James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980)

James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980).

Owens attended The Ohio State University only after employment was found for his father, ensuring the family could be supported. He was affectionately known as the "Buckeye Bullet" and won a record eight individual NCAA championships, four each in 1935 and 1936.

At the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany, Jesse Owens, the son of Lawrence County Alabama sharecroppers, Henry and Emma Owens, achieved international fame by winning four gold medals: one each in the 100 metres, the 200 metres, the long jump, and as part of the 4x100 meter relay team. and shattered Adolph Hitler's claim of Aryan superiority. His victory transcended athletics; the 110,000 Germans in Olympic Stadium cheered him on, and often stopped Owens on the streets of Berlin for an autograph or picture. Four years after his death, a street outside the Olypmic Stadium was named in his honor.

James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) PHOTO: Public Domain Clipart

In 1976, Jesse Owens was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1990, President George H.W. Bush posthumously awarded him the Congressional Medal of Honor for "an unrivaled athletic triumph, but more than that, a triumph for all humanity." Battling Discrimination at the 1936 Olympics--An Unsent Letter. This letter (Page 1) (Page 2) from NAACP leader Walter White to Jesse Owens urges him not to participate in the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, which was under Nazi rule, but it was never sent.

In the letter, White writes: "The very preeminence of American Negro athletes gives them an unparalleled opportunity to strike a blow at racial bigotry and to make other minority groups conscious of the sameness of their problems with ours . . . But the moral issue involved is, in my opinion, far greater than immediate or future benefit to the Negro as a race. If the Hitlers and Mussolinis of the world are successful it is inevitable that dictatorships based upon prejudice will spread . . ."

The U. S. did send an Olympic team to Berlin, and Owens was its star, winning four gold medals.