Jesse Owens

From BpWiki

James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was a world-class track and field athlete who attended The Ohio State University in the mid-1930's. His most notable athletic accomplishment was winning four gold medals at the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany.

[edit] Early Years

James Cleveland Owens (called J.C.) was born in Danville, Alabama on September 12, 1913 to Henry and Emma Owens. Henry's vocation was a sharecropper and struggled to support his family, so at the age of 8 J.C.'s family moved to Cleveland, Ohio in search of better job opportunities. Unfortunately for the Owens family the work market was not much better in Cleveland than it was in Alabama.

Upon moving to Cleveland J.C. was enrolled in a public school. On his first day J.C.'s teacher asked him what his name was and mistook J.C. for "Jesse". The name stuck and he would be known as Jesse from that point on.

[edit] High School

Jesse attended Cleveland East Technical High School and quickly became a track star where he led his high school to the Ohio High School State Track & Field Championships for three straight years. In May of 1933, he became nationally known when he tied the 100 yard dash world record at the National High School Championship at Chicago, Illinois, running an astonishing 9.4 seconds. At the same meet he also set a new high school world record in the 220 yard dash by running the distance in 20.7 seconds and recorded a performance of 24' 9 1/2" (7.56 meters) in the broad jump (now known as the long jump).

[edit] College

Jesse enrolled at The Ohio State University in September of 1933. Since track athletes were not given scholarships during this era, Jesse worked through college as an elevator operator at the statehouse to put himself through college and in hopes to help out his family.

At the 1934 Big Ten Freshman meet in Columbus, Ohio Jesse set new conference records in all three events he participated in: 9.6 seconds in the 100 yard dash, 21.0 seconds in the 220 yard dash, 24' 10" in the long jump.

At the Big Ten meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan on May 25, 1935, Jesse set three world records and tied a fourth, all in a span of about 45 minutes. A week before the meet Jesse had fallen down a flight of stairs, and it was questionable whether he would physically be able to participate in the meet. After much persuasion his coach allowed him to run the 100 yard dash and Jesse did not disappoint: Every timer clocked him at 9.4 seconds, once again tying the world record. After this amazing performance Owens' coach allowed him to participate in his other events. A mere fifteen minutes later he soared to a distance of 26' 8 1/4", shattering the old world record by nearly 6" (this record would stand for 25 years). Jesse immediately went on to win the 220 yard dash in 20.3 seconds, besting the previous world record by 0.3 seconds. About 15 minutes later Jesse finished his amazing performance by winning the 220 yard low hurdles in 22.6 seconds, 0.4 seconds better than the previous world record. Jesse's four wins plus wins by Charlie Beetham (half mile) and Dave Albritton (high jump) allowed Ohio State to capture the Big Ten title. Interestingly enough, Jesse, Charlie, and Dave were the only three athletes Ohio State brought to the meet.

[edit] The 1936 Olympics

After Owen's performance at the Big Ten Championships his sophomore season he decided to turn professional and focused on the 1936 Summer Olympic Games, also known as the "Hitler Olympics". Adolf Hitler wanted to use the Olympic Games as a tool to show the world the supremacy of Nazi Germany and the Aryan race.

[edit] July 11

Owens qualified for the Olympics in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, and the long jump by winning each event at the United States Olympic Trials in New York City. This set the stage for what would become known as one of the greatest athletic achievements ever.

[edit] August 3

Owens began competition at the Olympic Games by defeating his teammate and race favorite Ralph Metcalfe in the 100-meter dash, winning in a world-record tying time of 10.3 seconds (Metcalfe had equaled the world record time on a number of occasions).

[edit] August 4

Owens's next event was the long jump, the most remembered event at the 1936 Olympics. His main competition was German Luz Long. During the preliminary trials of the long jump Long had bested the Olympic record while Owens fouled his first two attempts. According to Owens's own account, Long told him to jump from a spot several inches behind the foul line. Long knew that Owens would be able to safely advance to the next round without risking another foul since he consistently jumped distances far greater than most other competitors, thus allowing him to qualify for the finals. Owens took Long's advise and jumped about half a foot before the foul line giving him an attempt good enough to qualify for the finals.

Owens went on to jump 25' 5 1/4" in the finals besting the Olympic record Long had set earlier. Long was the first person to congratulate Owens after his record-setting performance. Owens later went on to say "It took a lot of courage for him to befriend me in front of Hitler. You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn't be a plating on the 24-karat friendship I felt for Luz Long at that moment. Hitler must have gone crazy watching us embrace. The sad part of the story is I never saw Long again. He was killed in World War II." Owens, though, would continue to correspond with Long's family.

[edit] August 5

Owens won the 200-meter dash in an Olympic record time of 20.7 seconds. Owens's third gold medal of the Olympics ties him for the most won by a single athlete, a feat last accomplished at the 1908 Summer Olympic Games in London, England.

[edit] August 9

The 200-meter dash was slated to be Jesse's last event of the Olympics but he would be in for a surprise. A few days later Owens and Metcalfe replaced Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller, who were both Jewish, on the 4x100-meter relay. Rumor was the Nazis had approached the United States Olympic Committee and asked to have the Jewish athletes removed from the relay so Germany would not be humiliated more than it already had been (in reference to the black athletes Owens and Metcalfe besting the German athletes). The United States Olympic Committee complied with the request and on August 9 Owens and Metcalfe teamed up with Foy Draper and Frank Wykoff to win the gold medal in the 4x100-meter relay in a world record time of 39.8 seconds. This world record would stand for 20 years.

[edit] Other Notes

• Owens won four gold medals in the 1936 Summer Olympics, a feat that would not be duplicated until Carl Lewis won the same four events in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.
• During one of the awards ceremonies Owens was cheered enthusiastically by 110,000 people in Berlin's Olympic Stadium. Later ordinary Germans sought his autograph when they saw him in the streets.
• While in Germany Owens was permitted to stay in the same hotels and eat in the same restaurants as the white athletes. Ironically, after a parade in his honor in New York City Owens had to ride a freight elevator to reach a reception in his honor at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel since blacks were not permitted to ride the regular elevators.

[edit] Notable BuckeyePlanet Threads

Jesse Owens (Official Thread)

[edit] External Links

The Official Jesse Owens Website
Jesse Owens on Wikipedia
The Jesse Owens Foundation
Jesse Owens Museum
Owens Pierced a Myth, Larry Schwartz, ESPN
1936 Olympics - 200 Meter Finals Video (YouTube)
1936 Olympics - 4x100 Meter Finals Video (YouTube)

[edit] References