Happy Birthday Jesse Owens

We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort - Jesse Owens

(Jesse Owens)

Jesse Owens was born as James Owens on September 12th 1913 in Oakville, Alabama, USA. When he was 9 years old Owens and his family moved to Cleveland OH. Owens got the name Jesse when a school teacher misheard him and thought his name was Jesse. Owens started to run track while in middle school. In 1933 Owens matched the world record for 100 yard dash and the long jump. In 1935 Owens married Ruth Solomon and had 3 daughters together.

(Ruth Solomon and Jesse Owens)

Owens then attended Ohio State University.

(Owens while in college)

Owens won a record eight individual NCAA championships, four each in 1935 and 1936. Also in 1935 Owens set three world records and tied a fourth. In 1936 Owens went to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany to represent the US. Owens had to be escorted everywhere while in Berlin due to many fans trying to rush him. Owens won 4 gold medals while at the Olympics.

(Owens (Middle) after winning gold at the Olympics)

When he returned to the US after the Olympics there was a parade in his honor and at the parade he received $10,000 in cash from a random person in a paper bag. Later at a reception honoring Owens couldn't enter through the front door 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 due to segregation laws.

(Owens during the parade)

In 1936 Owens spoke at a Republican rally held in Baltimore, MD 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.” Due to racial discrimination Owens was prohibited from amateur sporting appearances to bolster his profile. Owens then found out that the commercial offers had all disappeared. In 1946 Owens  joined Abe Saperstein in the formation of the West Coast Baseball Association (WCBA), a new Negro baseball league. Owens became the Vice-President and the owner of the Portland Rosebuds franchise.

(Owens (Left) running at a WCBA game)

The WCBA disbanded after only two months. Owens tried to make a living as a sports promoter he would give local sprinters a ten- or twenty-yard start and beat them in the 100-yd 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 racing a horse)

Owens later 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. 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. After he retired, he owned racehorses. In 1968 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, “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 changed 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”. In December of 1979 Owens was hospitalized with an extremely aggressive and drug resistant type of lung cancer.

(Owens in 1979)

On March 31st, 1980 Jesse Owens died of lung cancer in Tucson, Arizona. He was 66 years old.

(Owens’ funeral)

Today is his 103rd birthday and we would all like to say happy birthday and rest in peace Jesse Owens.

Books by Jesse Owens

• I Have Changed (1972)

Videos of Jesse Owens

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCmvDwDocrw  “Jesse Owens, Hitler reaction”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB0n35UIv-s  “1936, 100m, Men, Olympic Games, Berlin”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQIe4JKjYn4  “Race Official Trailer #1 (2015) - Stephan James, Jason Sudeikis Drama HD”