Jesse Owens

Jesse Owens in 1936
Personal information
Full name	James Cleveland Owens
Nationality	American
Born	September 12, 1913 Oakville, Alabama, USA
Died	March 31, 1980(1980-03-31) (aged 66) Tucson, Arizona, USA
Height	5'10
Weight	180 lbs
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Track and field athletics
Event(s)	Sprint, Long jump
Team	Ohio State
Achievements and titles
Highest world ranking	1st
Medal record Men's athletics Competitor for the USA Olympic Games Gold 1936 Berlin 100 m Gold 1936 Berlin 200 m Gold 1936 Berlin 4x100 m relay Gold 1936 Berlin Long jump

James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete who specialized in the sprints and the long jump. 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. He was the most successful athlete at the 1936 Summer Olympics, a victory more poignant and often noted because Adolf Hitler had intended the 1936 games to showcase his Aryan ideals and prowess.

The Jesse Owens Award, USA Track and Field's highest accolade for the year's best track and field athlete, is named after him, in honor of his significant career.

Childhood[link]

James Cleveland Owens was born the seventh of eleven children of Henry Cleveland Owens and Mary Emma Fitzgerald in Oakville, Alabama on September 12, 1913. J.C., as he was called, was nine years old when the family moved to Cleveland, Ohio for better opportunities, as part of the Great Migration, when 1.5 million African Americans left the segregated South. When his new teacher asked his name (to enter in her roll book), he said "J.C.", but because of his strong Southern accent, she thought he said "Jesse". The name took, and he was known as Jesse Owens for the rest of his life.^[1]

As a boy and youth, Owens took different jobs in his spare time: he delivered groceries, loaded freight cars and worked in a shoe repair shop while his father and older brother worked at a steel mill.^[2] During this period, Owens realized that he had a passion 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 Fairmount Junior High School. Since Owens worked in a shoe repair shop after school, Riley allowed him to practice before school instead.

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 seconds in the 100-yard (91 m) dash and long-jumped 24 feet 9 ¹⁄₂ inches (7.56 metres) at the 1933 National High School Championship in Chicago.^[3]

Ohio State University[link]

Owens attended Ohio State University after employment was found for his father, ensuring the family could be supported. Affectionately known as the "Buckeye bullet," Owens won a record eight individual NCAA championships, four each in 1935 and 1936. (The record of four gold medals at the NCAA was equaled only by Xavier Carter in 2006, although his many titles also included relay medals.) 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 "black-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.

Owens's greatest achievement came in a span of 45 minutes on May 25, 1935, during the Big Ten meet at Ferry Field in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he set three world records and tied a fourth. He equaled the world record for the 100 yard dash (9.4 seconds); and set world records in the long jump (26 ft 8 ¹⁄₄ in/8.13 m, a world record that would last 25 years); 220-yard (201.2 m) sprint (20.3 seconds); and 220-yard (201.2m) low hurdles (22.6 seconds, becoming the first to break 23 seconds).^[4] In 2005, NBC sports announcer Bob Costas and University of Central Florida professor of sports history Richard C. Crepeau both chose these wins on one day as the most impressive athletic achievement since 1850.^[5]

Berlin Olympics[link]

Owens performing the long jump at the 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.^[6] He and other government officials had high hopes that German athletes would dominate the games with victories (the German athletes achieved a "top of the table" medal haul). Meanwhile, Nazi propaganda promoted concepts of "Aryan racial superiority" and depicted ethnic Africans as inferior.^[6][7]

Owens surprised many^[6] by winning four gold medals: On August 3, 1936, he won the 100m sprint, defeating Ralph Metcalfe; on August 4, the long jump (later crediting friendly and helpful advice from Luz Long, the German competitor he ultimately defeated);^[4] on August 5, the 200m sprint; and, after he was added to the 4 x 100 m relay team, following a request by the Germans to replace a Jewish-American sprinter,^[8] he won his fourth on August 9 (a performance not equaled until Carl Lewis won gold medals in the same events at the 1984 Summer Olympics).

Just before the competitions, Owens was visited in the Olympic village by Adi Dassler, the founder of the Adidas athletic shoe company. He persuaded Owens to use Adidas shoes, the first sponsorship for a male African-American athlete.^[9]

The long-jump victory is documented, along with many other 1936 events, in the 1938 film Olympia by Leni Riefenstahl.

On the first day, Hitler shook hands only with the German victors and then left the stadium. Olympic committee officials insisted Hitler greet every medalist or none at all. Hitler opted for the latter and skipped all further medal presentations.^[10][11] On reports that Hitler had deliberately avoided acknowledging his victories, and had refused to shake his hand, Owens said 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 the 100 meters. 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".^[12]

Jesse Owens on the podium after winning the long jump at the 1936 Summer Olympics. L-R, on podium, Naoto Tajima, Owens, Luz Long.

Owens was allowed to travel with and stay in the same hotels as whites, while at the time blacks in many parts of the United States were denied equal rights. After a New York City ticker-tape parade of Fifth Avenue in his honor, Owens had to ride the freight elevator at the Waldorf-Astoria to reach the reception honoring him.^[4]

Owens said, "Hitler didn't snub me – it was FDR who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram."^[13] On the other hand, Hitler sent Owens a commemorative inscribed cabinet photograph of himself.^[14] Jesse Owens was never invited to the White House nor were honors bestowed upon him by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) or his successor Harry S. Truman during their terms. In 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower honored Owens by naming him an "Ambassador of Sports."

In August 2009, the London Daily Telegraph found a German sports reporter, Siegfried Mischner then aged 83, who claimed that Owens had shown him a photograph of Hitler shaking his hand after the 100 meters event, behind the stadium's honor stand. There is no independent confirmation of this.^[15]

Post-Olympics[link]

He 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.”^[16][17]

After the games had finished, the Olympic team and Owens were all invited to compete in Sweden. He decided to capitalize on his success by returning to the United States to take up some of the more lucrative commercial offers. United States athletic officials were furious and withdrew his amateur status, ending his career immediately. Owens was angry, saying, "A fellow desires something for himself."^[18]

Prohibited from amateur sporting appearances to bolster his profile, Owens found the commercial offers all but disappeared. In 1946, he joined Abe Saperstein in the formation of the West Coast Baseball Association (WCBA), a new Negro baseball league; Owens was Vice-President and the owner of the Portland (Oregon) Rosebuds franchise.^[19] He toured with the Rosebuds, sometimes entertaining the audience in between doubleheader games by competing in races against horses.^[20] The WCBA disbanded after only two months.^[19][20]

Owens helped promote the exploitation film Mom and Dad in black neighborhoods.^{[citation needed]} He 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 (91-m) 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."^[21]

Owens ran a dry cleaning business and worked as a gas station attendant to earn a living. He eventually filed for bankruptcy. In 1966, he was successfully prosecuted for tax evasion.^[22] At rock bottom, he was aided in beginning rehabilitation. The government appointed him 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.^{[citation needed]} After he retired, he owned racehorses.

Owens refused to support the black power salute by African-American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Summer Olympics. He told them:^[23]

The black fist is a meaningless symbol. When you open it, you have nothing but fingers – weak, empty fingers. The only time the black fist has significance is when there's money inside. There's where the power lies.

Four years later in his 1972 book I Have Changed, he moderated his opinion:

I realized now that militancy in the best sense of the word was the only answer where the black man was concerned, that any black man who wasn't a militant in 1970 was either blind or a coward.

A few months before his death, Owens had tried unsuccessfully to convince President Jimmy Carter not to boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics. He argued that the Olympic ideal was to be a time-out from war and above politics.^{[citation needed]}

Marriage and family[link]

Owens and Minnie Ruth Solomon met at Fairmount Junior High School in Cleveland when he was 15 years old and she was 13 years old. They dated steadily through high school. Ruth gave birth to their first daughter, Gloria, in 1932. They married in 1935 and had two more daughters together: Marlene, born in 1939, and Beverly, born in 1940. They remained married until his death.^[24][25]

Death[link]

Owens, a pack-a-day cigarette smoker for 35 years, had been hospitalized with an extremely virulent and drug-resistant type of lung cancer on and off beginning in December 1979. He died in Tucson, Arizona, on March 31, 1980, with his wife and other family members at his bedside.^[26] He is buried in Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago.

Awards, tributes and honors[link]

• In 1970, Owens was inducted to the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
• In 1976 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Gerald Ford.
• In 1980, a new asteroid was discovered by Antonín Mrkos at Kleť Observatory which was named as 6758 Jesseowens in honor of Jesse Owens.
• USA Track and Field created the Jesse Owens Award in 1981, which is given annually to the country's top track and field athlete.
• In 1984, an Emmy Award-winning biographical television film of his life, The Jesse Owens Story, was released, with Dorian Harewood portraying Owens.
• In 1984 a street near the Olympic Stadium in Berlin was renamed Jesse-Owens-Allee, and the Jesse Owens Realschule/Oberschule (a secondary school) in Berlin-Lichtenberg, was named for him.
• On March 28, 1990, Owens was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President George H. W. Bush.
• Two U.S. postage stamps have been issued to honor Owens, one in 1990 and another in 1998.
• In 1996, Owens's hometown of Oakville, Alabama, dedicated Jesse Owens Memorial Park in his honor, at the same time that the Olympic Torch came through the community, 60 years after his Olympic triumph. An article in the Wall Street Journal of June 7, 1996, covered the event and included this inscription written by poet Charles Ghigna that appears on a bronze plaque at the Park:

May his light shine forever as a symbol

for all who run for the freedom of sport,

for the spirit of humanity,

for the memory of Jesse Owens.

• In 2001, Ohio State University dedicated Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium for track and field events. The campus also houses three recreational centers for students and staff named in his honor.^[27]
• In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Jesse Owens on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.^[28]
• In Cleveland, Ohio, a statue of Owens in his Ohio State track suit was installed at Fort Huntington Park, west of the old Courthouse.^[29]
• Phoenix, Arizona named the Jesse Owens Medical Plaza in his honor, as well as Jesse Owens Parkway.
• Jesse Owens Park, located in Tucson, Arizona, is a staple of local youth athletics there.
• At the 2009 World Athletic Championships in Berlin, all members of the United States Track & Field team wore badges with "JO" to commemorate Owens's victories in the same stadium 73 years before.^[30]
• In early 2010, the Ohio Historical Society proposed Jesse Owens as a finalist from a statewide vote for inclusion in Statuary Hall at the United States Capitol.
• On Monday, November 15, 2010, the city of Cleveland renamed East Roadway, between Rockwell and Superior avenues in Public Square, Jesse Owens Way, in hopes that it will keep the great Jesse Owens on the minds of all sports fans.^[31]
• A novel in French written by Lebanese novelist Alexandre Najjar, Berlin 36, Plon (publisher), Paris, 2009, tells the story of Owens, particularly during the Berlin Olympic games. Najjar visited Chicago, Ohio and Alabama to achieve this distinguished tribute to Owens.
• For his contribution to sports in Los Angeles, he was honored with a Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum "Court of Honor" plaque by the Coliseum commissioners.

See also[link]

• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists at a single Games

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Jesse Owens

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jesse Owens

• Official website
• American Experience - Jesse Owens - PBS documentary (video, 52 mins)
• Obituary, New York Times, April 1, 1980
• Jesse Owens Memorial at Find A Grave
• Jesse Owens Museum
• Jesse Owens Information
• Jesse at the Internet Movie Database
• Official "Jesse Owens Movie" Website
• Owens's accomplishments and encounter with Adolf Hitler (ESPN)
• Jesse Owens video newsreel
• Jesse Owens video in Riefenstahl's Olympia (1936)
• Jesse Owens's U.S. Olympic Team bio
• Path of the Olympic Torch to Owens's birthplace in North Alabama
• Jesse Owens article, Encyclopedia of Alabama

Detail of Jesse from the Stained Glass window of All Saints Church, Hove, Sussex, England.

Jesse ( /ˈdʒɛs.iː/^[1]), Eshai or Yishai, (Hebrew: יִשַׁי, Modern Yishay Tiberian Yīšáy, meaning "God exists" or "God's gift"; Arabic: يَسَّى‎ Yassa; Greek: Ἰεσσαί Iessai; Latin: Isai, Jesse) is the father of the David, who became the king of the Israelites. His son David is sometimes called simply "Son of Jesse" (Ben Yishai).

Jesse was the son of Obed and the grandson of Ruth and of Boaz. He lived in Bethlehem, in Judah, and was of the Tribe of Judah, he was a farmer, breeder and owner of sheep. He was a prominent resident of the town of Bethlehem.^[2] Jesse is important in Judaism because he was the father of the most famous king of Israel. He is important in Christianity, in part because he is in the Old Testament and mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus.

Jesse in 1 Samuel[link]

Jesse is stated as having eight sons, including David the youngest. Among his grandchildren were the three sons of Zeruiah, Abishai, Joab and Ashashel. One day the prophet Samuel came to Bethlehem sent by God, to anoint the next king of Israel. Ostensibly, his visit to Bethlehem was to offer a sacrifice to God. He used that excuse because he was afraid that Saul might kill him if he suspected the true reason for his arrival in Bethlehem. Samuel offered a sacrifice with Jesse and then went to his house, where he sanctified him and his family. The prophet asked Jesse to present his sons, after seeing them, he realized that God has not chosen any of them. Then he said to Jesse if he had any other sons, Jesse told him that David the youngest was tending the flock. The prophet then asked for him, waited and when he came, God asked the prophet to anoint him as king over Israel.

Some time later king Saul was suffering from depression and melancholy, asked Jesse for his son to play the harp for him since he heard David plays the harp beautifully. Jesse sent his son alongside some gifts for the king, the king was taken with David's harp playing that he asked Jesse to keep him in his court to play for him whenever he was depressed. Later on Jesse sent his son with gifts to be given to his older brothers who were to fight war against the Philistines and, to the captain too. Years later when David fled to the desert away from Saul, who sought to kill David in order for him to stay in power and not have his throne be taken away from him. David, worried about the safety of his parents, went to Mizpah in Moab, to ask permission from the king to allow his father Jesse and his mother to stay under the royal protection of the king, they stayed there till Jesse's son's fortunes took a turn for the better.

Jesse in Isaiah[link]

The name Jesse is referenced in the Old Testament, and in particular the passages of Isaiah, Chapter 11, Verses 1-3:

Also Chapter 11, Verse 10:

These are two of the verses regarded by Christians as prophecy of the advent of Jesus, whom they consider to be the Christ and Messiah. These two prophesies are regarded by Bahá'ís to refer to Bahá'u'lláh, alleged to also have arisen from "the stump of Jesse."^[5][6]

The Tree of Jesse[link]

From the eleventh century the Tree of Jesse has been portrayed in religious illuminations, manuscripts, wall paintings, wood and stone carvings (including a grave marker), stained glass windows, floor tiles and embroidery. In the representation of the Tree, it is usual for Jesse to be portrayed recumbent with a tree rising from his body, and the ancestors of Christ portrayed in its branches with Prophets and Christ at the summit. The earliest illustrated manuscripts did not always depict Jesse or Christ. Not all illustrations include the same number of characters; this depends upon the size of the area provided, such as seven light windows or three light windows.

Jesse in 1 Chronicles[link]

In the Book of Chronicles the names of only seven of Jesse's sons are listed, including David, as well as the names of two of his daughters, Zeruiah and Abigail. Evidently (from 1 Samuel 16) Jesse had more sons than these seven, and it is likely that he had more daughters as well.

Geographical usage[link]

The "Geza of Jesse" is a plateau located just north of the valley of Jezreel in Israel said to have been originally cleared and settled by descendants of David.

See also[link]

	Judaism portal
	Christianity portal

• Tree of Jesse..
• List of people named Jesse

References and notes[link]