|
In High School , Jesse won every major track
event and the state championship three years in a row. During Jesse's senior
year at the National Interscholastic Meet, he set the world
record for high schools, running the 220 yard dash in only 20.7 seconds.
Jesse enrolled at Ohio State University in
1933. Although he was one of the university's star athletes, he still had to
put up with racial prejudice and intolerance. Jessie and the other black
athletes were required to ride to the meets in separate vehicles from the
white athletes. They were forced to live off (the all white) campus and when
traveling had to stay in Blacks Only hotels and eat in Blacks
Only restaurants.
In 1935 while participating in a Big Ten
track meet, Jesse set three new world records in the Broad Jump,
the 220 Yard Dash, and the 220 Yard Low Hurdles.
The 1936 Olympics were held in Nazi Germany and
Hitler intended the events to be a showcase for his Superior Aryan Athletes.
The black athletes from the United States were ridiculed and called non-humans
by Nazi officials.
Jesse won his first event, The 100 Meter Dash
on July 3. Another African American, Ralph Metcalfe placed second. In spite of
all the Nazi propaganda, the German crowds loved Jesse and cheered him
whenever he appeared. The next day Jesse won the Long Jump with
an Olympic record jump of twenty-six feet, five and one half inches.
On August 5, Jesse set another Olympic record,
winning the 200 Meter Dash in 20.7 seconds. Jesse and Ralf
Metcalfe also were a part of the 400 Meter Relay team that won
the gold medal and set another world record time.
Jesse left Ohio State in his senior year. He
worked at odd jobs and raced professionally to provide a living for his
family. He even raced against horses and dogs at carnival shows.
In the 1940s Jesse began earning money as a
public speaker and he opened a public relations firm in the 1950s.
In 1976 Jesse was awarded the Medal of
Freedom by President Ford and in 1990 President Bush posthumously
awarded him The Congressional Medal of Honor.
Jesse Owens died of Lung Cancer on March 31,
1980 in Tucson, Arizona.
|
