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. 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 equalled the world record of 9.
Owens attended Ohio State University after employment was found for his father, ensuring the family could be supported. The record of four gold medals at the NCAA was equaled only by Xavier Carter in , although his many titles also included relay medals. Though Owens enjoyed athletic success, he had to live off campus with other African-American athletes.
Owens did not receive a scholarship for his efforts, so he continued to work part-time jobs to pay for school. He equaled the world record for the yard dash 9. Crepeau both chose these wins on one day as the most impressive athletic achievement since Adolf Hitler was using the games to show the world a resurgent Nazi Germany. Owens surprised manyby winning four gold medals: On August 3, , he won the m 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 ; on August 5, the m sprint; and, after he was added to the 4 x m relay team, following a request by the Germans to replace a Jewish-American sprinter, he won his fourth on August 9 a performance not equaled until Carl Lewis won gold medals in the same events at the 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. The long-jump victory is documented, along with many other events, in the 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. On reports that Hitler had deliberately avoided acknowledging his victories, and had refused to shake his hand, Owens said at the time:. 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. Away from the public eye, Hitler expressed his true feelings and disgust at Owens. Each of the German victories, and there were a surprising number of these, made him happy, but he 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.
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. Truman during their terms. In , President Dwight D. There is no independent confirmation of this.
Although others have gone on to win more gold medals than Jesse, he remains the best remembered Olympic athlete because he achieved what no Olympian before or since has accomplished. During a time of deep-rooted segregation, he not only discredited Hitler's master race theory, but also affirmed that individual excellence, rather than race or national origin, distinguishes one man from another.
Jesse Owens proved in Berlin and thereafter that he was a dreamer who could make the dreams of others come true, a speaker who could make the world listen and a man who held out hope to millions of young people. Throughout his life, he worked with youths, sharing of himself and the little material wealth that he had. In this way, Jesse Owens was equally the champion on the playground of the poorest neighborhoods as he was on the oval of the Olympic games.
Athletes didn't return from the Olympics to lucrative advertising and product endorsement campaigns in those days, and Owens supported his young family with a variety of jobs. One was of special significance - playground director in Cleveland. It was his first step into a lifetime of working with underprivileged youth, which gave him his greatest satisfaction.
After relocating to Chicago, he devoted much of his time to underprivileged youth as a board member and former director of the Chicago Boys' Club. Owens traveled widely in his post-Olympic days. He was an inspirational speaker, highly sought after to address youth groups, professional organizations, civic meetings, sports banquets, PTAs, church organizations, brotherhood and black history programs, as well as high school and college commencements and ceremonies.
He was also a public relations representative and consultant to many corporations, including Atlantic Richfield, Ford and the United States Olympic Committee. A complete list of the many awards and honors presented to Jesse Owens by groups around the world would fill dozens of pages. In , Jesse was awarded the highest civilian honor in the United States when President Gerald Ford presented him with the Medal of Freedom in front of the members of the U. Owens eventually found his calling in public relations and marketing, setting up a business for himself in Chicago, Illinois, and traveling frequently around the country to speak at conventions and other business gatherings.
Owens died of lung cancer in Tucson, Arizona, on March 31, He smoked up to a pack of cigarettes a day for a good deal of his life. Owens was married for nearly 48 years to Ruth Owens. The longtime chairwoman of the Jesse Owens Foundation , an organization dedicated to supporting the development of young people,. Ruth died in of heart failure. The couple had three daughters together: Gloria, Beverly and Marlene. We strive for accuracy and fairness.
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