|
JESSE OWENS (1913-1980) James Cleveland Owens was born on September 12, 1913 in Oakville, Alabama to Henry and Mary Emma Owens. Nicknamed JC he had 6 brothers - Prentice, Johnson, Henry, Ernest, Quincy and Sylvester and 3 sisters, Ida, Josephine and Lillie. The Owens' like thousands of their neighbours in the South, both black and white, were sharecroppers. JC was a small and sickly child and his parents had to nurse him through one cold winter after another because his father was unable to afford medicine or the assistance of a doctor. By the age of 6 he was well enough to walk the 9 miles to school with his brothers and sisters. JC's older sister Lillie moved to the industrial North, Cleveland, Ohio and found work which paid a decent wage and she begged her family to follow. Mary Emma convinced her husband that this would be a good move and at the age of 10 JC and his family took up Lillie's advice and moved to Cleveland. JC attended Bolton Elementary School and when the teacher asked him his name and misinterpreted his southern drawl and wrote down 'Jesse'. JC didn't want to contradict his teacher and from that day onwards he was known as Jesse. Jesse began to attend Fairmount Junior High School and at the age of 14 it was love at first sight when he meet a pretty young girl by the name of Minnie Ruth Solomon. The second person to have an impact on Jesse's life at Fairmount was Charles Riley, who coached the school's track team. Why Riley's attention was turned to Jesse, no one really knows because Jesse wasn't the strongest, the fastest or the healthiest pupil in school. For a year following dawn coaching sessions Riley decided to time Owens at the distance of 100 yards. When Owens completed that distance in 11 seconds Riley was amazed. He asked Owens to repeat the 100 yards and again he clocked in at 11 seconds - unbelievably fast for a 15 year old. Riley knew that with such speed Owens would also excel as a jumper. He signed Owens up to compete not only in the 100 yard and 220 yard dashes but also in the long jump and high jump. Owens was not to let Riley down and in the first year on the track team, he broke the world record for junior high school students in the high jump and long jump. Owens began to train harder but his home life threatened to endanger his dream. A taxi hit his father and this resulted in a broken leg and through this injury he lost his job. Jesse's brothers were laid off from the steel mill and when they were unable to meet their rent payments they moved their families into their parents' already crowded house. These were the years of the Great Depression, when the nation's economy all but collapsed. Despite hard times Jesse's mother convinced her son to continue his education. In 1930 Owens enrolled at East Technical High School. Edgar Weil, the track coach at East Technical was not as inspiring as Coach Riley but luckily for Owens, Weil soon asked Riley to be his assistant. In the spring of 1932 during his junior year, he proved so dominant a competitor that one newspaper called him a 'one-man team.' Again private life intruded on Owens's ambitions. His girlfriend Ruth, reported that she was pregnant. The 2 eloped to Pennsylvania and the young couple claimed that a Justice of the Peace married them in Erie. This is unlikely because no marriage licence exists from that time. When the 2 lovers returned to Cleveland, they faced the wrath of their parents. Ruth's father swore never to let Owens see his daughter again. That Summer Owens tried out for the US Olympic team but 1932 was not to be his year and he didn't make the team. Marquette University sprinter Ralph Metcalfe, who went on to win silver and bronze medals at the 1932 Olympics Games in Los Angeles, beat him. On August 8, 16-year-old Ruth gave birth to a healthy little girl, she was given the name Gloria Shirley and this was to end Ruth's high school days. She dropped out of school and took a job in a beauty parlour but she continued to live with her parents who were still unwilling for Jesse to be anywhere near their daughter. By refusing Owens the responsibilities of fatherhood he was free to continue his track and field career. He popularity was so great that his East Tech classmates (95% whom were white) voted him student body president. As the highest scorer and natural leader of the track team, he became squad captain as well. Owen didn't let down his supporters and repaid them with sensational performances, not losing a race all year. On 20 May 1933 he concluded his high school career in typically splendid fashion. At the state interscholastic finals that day, he broke the world record for high schools students in the long jump, sailing 24 feet 31/6 inches. In June of the same year at the National Interscholastic Meet in Chicago, Owens eclipsed even his own standards. In the 100 yard dash, he tied the world record of 9.4 seconds. In the long jump, he improved his best leap by a remarkable six inches and then in the 220 yard dash he ran a blazing 20.7 seconds, breaking the world record. Owens was met with a hero's welcome on his return to his hometown of Cleveland were a victory parade had been organised. Henry and Mary Emma Owens shared the backseat of a convertible for the slow moving procession. In the car directly behind theirs rode Charles Riley. When the procession stopped at City Hall, the Mayor of Cleveland joined several council members in praising the young athlete. The mid western schools were clamouring for Owens' talents and he finally elected to stay close to home at Ohio State University in the state capital Columbus. There was one obstacle in his way his D average high school grade, the coaches got around this difficulty by having Owens take special tests over the summer. The last door was opened when he passed these. After his day at university he pumped gas at a filling station to make money. At long last Ruth's parents gave into their daughter's pleas and permitted Owens to visit after work each day and on weekends. With autumn approaching, Owens now 19 relationship with Charles Riley's came to an end. Owens continued to train every day and was named to the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) All-American Track Team. Owens was finding it difficult to study and he quickly fell behind his classmates and at the beginning of the spring semester, he was put on academic probation and ordered to bring up his grades. Ohio's State's track coach was a young man named Larry Snyder who believed there was still room for improvement in Owens' running style. He taught the freshman a more compact crouch at the starting line, which would help him uncoil quickly into a full speed run. In the long jump, Snyder showed the freshman how to run through the air, pumping his arms and legs for more distance as he flew. On February 9th 1935 in his first Big Ten Conference meet, Owens won 3 out of 4 events, placing second in the 70 yard low hurdles. It was plain to all concerned that he would be able to compete successfully on the college level. May 25th 1935 was to go down in the history books. Owens attended the Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In the space of 45 minutes he had smashed 5 world records and tied another. This feat has never been equalled; it is still considered the greatest single performance in the history of track and field. He tied the 100 yards record of 9.4 seconds and shaved 4/10 of second of 220 yard. He was awarded the international record for the slightly shorter distance of 200 metres without having to run that race. Then, in his worst event the 220 yard low hurdles he breezed to a new standard of 22.6 seconds. In this race he finished 10 yards ahead of his nearest competitor. Again, he was allowed the low hurdles record for the shorter international distance of 200 metres. It took just one attempt for Owens to break the world record in the long jump. This astonishing leap was not equalled for 25 years. Owens then took his coach's advice and chose not to try for a longer distance. Overnight Jesse had emerged from a contender to a star. The Olympic Games were scheduled to begin in less than a year, in Berlin, Germany but US politicians were considering boycotting the Games due to stories of Germany's mistreatment of Jews, blacks and Catholics. After an agreeable visit with German chancellor Adolf Hitler, AAU officials decided that it would be all right for American athletes to compete in Berlin after all. At the Olympic Trials, Owens breezed in the long jump and sprint. Jesse's training paid off and this was reflected at the 1936 Berlin Olympics when he broke the world record in the 100 yard dash, won gold medals in the 100 metres and 200 metres, long jump and 400 metre relays. On the victory stand, Owen's eyes misted over as he bent forward to receive his gold medal. He had achieved his dream at last, although it wasn't such a happy moment for Adolf Hitler. Owens bowed to him on the victory stand, and the German chancellor returned a stiff salute, then turned away. Jesse went onto do various jobs including becoming a bandleader, owner of a basketball team, softball team and dry cleaning company. In 1941 he was placed in charge of the Civilian Defence Office's national physical fitness program and took a personnel job with the Ford Motor Company. For years, Ruth had pleaded with her prosperous husband to slow down and enjoy the wealth he had earned. He was now 65 and his health began to fail and he again caught pneumonia. The doctors treated Owens for lung cancer only to see him grow weaker. On March 31, 1980, Jesse Owens died at a hospital in Tuscon, Arizona at the age of 66. In the process of winning medals and breaking various world records Jesse rewrote the history books, upset a dictator and made the name Jesse Owens a household name worldwide. Sources Jesse Owens (Black American Series) - Tony Gentry The Official Web Site of Jesse Owens - http://www.cmgww.com/sports/owens/ |
|
|
|
||
