Jesse Owens: Enduring Spirit

the following program is a special presentation of the Big Ten Network produced in association with Ohio State University he changed the world with speed and grace the history of Jesse Owens it's an American history about Americans growing up in the early 60s during the civil rights movement it was definitely an inspiration watching Jesse Owens you know the old films were always just enough chilling when you watch those victories it was the fastest man in the world but change in his world came too slowly he was someone who gained his fame at a time just on the cusp of the transformation of American life from its its medieval segregated pass to something that has been indisputably better the world celebrated him is a great olympian back home he was unwelcome because of the color of his skin Jesse Owens was an enormous present some in an era a very small minded people today there was a stadium named for him at the University where he first won acclaim but his legacy is not the meadows that he won but the spirit he displayed along what he did so much Ohio State was so much a part of that he loved this university the Ohio State University we've had over 200 athletes participated in the Olympic Games Jesse Owens was the premier in other words he was a standard bearer and everyone sort of followed in his footsteps he was the type of man who who really wanted to make an impact Jesse Owens the man who inspired a nation and became a cultural icon Brewis I can't thank you enough for all coming I can't tell you how thrilled we are watched the uncovering designer James Cleveland Owens was born on September 12th 1913 to a family of sharecroppers in Oakville Alabama the youngest of 10 siblings Owens was put to work in the fields at the age of 7 often times expected to pick up the 100 pounds of cotton a single day he battled several health issues including bronchitis and pneumonia which electric stemmed from the poverty-stricken conditions of his surroundings at the age of nine his family moved to Cleveland Ohio in search of a better life it was here while attending school Owens his teacher misinterpreted the southern pronunciation of his name JC and incorrectly recorded it as Jessie the name stuck in some ways the story is very typical and it is embedded in that that world of migration and discrimination not just in the South but in the north and that's an important part of his early life it's also an important part of his intercollegiate life in the years that followed Owens developed into a natural track athlete setting records throughout his high school career and turning the heads of many college recruiters around the country we should remain close to his family Owens chose to attend the Ohio State University and although his accomplishments preceded him he still faced the difficult racial climate of 1930s America back at the time that Jesse Owens was here at Ohio State and you can imagine how it was I mean he could not even live on campus at that time because he had to deal with segregated facilities he couldn't eat in white restaurants or on High Street even though he was captain of the team he wasn't allowed to eat with his white teammates and that's really really sad when you think of what this man meant to the University you know it just makes you think you know how actually backward we work as a country because there was no track scholarship available at the time Owens worked several jobs to pay for his tuition and support his young wife Ruth despite the cultural divide he seemed to rise above the situation from what I know about Jessie Owens and from interacting with his daughters it was certainly a class act race with Daddy was not an issue because he was very respectful of people and most people were very respectful of him when he was here you know there wasn't much for blacks to do and but they did what they could they there sports I think occupied a great deal of their time which kept them on the straight and narrow you know and they proved themselves well on May 25th 1935 at the Big Ten championship in Ann Arbor Michigan Jesse Owens performed an amazing display of athleticism that would forever solidify his image as the Buckeye bullet what he had done in the Big Ten championship back in 1935 where he broke three world records and I'm not talking about the Big Ten records he booked three world records and tied a fourth in the span of 45 minutes one of the great individual performances in the history of intercollegiate sports sports have always been away the kind of bridge differences he was one of the pioneers as you know Jackie Robinson was a baseball but Jesse was for everybody I mean all over the world he was the world celebrity this was a time when track and field was a lot more popular and for African American athletes particularly central to their emergence in modern sports and so he rightly deserves to be celebrated for those reasons in his junior year alone Owens won 42 events including four Big Ten championships four NCAA Championships two AAU championships and three at the Olympic Trials he was a marvel to watch running really special my father was a track and field athlete and you know he he told me story about Jesse Jesse was gonna run the 220 low hurdles they were sitting there that couldn't really see the start but the race started four or five guys come into the stadium and know Jesse and all of a sudden here he comes weighing right by him just ran by all of them and what had happened was he fell down hit a hurdle and fell down and got up and still beat them all those stories you know those those legacies you know there's just nobody like that nobody following Adolf Hitler's rise to power and his subsequent promotion of Aryan supremacy Americans began to debate the morality of participating in the 1936 Olympics which were slated to be held in per man a boycott was proposed with public opinion split down the middle Owens a natural contender for the Olympics initially supported the boycott when the movement to boycott the 1936 Olympics gained strength he told an interviewer that he thought that the United States athletes should boycott the games and there was a kind of racial self-assertion in that that was pretty rare for him coach Snyder the the Ohio State coach quickly collared him and said no no no don't say that kind of stuff we want to go compete all of them the african-american athletes who made the team had to defy the boycott there were reasons they did that at that time was basically the sentiments of the larger community is that we shall overcome that life is not going to always be like this and we need to continue to excel at the highest level it was hard for black athletes to say we won't go to the nazi games when we face these difficulties at home all the time and that argument in addition to the sheer competitiveness I think easily made the case for the track athletes to go with the team now United Jesse Owens in America were going to the 1936 Olympics Oh King his fame having preceded him and in stark contrast to the way he had been treated in the States Owens found himself greeted warmly by the German people melons was the toast of a town again by all reports he was very well treated in the Olympic Village even other Olympic athletes were keen to meet him that will include really we didn't finish well I think the Olympic Village is one of the seven wonders of the world now mr. Owens how many gold medals do you hope to win if to desire very athlete to run a first place in the candle at the gate since I meant three events I hope to emerge with three victories ten african-american runners made the Olympic team this was by far the most who'd ever suited up for a US Olympic team and so there was real drama in there going to Berlin to compete against the Nazis initially Owens was slated to compete in just three events but at the last minute he and a fellow athlete were asked to step in a group X to Jewish team members 4 by 100 meter relay a move that was rumored to have been made at the request of the Germans because of their reluctance to endure further humiliation at the hands of Jewish Americans regardless of the back-channel circumstances the change-up provided owens with the path to claim his fourth gold medal and a record-setting finish that would stand for 20 years he won four gold medals 100 meters 200 meters of the long jump and the 4 by 100 relay that was the first time anyone had achieved a goal like that that securities fame not just at the OSU but but globally I was born 1937 when I was in fourth grade they had these black-and-white movies that they showed it at school and all the time all the time it was Jesse and the Olympics and Jesse and no matter how many times they ran that film I was rooting for Jesse and he won every time I knew it was the same race but it was still just great rooting for as Owens went to receive the gold medals he earned for his feats of athletic skill he was greeted with the snub heard round the world he went to the podium he received his medal and as he was doing so Hitler walked out of the stadium Hitler had no intention of greeting and honoring african-american athletes Jesse Owens put a dagger in the ideology bed Hildur held at that time when people say you can't here's a man who said you're wrong he proved that there's no domination of any race what's important is the individual work that you put into anything Jesse Owens had done the small sickly child from the cotton fields of Alabama had traveled halfway across the world and displayed his achievements in the face of Aryan racism his place in history was secured and all the eyes of the world were upon him enjoyed the cheers and applause of a hundred thousand fans and the adoration of the nation if only for a short while the AAU the track sanctioning body not the NCAA at that point wanted the American athletes to pay for their own passage and care and at the Olympic Games so as soon as the games were over they booked them all around Europe in various kinds of show races against local teams or national teams or even just running around the track themselves anything to get fans and stadiums to sell tickets to pay for their trip to Berlin and they wouldn't even tell the athletes where they were going to be the next day until they woke up in the morning Owen soon found himself under a heavy financial burden to continue the Olympic performance tour coupled with the promise of several job offers back home due to his newfound celebrity and the need to support his wife and baby Owen sunt the Council of OSU head coach Larry Snyder well Owens with one shot at making good on his celebrity left the team at the advice of Coach Snyder and the AAU never forgave him they suspend him then and he was suspended for life he never ran another sanctioned race it came back home to find that none of those offers were genuine he came back home to find that he couldn't run in sanctioned races anymore so his life when he came back was quickly mired in the American racism and the lack of opportunities for black men even famous black men Owens would later recount the disillusion when he felt returning home from the Olympics by saying it became increasingly apparent that everyone was going to slap me on the back shake my hand or have me up with their sweet but no one was going to offer me a job the hypocrisy of American race relations followed Owens home when he won his medals lots of Americans declared it a strike against Aryan races and without bothering to check their own the shocker to me was when the Olympic team came back to the United States the white athletes were invited to the White House by FDR and Jesse was not invited as well as any of the other black athletes there was much in the way of the government congratulating in fact he did not get a invite to the White House or receive a telegram or anything like that we're talking about Hitler here and now here's the same thing happening in our own country it's kind of sad to know that this man represented our country at the highest level but when he come back he was still subjugated to second-class status throughout the next few years life was tumultuous for Jesse u.s. unable to find work his celebrity forced him into a series of bizarre spectacles he aligned himself with a New York agent who got him spectacle races against horses in Cuba for example he had him running around Yankee Stadium during a game just really undignified things like that but he had to make money and he had to make money off his celebrity from the games and it's hard to see that he had really any any option he travelled a lot because that was the way he could make a living we knew that he loved us because he always showed it whether he was there or not his presence was felt so that's the kind of after many years of trying to find his footing he discovered an affinity for public speaking and working with underprivileged youth he finally started to stabilize when he joined a public relations firm in Chicago and from that point on from about 1947 or so for the rest of his life he he really spent his time in public service giving speeches and lectures and appearances at Boys Clubs and JC events they asked him to be the speaker when I commenced from eighth grade and I was so proud because he spoke to us in such a kind way and everybody was so excited about it when I was in junior high school the basketball team that I played on had won our division championship and the speaker that evening just happened to be just yours and I'll never forget how much in all we were of seeing Jesse Owens stand up and talk to us he was very inspiring you know that he was the type of man who who really wanted to make an impact on young people I think he's someone that when you look at the adversity that he continued to have to deal with even after the Olympics the way he handled it is something that is very very inspirational and something that we all need to think about and model ourselves after most people ask us what's it like to have Jessie ones as a father and for us he was daddy and he was just a wonderful wonderful father he was a very giving father but he had rules and we must follow it it was fairly Victorian when it came to what his standards were for especially for young women he believed that girls should be ladies at all time he never encouraged us to participate in athletic activities although that didn't matter because I was going to do it anyway and I did I didn't run track-and-field but I did play basketball when I was in high school I lived it graduated from high school in Detroit so you know where all my friends left the University of Michigan that was a no-no and so I can't do a higher thing long after his college years and Olympic achievements Jesse Owens continued his support and affection for the alma mater where he made track history in 1972 the ohio state university awarded owens an honorary doctorate of athletic arts for his unparalleled skill and ability as an athlete and for his personification of sportsmanship ideals he loved this university and he continued his relationship with the university long after he left here so much so that there are three generations of us who have but been at this university so it means a lot to the family this daughter was crowned homecoming queen he was actually there put the crown on her and as he did that he whispered only in America those who would have the opportunity to meet him spoke of him fondly I had an opportunity to meet Jesse Owens at least a half a dozen occasions whenever he was in town he would invariably stop by the track office and we would chat he always had a handshake and a smile for everyone it showed his love for the university first of all and for the students if you went up to him and said I'd like to have an autograph or I'd like to talk to you or something into the gentleman would just tell me stories like that one of them said he was up to him just asking the question and he they sat down and talked for half an hour I still get goosebumps thinking about today that I met Jessica he said I just came to watch practice and hang out and talk with the guys he said you got time sit down talk a little bit I said I think so and not just needing to spend time quality time I mean it was just I mean I study Sexton they'll get goosebumps jesse was my hero because I was a sprinter and a jumper in high school and he was my inspiration as I'm sure he was for many many athletes he was someone that I wanted to you know model myself after not only on the track but you know as a person and as a human being and a really a servant leader in this country one of the reasons that I came to Ohio State is that woody asked Jesse Owens to give me a call and as you can imagine I was on cloud nine matter of fact I couldn't believe it was just a long time but he told me that coaches asked him to call me and he wanted to talk to me about how important it was for me to come to Ohio State University and and I'll never forget that oh when I hung up the phone and told my mother Jesse Owens and I don't think she quite believed it either seventy-five years after his inspiring Olympic accomplishments the face and racial attitudes of American culture are noticeably different one can't help but recognize the contributions of such change to pioneers like Jesse Owens if it weren't for a pioneer like Jesse Owens and those in his cohort this institution may not be what it is I think he recognized that the institution had changed and was going to continue to change the university has opened its arms and been a leader when it comes to diversity we have a facility named after Jesse Owens we have the tide Anthony Bell national resource center we have a black culture center which is one of the flagships around the country named at the Frank W Hale jr. so University has a history of embracing african-american males and recognizing their monumental contributions to this beloved University the Bell Center which was named after a top Bill who was a friend of mine it was a terrific athlete here at Ohio State and with the Chicago Bears just to have a program specifically for african-american males and their developer has made a tremendous difference the tie Bell Center largely focuses on african-american males probably one of biggest turning points of my and my college career was meeting those gentlemen and really getting involved they gave me my first feeling of being a part of Ohio State what Jesse once stood for and what he fought for is one of the reasons why the Ohio State University welcomes diversity and thrives on having diversity not just of african-americans but if you look at it's a multicultural campus with students of color who have come here all across the world who embrace o age I oh we thank you for this magnificent gift of this statute of our beloved father we hope it will inspire others to reach for the sky it certainly demonstrates to our family that time and change does surely show firm thy friendship Oh oh my goodness it's a beautiful statute it is such a thrill to see it and to see it as a part of the stadium it just makes such a a wonderful total hole hopefully the viewer gets a sense of the humanity of Jessica as a warm caring shy kid I hope this can base all that when you think about the history of Ohio State and guys like Jesse Owens it really makes you extremely proud he's a huge name in a place full of huge names and to see our track and field Stadium named after him for us to kick up big extravaganza for him I think his testimony to the in fact that he's had he represented the dream that we hold in America that the condom person can achieve the impossible and I like to think we're not just celebrating him for his athletic prowess I think we celebrating him for his humanity and one of the most endearing qualities about him is that in spite of all of the racial tension he was able to rise above it the integrity that continues to inspire people 75 years later it's his life his name the recognition and I think it's wonderful I hope 25 years from now on I'm in you know a t6 they have another hundred year celebration I come tell the same stories again keep the legacy going the preceding program was produced by Ohio State University in association with the Big Ten Network

Channel: WOSU Public Media

Views: 244,346

Keywords: Jesse Owens, Ohio State, Big Ten Network, Track and Field, Big Ten

Id: gn-Xg158TcQ

Length: 28min 30sec (1710 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 09 2012