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Jesse Owens
File:Jesse Owens3.jpg
Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin
Personal information
Full nameJames Cleveland Owens
BornSeptember 12, 1913
Oakville, Alabama, U.S.
DiedMarch 31, 1980(1980-03-31) (aged 66)
Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
EducationOhio State University, Fairmont Junior High School, East Technical High SchoolCite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page).
Height5 ft 10+3⁄4 in (180 cm)[1]
Weight165 lb (75 kg)
Sport
SportTrack and field
Event(s)Sprint, Long jump
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)60 yd: 6.1
100 yd: 9.4
100 m: 10.3
200 m: 20.7
220 yd: 20.3
Medal record
Men's track and field
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1936 Berlin 100 m
Gold medal – first place 1936 Berlin 200 m
Gold medal – first place 1936 Berlin 4×100 m relay
Gold medal – first place 1936 Berlin Long jump

James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete and four-time Olympic gold medalist in the 1936 Games.

Owens specialized in the sprints and the long jump and was recognized in his lifetime as "perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history".[2] His achievement of setting three world records and tying another in less than an hour at the 1935 Big Ten track meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has been called "the greatest 45 minutes ever in sport"[3] and has never been equalled. At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, Owens achieved international fame by winning four gold medals: 100 meters, 200 meters, long jump, and 4 × 100 meter relay. He was the most successful athlete at the Games and, as a black man, was credited with "single-handedly crushing Hitler's myth of Aryan supremacy", although he "wasn't invited to the White House to shake hands with the President, either".[4]

The Jesse Owens Award is USA Track and Field's highest accolade for the year's best track and field athlete. Owens was ranked by ESPN as the sixth greatest North American athlete of the twentieth century and the highest-ranked in his sport.[5][6] In 1999 he was on the six man shortlist for the BBC's Sports Personality of the Century.[7]

Early life and education

Owens was the youngest of ten children, three girls and seven boys, born to Henry Cleveland Owens (a sharecropper) 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 stuck, and he was known as Jesse Owens for the rest of his life.[8]

As a 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.[9] 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 and Minnie Ruth Solomon (1915–2001) met at Fairmont Junior High School in Cleveland when he was 15 and she was 13. They dated steadily through high school. Ruth gave birth to their first daughter, Gloria, in 1932. They married on July 5, 1935 and had two more daughters together: Marlene, born in 1937, and Beverly, born in 1940. They remained married until his death in 1980.[10][11]

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.[12]

Career

Ohio State University

Owens attended Ohio State University after his father found employment, which ensured that the family could be supported. 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.[citation needed] (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 "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.[citation needed]

Owens's achieved track and field immortality 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) (not to be confused with the 100-meter dash); and set world records in the long jump (26 ft 8+1⁄4 in or 8.13 m, a world record that would last for 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, University of Central Florida professor of sports history Richard C. Crepeau chose these wins on one day as the most impressive athletic achievement since 1850.[13]

1936 Berlin Summer Olympics

Owens displaying excellent form during his victory in the long jump at the Berlin Olympics

On December 4, 1935, NAACP Secretary Walter White wrote a letter—which he never actually sent—to Jesse Owens.[14] In this letter, he was trying to dissuade Owens from taking part in the Olympics on the grounds that an African-American should not help promote a racist regime after what his community had suffered at the hands of white racists in his own country. In the months prior to the Games, the movement in favor of a boycott gained momentum. Owens was convinced by the NAACP to declare "If there are minorities in Germany who are being discriminated against, the United States should withdraw from the 1936 Olympics." Yet Owens and others eventually took part after Avery Brundage, president of the American Olympic Committee branded the advocates of a boycott as "un-American agitators".[15]

2015 photograph of the U.S. track team house at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Village
2015 photograph of Jesse Owens' room in the 1936 Olympic Village in Berlin

In 1936, Owens and his United States teammates sailed on the SS Manhattan and arrived in Berlin to compete at the Summer Olympics. According to fellow American sprinter James LuValle (who won bronze in the 400 meters), Owens arrived at the new Olympic stadium to a throng of fans, many of them young girls, yelling "Wo ist Jesse? Wo ist Jesse?" [16] Owens's success at the games represented an unpleasant consternation for Adolf Hitler, who was using the games to show the world a resurgent Nazi Germany.[17] He and other government officials had high hopes that German athletes would dominate the games with victories.[17][18]

On August 3, he won the 100 m dash[19] with a time of 10.3 s, defeating teammate and college friend[1] Ralph Metcalfe by a tenth of a second and defeating 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 m (26 ft 5 in) (3¼ inches short of his own world record). He later credited this achievement to the technical advice that he received from Luz Long, the German competitor whom he defeated.[4] On August 5, he won the 200 m sprint with a time of 20.7 s, defeating teammate Mack Robinson (the older brother of Jackie Robinson). On August 9, Owens won his fourth gold medal in the 4 × 100 m sprint relay when head coach Lawson Robertson replaced Jewish-American sprinters Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller with Owens and Ralph Metcalfe,[20] who teamed with Frank Wykoff and Foy Draper to set a world record of 39.8 s in the event.[21] Owens had initially protested the last-minute switch, but assistant coach Dean Cromwell said to him, "You'll do as you are told." Jesse Owens' record-breaking performance of four gold medals was not equaled until Carl Lewis won gold medals in the same events at the Soviet-boycotted 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In 1935 (the year before the Berlin Olympics), Owens set the world record in the long jump with a leap of 8.13 m (26 ft 8 in), and this record stood for 25 years (a very rare length of time for a track and field record[citation needed]), until it was finally broken by countryman Ralph Boston in 1960. Coincidentally, Owens was a spectator at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome when Boston took the gold medal in the long jump.

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 wear Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik shoes, the first sponsorship for a male African American athlete.[22]

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

On the first day of competition, August 1, 1936, Hitler shook hands with only the German victors and then left the stadium. Henri de Baillet-Latour, the President of the International Olympic Committee, insisted that Hitler greet every medalist or none at all. Hitler opted for the latter and skipped all further medal presentations.[23][24]

Owens first competed on Day 2 (August 2), running in the 1st (10:30am) and 2nd (3:00pm) qualifying rounds for the 100 meters final; he equaled the Olympic and world record in the 1st race and broke them in the 2nd race, but the new time was not recognized because it was wind-assisted.[25] Later the same day, Owens's African-American team-mate Cornelius Johnson won gold in the high jump final (which began at 5:00pm) with a new Olympic record of 2.03 meters.[26] Hitler did not publicly congratulate any of the medal winners this time; even so, the communist New York City newspaper the Daily Worker claimed Hitler received all the track winners except Johnson, and left the stadium as a "deliberate snub" after watching Johnson's winning jump.[27] Hitler was subsequently accused of failing to acknowledge Owens (who won gold medals on August 3, 4 (two), and 8) or shake his hand. Owens responded to these 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 the 100 meters [race began at 5:45pm [28]]. 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.[29][30]

In an article dated August 4, 1936, the African-American newspaper editor Robert L. Vann describes witnessing Hitler "salute" Owens for having won gold in the 100m sprint (August 3):

And then...wonder of wonders...[sic] I saw Herr Adolph Hitler, salute this lad. I looked on with a heart which beat proudly as the lad who was crowned king of the 100 meters event, 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.[31]

Albert Speer wrote that Hitler "was highly annoyed by the series of triumphs by the marvelous colored American runner, Jesse Owens. People whose antecedents came from the jungle were primitive, Hitler said with a shrug; their physiques were stronger than those of civilized whites and hence should be excluded from future games."[32]

Jesse Owens salutes the American flag after winning the long jump at the 1936 Summer Olympics. Naoto Tajima, Owens, Lutz Long.

In a 2009 interview, German journalist Siegfried Mischner claimed that Owens carried around a photograph in his wallet of the Führer shaking his hand before the latter left the stadium. Owens, who felt that the newspapers of the day reported "unfairly" on Hitler's attitude towards him, tried to get Mischner and his journalist colleagues to change the accepted version of history in the 1960s. Mischner claimed that Owens showed him the photograph and told him: "That was one of my most beautiful moments." Mischner added: "(the picture) was taken behind the honour stand and so not captured by the world's press. But I saw it, I saw him shaking Hitler's hand!" According to Mischner, "the predominating opinion in post-war Germany was that Hitler had ignored Owens, so we therefore decided not to report on the photo. The consensus was that Hitler had to continue to be painted in a bad light in relation to Owens."[33] For some time, Mischner's assertion was not confirmed independently of his own account,[34] and Mischner himself admitted in Mail Online: "All my colleagues are dead, Owens is dead. I thought this was the last chance to set the record straight. I have no idea where the photo is or even if it exists still."[33]

However, in 2014, Eric Brown, British fighter pilot and test pilot, the Fleet Air Arm's most decorated living pilot,[35] independently stated in a BBC documentary: "I actually witnessed Hitler shaking hands with Jesse Owens and congratulating him on what he had achieved."[36] Additionally, an article in The Baltimore Sun in August 1936 reported that Hitler sent Owens a commemorative inscribed cabinet photograph of himself.[37]

Later, on October 15, 1936, Owens repeated this allegation when he addressed an audience of African Americans at a Republican rally in Kansas City, remarking: "Hitler didn't snub me – it was our president who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram."[38][39]

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 had to stay in segregated hotels that accommodated only blacks.[40] When Owens returned to the United States, he was greeted in New York City by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.[41] During a Manhattan ticker-tape parade[42] in his honor along Broadway's Canyon of Heroes, someone handed Owens a paper bag. Owens paid it little mind until the parade concluded. When he opened it up, he found that the bag contained $10,000 in cash. Owens's wife Ruth later said: "And he [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."[43] After the parade, Owens was not permitted to enter through the main doors of the Waldorf Astoria New York and instead forced to travel up to the event in a freight elevator to reach the reception honoring him.[40][44] President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) never invited Jesse Owens to the White House following his triumphs at the Olympics games.[45] While the Democrats had bid for the support of Owens, Owens rejected those overtures: as a staunch Republican, he endorsed Alf Landon, Roosevelt's Republican opponent in the 1936 presidential race.[46]

Owens joined the Republican Party after returning from Europe and was paid to campaign for African American votes for the Republican presidential nominee Alf Landon in the 1936 presidential election.[47][48] 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."[49][50]

Life after the Olympics

Owens on a 1971 UAE stamp.

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."[51][52]

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, saying, "A fellow desires something for himself."[53] 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.[54]

Jesse Owens returned home from the 1936 Olympics with four gold medals and international fame, but there were no guarantees for his future prosperity. Racism was still prevalent in the United States, and he had difficulty 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.[55]

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.[56] Finally, 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. He later become a director, where he worked until 1946.

In 1946, Owens joined Abe Saperstein in the formation of the West Coast Negro Baseball League, a new Negro baseball league; Owens was Vice-President and the owner of the Portland (Oregon) Rosebuds franchise.[57] He toured with the Rosebuds, sometimes entertaining the audience in between doubleheader games by competing in races against horses.[58] The WCBA disbanded after only two months.[57][58]

Owens helped promote the exploitation film Mom and Dad in African American 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."[59] On the lack of opportunities, Owens added, "There was no television, no big advertising, no endorsements then. Not for a black man, anyway."[54]

He traveled to Rome for the 1960 Summer Olympics where he met 1960 100 metres champion Armin Hary of Germany, who had defeated American Dave Sime in a photo finish.[60]

In 1965, Owens was hired as a running instructor for spring training for the New York Mets.[61]

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 successfully prosecuted for tax evasion.[62] 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.[citation needed] After he retired, he owned racehorses.

Owens initially refused to support the black power salute by African-American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Summer Olympics. He told them:[63]

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 revised 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.

Owens travelled to Munich for the 1972 Summer Olympics as a special guest of the West German government.[64] In Munich, Owens met West German Chancellor Willy Brandt and former boxer Max Schmeling.[65]

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 1980 Moscow 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.[citation needed]

Death

Owens was a pack-a-day cigarette smoker for 35 years, having started at age 32.[66] Beginning in December 1979, he was hospitalized on and off with an extremely aggressive and drug-resistant type of lung cancer. He died of the disease at age 66 in Tucson, Arizona, on March 31, 1980, with his wife and other family members at his bedside.[67] He was buried at Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago. Although Jimmy Carter had ignored Owens' request to cancel the Olympic boycott, the President issued a tribute to Owens after he died: “Perhaps no athlete better symbolized the human struggle against tyranny, poverty and racial bigotry.”

Legacy

The dormitory that Owens occupied during the Berlin Olympics has been fully restored into a living museum, with pictures of his accomplishments at the games, and a letter (intercepted by the Gestapo) from a fan urging him not to shake hands with Hitler.[68]

Awards and honors

May this light shine forever
as a symbol to all who run
for the freedom of sport,
for the spirit of humanity,
for the memory of Jesse Owens.

Literature and film

  • In 1984, an Emmy Award-winning biographical television film of his life, The Jesse Owens Story, was released, with Dorian Harewood portraying Owens.
  • In Markus Zusak's 2006 bestselling novel, The Book Thief, a character named Rudy Steiner idolizes Owens.
  • 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 create his tribute to Owens.
  • A feature film titled Saints and Soldiers: The Void is about Jesse Owens, with K. Danor Gerald portraying Owens' time as a sergeant in the military after his Olympic wins in Berlin. The film addresses the racism and segregation of American troops during World War II. The film was released August 15, 2014.[77]
  • A feature film titled Race about Owens with Stephan James portraying Owens was released February 19, 2016. Shooting began in Montreal on July 24, 2014.[78]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Edmondson, Jacqueline (2007). Jesse Owens: A Biography. USA: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 29. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
  2. ^ Litsky, Frank (1980), Jesse Owens Dies Of Cancer at 66, New York Times, retrieved March 23, 2014{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ Rothschild, Richard (May 24, 2010). "Greatest 45 minutes ever in sports". Sports Illustrated.com. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
  4. ^ a b c Schwartz, Larry (2000). "Owens Pierced A Myth". ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures. Archived from the original on July 6, 2000.
  5. ^ "Top N. American athletes of the century". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
  6. ^ "Ali crowned Sportsman of Century". BBC Sport. BBC. December 13, 1999. Retrieved January 12, 2009.
  7. ^ "Ali crowned Sportsman of Century". BBC Sport. BBC. December 13, 1999. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  8. ^ Baker, William J. Jesse Owens – An American Life, p.19.
  9. ^ "?". Archived from the original on July 3, 2007. Retrieved April 5, 2008.
  10. ^ "The Owens Family". Archived from the original on June 1, 2009. Retrieved March 10, 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help). library.osu.edu
  11. ^ "Jesse Owens". Whitehouse.gov. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  12. ^ "Jesse Owens: Track & Field Legend: Biography". Archived from the original on December 23, 2007. Retrieved January 6, 2008.
  13. ^ Rose, Lacey (November 18, 2005). "The Single Greatest Athletic Achievement". Forbes.com.
  14. ^ "NAACP: A Century in the Fight for Freedom". NAACP Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (082.00.00),
  15. ^ "American Experience, Jesse Owens". PBS
  16. ^ Hodak, George A. (June 1988). "An Olympian's Oral History" (PDF) (Press release). Los Angeles: LA84 Foundation. Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
  17. ^ a b Bachrach, Susan D. The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936. ISBN 0-316-07087-4.
  18. ^ "Jesse Owens, 1913–1980: He Was Once the Fastest Runner in the World". Voice Of America. August 27, 2011. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  19. ^ Olympic (December 9, 2015). "Jesse Owens at Berlin 1936 - Epic Olympic Moments" – via YouTube.
  20. ^ "Controversy at the 1936 Olympics". AwesomeStories.com.
  21. ^ PBS: American Experience. Jessie Owens. (Accessed: May 2, 2012)
  22. ^ "How Adidas and Puma were born". In.rediff.com. November 8, 2005. Retrieved June 15, 2010.
  23. ^ Berlin Games: How Hitler Stole the Olympic Dream (2012) Guy Walters, Hachette UK, 2012 ISBN 9781848547490
  24. ^ Rick Shenkman, Adolf Hitler, Jesse Owens and the Olympics Myth of 1936 February 13, 2002 from History News Network (article excerpted from Rick Shenkman's Legends, Lies and Cherished Myths of American History, William Morrow & Co, 1988 ISBN 0-688-06580-5)
  25. ^ Official Report Volume 2, The XIth Olympic Games, Berlin, Organisation Committee for the 11th Olympiad, Berlin: Wilhelm Limpert, 1936, pp.617-618. PDF
  26. ^ Official Report Volume 3, The XIth Olympic Games, Berlin, Organisation Committee for the 11th Olympiad, Berlin: Wilhelm Limpert, 1936, p.664. PDF
  27. ^ "Negroes Set New Records In Olympics", Daily Worker, August 3, 1936, p.3. A copy of this newspaper is available on the website Fulton History and can be located with a simple word search.
  28. ^ http://library.la84.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1936/1936spart2.pdf Official Report Volume 2, The XIth Olympic Games, Berlin, Organisation Committee for the 11th Olympiad, Berlin: Wilhelm Limpert, 1936, pp.619. PDF
  29. ^ Owens Arrives With Kind Words For All Officials – The Pittsburgh Press, 24 August 1936. News.google.co.uk. Retrieved on 2011-09-15.
  30. ^ ""Owens, Back, Gets Hearty Reception" by Louis Effrat, The New York Times, 25 August 1936, p.25.
  31. ^ "This athletic contest between the leading nations of the country, is a spectacle of spectacles! Its the greatest thing of its kind I've ever seen. Sunday, I witnessed 110,000 people cheer two Negro athletes, because they were supreme in their field. Monday, I saw another vast crowd of close to 100,000 people go "literally crazy" as they saw Jesse Owens, running with the effortless speed of an antelope, completely dominate his field to win "going away" in the 100 meters, with Ralph Metcalfe of Marquette University placing second. And then...wonder of wonders...[sic] I saw Herr Adolph Hitler, salute this lad. I looked on with a heart which beat proudly as the lad who was crowned king of the 100 meters event, 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. And they were mostly Germans! Make no mistake about it. These German people are mighty fine. They have a spirit of sportsmanship and fair play which overrides the color-barrier. This week, as Negro athletes have sent the Start and Stripes of the United States shooting to the top of the flag-pole on three different occasions, I have observed the spirit, not only of the German people, but of those competing from foreign countries. And I've found out, that in the world of sport, where personal perfection is the measuring rod of achievement, color does not count.
    — "Hitler Salutes Jesse Owens [Aug. 4—(By Cable)]" by Robert L. Vann, Pittsburgh Courier, 8 August 1936, p .1. A copy of this newspaper is available on the website Fulton History and can be located with a simple word search. The article is partially quoted in Jeremy Schaap, Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics, NYC: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2007, p.194
  32. ^ Anspach, Emma; Almog, Hilah (2009). "Hitler, Nazi Philosophy and Sport". Duke.edu. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
  33. ^ a b "Did Hitler shake hands with black 1936 Olympic hero Jesse Owens?". The UK Mail Online. August 11, 2009. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  34. ^ "Jesse Owns (1913–1980)". blackhistorymonth.org.uk. Black History Month UK 2014. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  35. ^ "Paisley University Library Special Collections – Putnam Aeronautical 1997". Archived from the original on March 4, 2009. Retrieved November 4, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  36. ^ "BBC Two – Britain's Greatest Pilot: The Extraordinary Story of Captain Winkle Brown (at 05:35 of the documentary)". bbc.co.uk. January 1, 1970. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
  37. ^ OWENS WEIGHS HIS PRO OFFERS – The Baltimore Sun, August 18, 1936. Pqasb.pqarchiver.com (August 18, 1936). Retrieved on September 15, 2011.
  38. ^ "'SNUB' FROM ROOSEVELT". St. Joseph News-Press. October 16, 1936. Retrieved November 12, 2015. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  39. ^ Schaap, Jeremy (2007). Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 211. ISBN 978-0-618-68822-7. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
  40. ^ a b "50 stunning Olympic moments No6: Jesse Owens's four gold medals, 1936". The Guardian. March 20, 2016.
  41. ^ FILMSCHÄTZE AUS KÖLN - VOM RHEIN - WELTFILMERBE (March 15, 2016). "Berlin 1936 - Olympics - Olympia - Jesse Owens back in New York - confetti parade" – via YouTube.
  42. ^ CriticalPast (June 16, 2014). "A motorcade carrying Olympic hero Jesse Owens passes crowded New York streets dur...HD Stock Footage" – via YouTube.
  43. ^ "Ruth Owens; Widow of Legendary Olympian". latimes.com. June 30, 2001. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  44. ^ Schwartz, Larry (2007). "Owens pierced a myth".
  45. ^ Burton W. Folsom (2009). New Deal Or Raw Deal?: How FDR's Economic Legacy Has Damaged America. Simon and Schuster. p. 210. ISBN 978-1416592372. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
  46. ^ "OWENS WILL TALK IN LANDON DRIVE". The New York Times. New York City. September 3, 1936. p. 10. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  47. ^ Streissguth, Thomas (2005). Jesse Owens. Twenty-First Century Books. p. 70. ISBN 0-822-53070-8.
  48. ^ Magill, Frank N., ed. (2013). The 20th Century O–Z: Dictionary of World Biography. Routledge. p. 2863. ISBN 1-136-59362-4.
  49. ^ TruthTV (October 21, 2016). "Jesse Owens Meet Adolf Hitler During 1936 Olympics" – via YouTube.
  50. ^ "Owens Nearly Mobbed as He Speaks Here". The Afro American. October 10, 1936. Retrieved November 15, 2015. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  51. ^ Altman, Alex (August 18, 2009). "Usain Bolt: The World's Fastest Human". TIME. Retrieved June 15, 2010.
  52. ^ ThinkExist.com Quotations. "Jesse Owens quotes". Thinkexist.com. Archived from the original on July 14, 2012. Retrieved June 15, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  53. ^ Riley, Liam. "BBC – An Emperor among Professionals". BBC. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
  54. ^ a b Entine, Jon (2000). Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and why We are Afraid to Talk about it. PublicAffairs. p. 187.
  55. ^ "From horse-racer to speech writer: Jesse Owens' life after the Olympic Games". olympic.org. April 11, 2017.
  56. ^ Jack Neely, "The Fastest Bandleader in the World," Knoxville Mercury, August 10, 2016.
  57. ^ a b "West Coast Baseball Association". Organizing Black America: An Encyclopedia of African American Associations. BookRags. February 10, 2005. Archived from the original on September 20, 2010. Retrieved July 31, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  58. ^ a b Simonich, Milan (July 12, 2010). "Sun City home to the Negro Leagues for one weekend". Hidden El Paso. El Paso Times. Archived from the original on February 8, 2013. Retrieved July 31, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  59. ^ Schwartz, Larry. "Owens Pierced a Myth". ESPN. Retrieved April 30, 2009.
  60. ^ "US athletics legend Jesse Owens (R) poses and jokes with his f..." Retrieved July 28, 2017.
  61. ^ "Jesse Owens Was (Briefly) (Really!) a Coach for the Mets - Who2". who2.com.
  62. ^ "Jesse Owens Is Fined in Tax Case". The Times-News. United Press International. February 2, 1966. Retrieved August 10, 2011.
  63. ^ "Jesse Owens: Olympic Legend-quotes". Retrieved May 8, 2009.
  64. ^ "Stock Photo - Aug. 08, 1972 - Jesse Owens at the Olympic games in Munich.: World famous American coloured athlete Jesse Owens. Who won Gold medals in the 1936 Olympic games in berlin is at". Retrieved July 28, 2017.
  65. ^ "Browsing Jesse Owens Collection by Subject "Munich Olympics"". Retrieved July 28, 2017.
  66. ^ Murry R. Nelson (May 23, 2013). American Sports: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas [4 Volumes]: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas. ABC-CLIO. p. 987. ISBN 978-0-313-39753-0.
  67. ^ "Jesse Owens Dies Of Cancer At 66: Hero of the 1936 Berlin Olympics". The New York Times. April 1, 1980. Retrieved August 5, 2013.
  68. ^ "Hitler's Olympic Village Faces Conservation Battle". Voice of America. August 26, 2012.
  69. ^ Deitch, Linda (October 7, 2011). "Did Jesse Owens plant a tree at OSU?". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved August 5, 2013.
  70. ^ "Get caught". Ohio State Recreational Sports. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
  71. ^ Asante, Molefi Kete (2002). 100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-963-8.
  72. ^ Soul of Cleveland website Last retrieved January 31, 2009.
  73. ^ "12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics – Berlin 2009 – Owens and Long families to meet at Owens exhibition in Berlin". Berlin.iaaf.org. Archived from the original on November 5, 2010. Retrieved June 15, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  74. ^ Jesse Owens’s new mark on Cleveland. News.yahoo.com. Retrieved on September 15, 2011. Archived November 19, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  75. ^ "Los Angeles Coliseum Court of Honor Plaques" Archived March 8, 2010, at the Wayback Machine on the Coliseum website
  76. ^ Danny Boyle and Frank Cottrell Boyce, the director and writer of the ceremony, in their audio commentary track to the BBC DVD of the entire opening ceremony
  77. ^ Saints and Soldiers: The Void at IMDb
  78. ^ Kit, Borys (July 16, 2014). "Jason Sudeikis, Jeremy Irons Join Jesse Owens Drama 'Race'". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
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