Jesse Owens - African American Men, Family and Family

Jesse Owens was born as James Cleveland Owens to Henry Cleveland Owens and Mary Emma Fitzgerald in Oakville, Alabama. He was the youngest of the ten children of the couple.

At the age of nine, his family relocated to Cleveland, Ohio for better opportunities. It was while enrolling at school that his teacher mistook his name ‘J. C’ as ‘Jesse’, which remained with him for the rest of his life.

In his early days, he indulged in various odd jobs to earn money. During this time, he realized his passion for running, which was further propelled by Charles Riley, his junior high track coach.

While at school, he competed at the 1933 National High School Championship in Chicago, an event that pushed him to instant limelight. He earned national attention for equalling the world record in 100-yard dash and his impressive performance in long jump.

He then enrolled at the Ohio State University to pursue his career as an athlete. Popularly referred to as ‘Buckeye Bullet’, he won four individual events at the NCAA championships in 1935, thus creating a major record.

The big breakthrough came in at the Big Ten Championship, during which he created new world records at: long jump (8.13 m), 220-yard sprint and 220-yard low hurdles. He also equalled the world record for the 100-yard dash with 9.4 seconds.

Furthering the success of the year, he won two events at the AAU Championships and three events at the Olympic trials. At the end of the year, his record stood at participating in 42 events and winning them all.

In 1936, he competed in the NCAA Championship winning four events yet again, thus making a total of eight event victories in 1935 and 1936. Same year, he also participated in the Berlin Olympics.

Interestingly, through 1936 Berlin Olympics, Adolf Hitler intended to showcase the Nazi German domination and power. Nazi propaganda created hype about alleged ‘Aryan racial superiority’. However, Owens, changed this perception by winning four gold medals.

He participated in four events at the Berlin Olympics, winning each of them. While at the 100m sprint he created a world record at 10.3 seconds, in the long jump with a leap of 8.05 m, he became the No. 1 player. He also won 200 m (20.7 seconds), and 4x100 m relay (39.8s).

Unlike earlier when he had to lodge in at ‘black-only’ hotels and eat at ‘black-only’ restaurants, the victory at the Berlin Olympics changed the perception of people as he was allowed to stay at the same hotel with other White athletes or eat at the same joint. He was also offered a sponsorship by Adidas athletic shoe company for promoting the Gebr�der Dassler Schuhfabrik shoes.

After the Berlin Olympics, the American Olympic team and Owens were invited to compete in Sweden. However, Owens decided to return to the United States in order to capitalize on his athletic success by gaining some lucrative commercial deals. As a result, he was ripped of his amateur status, which marked an end to his flourishing track and field career.

Owens was also not honoured by the then President Franklin Roosevelt who neither invited him to the White House as was atypical for champions, nor congratulated him for the superlative success. It was only in 1955 that President Dwight D. Eisenhower honoured him by naming him an ‘Ambassador of Sports’.

In 1946, he initiated the formation of the West Coast Baseball Association (WCBA), along with Abe Saperstein. Additionally, he became the Vice-President and the owner of the Portland (Oregon) Rosebuds franchise.

Through the later part of his career, he worked as an entertainer and sports promoter. He raced against racehorses and local sprinters to earn his bread and butter. He even ran a dry cleaning business and worked as a gas station attendant.

It was only later that the US government appointed him as the US goodwill ambassador. He travelled frequently around the country to speak at conventions and other business gatherings.

He created a world record in the 1935 Big Ten Championship in the long jump with a leap of 8.13 m that remained for 25 years until it was broken by Olympian Ralph Boston in 1960.

In the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, he participated in four events, winning gold in all of them and creating world record in two. This extraordinary feat in track and field was equalled only in 1984 Summer Olympics by Carl Lewis.

In 1970, he was inducted in the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

In 1976, he was conferred with the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom. Same year, he was made part of the Olympic Order for his fight against racism.

Posthumously, he was bestowed with the highest US decoration, Congressional Medal of Freedom. An asteroid discovered in 1980 was named after him.

In 1983, he was inducted in the US Olympic Hall of Fame. He has to his credit two U.S. postage stamps, issued in 1990 and 1998.

Several streets, roadways, schools, institutions, parks and stadiums have been named after him to commemorate his contribution as a track and field athlete. A statue of him wearing the Ohio State track suit has been installed at Fort Huntington Park.

He married his high school sweetheart Minnie Ruth Solomon in 1935, after years of dating. The couple was blessed with three daughters, one before marriage in 1932 and two later, in 1939 and 1940, respectively.

An avid smoker, he puffed a pack per day and continued the same for 35 years before being hospitalized for extremely aggressive case of lung cancer in December 1979.

He died on March 31, 1980,

To earn his bread and butter, this Olympian track and field athlete raced against horses in the 100-yard dash. He won the race by using a simple trick of employing a starting gun to commence the race. The shot would startle the horse long enough to give him enough of a head start to win.