Jesse Owens (1913)

Owens was an African-American track-and-field star famous for his performance at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, where he claimed 4 gold medals in the presence of Adolf Hitler and Nazi leaders, who had hoped the games would promote their idea of racial superiority. Though hailed as a hero, Owens faced segregation upon his return to the US, even suffering the humiliation of having to use a freight elevator to attend a post-parade reception in his honor. How did he earn a living after the Olympics?

Medal record
Men's athletics
Gold 1936 Berlin 100 m
Gold 1936 Berlin 200 m
Gold 1936 Berlin 4 x 100 m relay
Gold 1936 Berlin Long jump




Biography
James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete. 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.

Early years
James Cleveland Owens was born in 1913 in Lawrence County, Alabama to Henry and Emma Owens. When Owens was eight, his parents decided to move the family to Cleveland, Ohio. Owens was the grandson of a slave and the son of a sharecropper. He was often sick with what his mother reportedly called "the devil's cold". He was given the name Jesse by a teacher in Cleveland who did not understand his accent when the young boy said he was called J.C.

Life in Cleveland was not prosperous for the family. Owens had taken different jobs in his spare time: He delivered groceries, loaded freight cars and worked in a shoe repair shop.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 Fairview Junior High, who had put him on the track team (see also Harrison Dillard, a Cleveland athlete inspired by Owens). 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, as a student of East Technical High School in Cleveland, he equalled the world record of 9.4 seconds in the 100-yard dash and long-jumped 24 feet 9 ½ inches (7.56 m) at the 1933 National High School Championship in Chicago.

Post Olympics
After the games had finished, Owens was invited, along with the rest of the team, to compete in Sweden. However he decided to capitalise on his success by returning to the United States to take up some of the lucrative commercial offers he was receiving. American athletic officials were furious and withdrew his amateur status, ending his career immediately. Owens was livid: "A fellow desires something for himself," he said.

With no sporting appearances to bolster his profile, the lucrative offers never quite materialised. Instead he was forced to try 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 although as he revealed later, the trick was to race a high-strung thoroughbred horse that would be frightened by the starter's pistol and give him a good jump.

He soon found himself running a dry-cleaning business and then even working as a gas station attendant. He eventually filed for bankruptcy but, even then, his problems were not over and in 1966 he was successfully prosecuted for tax evasion. At rock bottom, the rehabilitation began and he started work as a U.S. 'goodwill ambassador'. Owens traveled the world and spoke to companies like the Ford Motor Company and the United States Olympic Committee. He would always stress the importance of religion, hard work, and loyalty. In 1968, he received some criticism for supporting the racially turbulent XIX Olympic Games held that year.

The Jesse Owens Foundation provides information, materials, and direction for research on the life of Jesse Owens. It is governed by a Board of Directors with oversight provided by a Managing Director. The Foundation is supported by special events and contributions from the community at large. Since 1983, the Foundation has provided more than 350 young people throughout the country with support for their college education.

Jesse Owens was inducted to the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1970. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1976 by Gerald Ford and (posthumously) the Congressional Gold Medal by George H. W. Bush on March 28, 1990. In 1984, a street in Berlin was renamed for him, and the Jesse Owens Realschule/Oberschule (a secondary school) is in Berlin-Lichtenberg. His birthplace in Oakville dedicated a park in his honor in 1996, at the same time the Olympic Torch came through the community, 60 years after his Olympic triumph.

A pack-a-day smoker for 35 years, Owens died of lung cancer at age 66 in Tucson, Arizona. He is buried in Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago.

Trivia
* The runner he beat in the 200m at the 1936 Summer Olympics was Jackie Robinson's brother, Matthew "Mack" Robinson, who also tied the world record at the time.
* In 1984 a street close to the Olympic Stadium Berlin was renamed Jesse-Owens-Allee.
* Two U.S. postage stamps have been issued to honor Owens, one in 1990 and another in 1998.
* Additionally, in Phoenix, Arizona, there is the Jesse Owens Medical Plaza, named in his honor. It is located on the southeast corner of Baseline Rd. and Jesse Owens Parkway (another namesake).
* He was portrayed by Dorian Harewood in The Jesse Owens Story (1984).
* His great-nephew, Chris Owens, an American professional basketball player, is a member of German league team ALBA Berlin.[8]
* Norwegian poet Nordahl Greig has written a poem called "Sprinterne", which is about him.
* In the movie Half Baked,Samson asked Thurgood to, "just call me Jesse Owens".

A few months before his death, Owens tried unsuccessfully to convince President Jimmy Carter not to boycott the 1980 Olympics held in Moscow, arguing that the Olympic ideal was to be a time-out from war and above politics.

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