Jesse Owens

Jesse Owens was the grandson of a slave and was born the seventh child of Henry and Emma Owens and was named James Cleveland Owens, but everyone called him J.C. for short. He was born in Alabama on September 12, 1913. When he was nine when he and his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio. It was there that his schoolteacher unknowingly gave him the name that he would be known by for the rest of his life. When she was calling role call, Owens referred to himself as J.C., and she thought that he had said Jesse. The name ended up sticking.

When Jesse Owens was in Junior High, he set school records by leaping a whopping six feet in the high jump and just under twenty-three feet in the board jump. While he was in high school, he won all major track events. During his senior year, Jesse set a new high school record and tied with the world record by running a 100-yard dash in just 9.4 seconds. He broke yet another high school record in the 220 yard dash, completing it in only 20.7 seconds.

Despite his talent as a runner, Jesse had to struggle to support himself and his wife. He had multiple jobs, including being a night elevator operator, pumping gas, working in a library and being a waiter. These aren’t even all of his jobs, and yet he still remained poor.

Since he was struggling to support him and Ruth, his wife, he didn’t have any time to meet his coach and practice with all of his jobs during the coarse of the day--and night. So instead, he woke up at five o’clock pm every morning just so that he could train.

During this time, the devastating war World War II was going on. Despite this, the nations still wanted to compete in the Olympics. At that time, Germans, due to Adolf Hitler believed that German “Aryan” people were the dominant race and that all other races were inferior to them and should be wiped out completely. Jesse Owens won four track and field gold medals during those Olympics. Not only was he the first American to ever accomplish this feat, but he proved Hitler wrong. He was a black man, one of a supposedly “inferior” race, beating the best German runners.

Jesse Owens died due to lung cancer on March 31, 1980. President Carter along with many others, held him in the highest regard and the day of his death was a bitter one. But his legacy will remain remembered for many years to come, the man who proved that your race doesn’t effect who you are in any way. It is you as in individual, not anything else, that is what gives you your excellence and spirit.

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-KittyLover8

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