The legendary Jesse Owens once said: “For a time, at least, I was the most famous person in the entire world.” He elaborated: “We all have dreams. In order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline and effort.” Owens also shared, “Find the good. It’s all around you. Find it, showcase it and you’ll start believing it.”
It’s all about the Olympic Games and he won four gold medals: 100m, long jump, 200m, and 4x100m relay, exactly 85 years ago at Berlin 1936. Owens was the most successful athlete at Berlin and was credited for “single-handedly crushing Hitler’s myth of Aryan supremacy.”He was recognized as “perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history.”
In 1935, he set three world records and tied another, at the Big Ten Track meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan –the most amazing feat in any sport that has never been equaled and has been coined “the greatest 45 minutes ever in sport.” The Jesse Owens Award is the USA Track and Field’s highest accolade for the year’s best athlete.
Birth, Growth and Education
James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens was born September 12, 1913, as the youngest of ten children - three girls and seven boys of Henry Cleveland Owens and Mary Emma Fitzgerald in Oakville, Alabama. He was the grandson of a slave. At 9, his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, for better opportunities. When his new teacher asked his name, he said “J.C.” but because of his strong accent, she thought he said “Jesse.” The name stuck, and he was known as Jesse Owens for the rest of his life.
As a youth, Owens realized that he had a passion for running. Throughout his life, Owens attributed the success of his career to the encouragement of Charles Riley, his junior high school track coach at Fairmount Junior High School. Since Owens worked in a shoe repair shop after school, Riley allowed him to practice before school instead.
 New York Ticker-Tape Parade for Jesse Owens |
Owens and Minnie Ruth Solomon met at Fairmont Junior High School in Cleveland when they were 15 and 13 and dated steadily through high school. They were blessed with three daughters, Gloria in 1932, Marlene in 1937, and Beverly in 1940. They remained married until his death in 1980.
Owens first came to national attention when he was a student of East Technical High School in Cleveland; he equaled the world record of 9.4 for 100-yds and long-jumped 24 feet 9 1⁄2 inches at the 1933 National High School Championship.Owens attended the Ohio State University after his father found employment.
Affectionately known as the “Buckeye Bullet” and under the coaching of Larry Snyder, Owens won a record eight individual NCAA championships, four each in 1935 and 1936. Though Owens enjoyed athletic success, he had to live off campus with other African American athletes. When he traveled with the team, Owens was restricted to ordering carry-out or eating at “blacks-only” restaurants. Similarly, he had to stay at “blacks-only” hotels. Owens did not receive a scholarship for his efforts, so he continued to work part-time jobs to pay for school.
Achieving Athletics Immortality
The day of May 25, 1935 is remembered as the day when 21-year Jesse Owens achieved track and field immortality. In a span of 45 minutes, during the Big Ten Meet at Ferry Field in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Owens set three world records and tied a fourth. At 1515, he equaled the world record for 100-yd dash clocking 9.4, and set world records at 1525 in long jump (26 feet 8 1⁄4 inches or 8.13m, a world record that would last for 25 years); at 1534 in 220-yds (20.3 sec); and at 1600 in 220-yd low hurdles (22.6 sec, becoming the first to break 23 sec).
Owens breath-taking 8.13m long jump world record stood for 25 years and would have placed him seventh in Tokyo 2020. His effort in 220-yd dash looked like he was running on his own. With the 200m mark in his pocket too, it was two world records in one race.Owens arguably saved the very best until last. But almost no athlete has been a sprinter, jumper and a hurdler.Exactly 22.6 sec later he was the first man to become holder of two hurdling world records in 220-yd and 200m.
Glory at Berlin 1936 Olympics
In 1936, Owens and his teammates sailed to Berlin on SS Manhattan. According to fellow American sprinter James LuValle, Owens arrived at the Olympic stadium to a throng of fans, many of them young girls yelling “Wo ist Jesse? (“Where is Jesse?). Just before the competitions, founder of Adidas Athletic Shoe Company, Adi Dassler visited Owens in the Olympic Village and persuaded him to wear Gebruder Dassler Schuhfabrik shoes; this was the first sponsorship for a male African American athlete.
Owens first competed on August 2, 1936 running in the first (1030) and second (1500) qualifying rounds for 100m; he equaled the Olympic and world record in the first and broke them in the second, but was not recognized, as it was wind-assisted.
On August 3, Owens won 100m in 10.3, defeating teammate Ralph Metcalfe by a tenth of a second and Tinus Osendarp of the Netherlands by two tenths of a second. On August 4, he won the long jump with a leap of 8.06 (26 ft 5 in). He later credited this achievement to the technical advice that he received from Luz Long, the German competitor whom he defeated.
On August 5, he won 200m in 20.7, defeating teammate Mack Robinson.
On August 9, Owens won his fourth gold in 4x100m when head coach Lawson Robertson replaced Jewish-American sprinters Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller with Owens and Ralph Metcalfe, who teamed with Frank Wykoff and Foy Draper to set a world record of 39.8. Owens had initially protested the last-minute switch, but assistant coach Dean Cromwell said to him, “You’ll do as you are told.”
Owens famous quote on his Olympic achievements: “It dawned on me with blinding brightness. I realized; I had jumped into another rare kind of stratosphere – one that only a handful of people in every generation are lucky enough to know.”
Owens’ record-breaking performance of four gold medals was not equaled until Carl Lewis won gold medals in the same events at the Los Angeles 1984 Summer Olympic Games. Owens had set the world record in the long jump with a leap of 8.13 m (26 ft 8 in) in 1935, the year before the Berlin 1936 Olympics. Owens was a spectator at Rome 1960 Summer Olympics when his record was broken.
Adolf Hitler and Jesse Owens
 Jesse and his wife Ruth, return home after the Olympics
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Owens responded to the claims at the time:Hitler had a certain time to come to the stadium and a certain time to leave. It happened he had to leave before the victory ceremony after 100m. But before he left, I was on my way to a broadcast and passed near his box. He waved at me and I waved back. I think it was bad taste to criticize the “man of the hour” in another country.
In an article dated August 4, 1936, the newspaper editor, Robert L. Vann describes witnessing Hitler “salute” Owens for having won gold in 100m sprint (August 3):And then; wonder of wonders; … I saw Hitler, salute this lad. I looked on with a heart which beat proudly as the lad who was crowned king of 100m, get an ovation the like of which I have never heard before. I saw Jesse Owens greeted by the Grand Chancellor of this country as a brilliant sun peeped out through the clouds. I saw a vast crowd of some 85,000 or 90,000 people stand up and cheer him to the echo.
In Germany, Owens had been allowed to travel with and stay in the same hotels as whites, at a time when African Americans in many parts of the United States, chiefly in the South, had to stay in segregated hotels that accommodated only blacks.
Owens was honored with a ticker-tape parade on September 3, 1936 in New York and was greeted in New York City by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. Since 1886, those who have made significant achievements have been paraded traditionally along a section of Broadway, known as the “Canyon of Heroes.”
During a Manhattan ticker-tape parade, someone handed Owens a paper bag along “Canyon of Heroes.” When he opened it up, after the parade concluded, he found $10,000 in cash. Owens’s wife Ruth later said: “And Owens didn’t know who was good enough to do a thing like that. And with all the excitement around, he didn’t pick it up right away. He didn’t pick it up until he got ready to get out of the car.”
In 1936, Owens joined the campaign of presidential nominee, Alf Landon. Speaking at a Republican rally held in Baltimore on October 9, 1936, Owens said: “Some people say Hitler snubbed me. But I tell you, Hitler did not snub me. I am not knocking the President. Remember, I am not a politician, but remember that the President did not send me a message of congratulations because, people said, he was too busy.”
After Berlin 1936 Olympics
Owens was quoted saying the secret behind his success was, “I let my feet spend as little time on the ground as possible. From the air, fast down, and from the ground, fast up.”
After the games had ended, the entire Olympic team was invited to compete in Sweden. Owens decided to capitalize on his success by returning to the United States to take up some of the more lucrative endorsement offers. United States athletic officials were furious and withdrew his amateur status, which immediately ended his career.
Owens was angry and stated that “A fellow desires something for himself.” Owens argued that the racial discrimination he had faced throughout his athletic career, such as not being eligible for scholarships in college and therefore being unable to take classes between training and working to pay his way, meant he had to give up on amateur athletics in pursuit of financial gain elsewhere.
Owens returned home from the 1936 Olympics with four gold medals and international fame, yet had difficulty in finding work. He took on menial jobs as a gas station attendant, playground janitor, and manager of a dry-cleaning firm. He also raced against amateurs and horses for cash.
Owens was prohibited from making appearances at amateur sporting events to bolster his profile, and he found out that the commercial offers had all but disappeared. In 1937, he briefly toured with a twelve-piece jazz band under contract with Consolidated Artists but found it unfulfilling. He also made appearances at baseball games and other events.
Life During 1942 to 1972
Willis Ward, a friend and former competitor from the University of Michigan - brought Owens to Detroit in 1942 to work at Ford Motor Company as Assistant Personnel Director. Owens later became a director, in which capacity he worked until 1946.
In 1946, Owens joined Abe Saperstein in the formation of the West Coast Negro Baseball League; Owens was Vice-President and the owner of the Portland Rosebuds franchise. He toured with the Rosebuds, sometimes entertaining the audience in between doubleheader games by competing in races against horses.
Owens tried to make a living as a sports promoter, essentially an entertainer. He would give local sprinters a ten- or twenty-yard start and beat them in the 100-yd dash. He also challenged and defeated racehorses; as he revealed later, the trick was to race a high-strung Thoroughbred that would be frightened by the starter’s shotgun and give him a bad jump. Owens said, “People say that it was degrading for an Olympic champion to run against a horse, but what was I supposed to do? I had four gold medals, but you can’t eat four gold medals.”
On the lack of opportunities, Owens added, “There was no television, no big advertising, no endorsements then. Not for a black man, anyway.” He traveled to Rome for the 1960 Summer Olympics.In 1965, Owens was hired as a running instructor for spring training for the New York Mets. Owens ran a dry cleaning business and worked as a gas station attendant to earn a living, but he eventually filed for bankruptcy.
In 1966, he was prosecuted for tax evasion. At rock bottom, he was aided in beginning his rehabilitation. The government appointed him as a US goodwill ambassador. Owens traveled the world and spoke to companies such as the Ford Motor Company and stakeholders such as the United States Olympic Committee.
Owens traveled to Munich for the 1972 Summer Olympic Games as a special guest of the West German government.A few months before his death, Owens had unsuccessfully tried to convince President Jimmy Carter to withdraw his demand that the United States boycott the Moscow 1980 Summer Olympics in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. He argued that the Olympic ideal was supposed to be observed as a time-out from war and that it was above politics.
Awards and Accolades
1936 - AP Athlete of the Year; 1936 - Four English oak saplings, one for each Olympic gold medal, from the German Olympic Committee, planted;1970 - Inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame; 1976 - Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Gerald Ford; 1976 - Inducted into Silver Olympic Order for his quadruple victory in the 1936 games and his defense of sport and the ethics of sport.
After 50 years: 1979 -Awarded Living Legend Award by President Jimmy Carter; 1981- USA Track and Field created the Jesse Owens Award which is given annually to the country’s top track and field athlete; 1983 – The U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame; 1984: A Street of the Olympic Stadium in Berlin renamed Jesse-Owens-Allee; 1990 - Posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President George H. W. Bush; 1990 and 1998 - Two U.S. postage stamps to honor Owens; 1996: Owens’ hometown of Oakville, Alabama, dedicated the Jesse Owens Memorial Park and Museum.
In the new millennium:2001 - Ohio State University dedicated Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium for track and field events;2009 - at the World Championships in Berlin, all members of the US Track and Field team wore badges with “JO” to commemorate Owens’ victories in the same stadium;2010 - The city of Cleveland renamed East Roadway as Jesse Owens Way.
Death at 66 and Legacy
Owens was hospitalized on and off with an extremely aggressive and drug-resistant type of lung cancer from December 1979. He died at age 66 in Tucson, Arizona, on March 31, 1980, with his wife and family members at his bedside.
Though, President Jimmy Carter had ignored Owens’ request to cancel the Olympic boycott of Moscow 1980 sighting that years of hard work go unfulfilled and dreams turn to nightmares, the President issued a tribute to when Owens died in 1980: “Perhaps no athlete better symbolized the human struggle against tyranny, poverty and racial bigotry.”
The dormitory that Jesse Owens occupied during the Berlin 1936 Olympics has been fully restored into a living museum. His grave is inscribed “Jesse Owens 1936 Olympic Champion” and is set against the backdrop of the lake in the Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago.
At London 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony, just after the Olympic cauldron had been lit, 80,000 individual pixels in the audience seating area were used as a giant video screen to show footage of Owens running around the stadium.
In 2016, the 1936 Olympic journey of the eighteen Black American athletes, including Owens, was documented in the film, “Olympic Pride, American Prejudice.”
(The author is the winner of Presidential Awards for Sports and recipient of multiple National Accolades for Academic pursuits. He possesses a PhD, MPhil and double MSc. He can be reached at [email protected])