Congressional Gold Medal by George H. W. Bush on March 28, 1990. In 1984, a street in Berlin was renamed for him and the Jesse Owens Realschule/Oberschule (a secondary school) is in Berlin-Lichtenberg. His birthplace in Oakville dedicated a park in his honor in 1996, at the same time the Olympic Torch came through the community, 60 years after his Olympic triumph.

A pack-a-day smoker for 35 years, he died of lung cancer at age 66 in Tucson, Arizona. Owens is buried in Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago.

Trivia

• The runner he beat in the 200m at the 1936 Summer Olympics was Jackie Robinson's brother, Matthew "Mack" Robinson, who also tied the world record at the time.
• Two U.S. postage stamps have been issued to honor Owens, one in 1990 and another in 1998.
• He was portrayed by Dorian Harewood in The Jesse Owens Story (1984).
• His great-nephew, Chris Owens, an American professional basketball player, is a member of German league team ALBA Berlin.^[6]

References

http://www.jesse-owens.org/glance.html http://www.jesseowens.com/jobio2.html

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