THE ORIGINAL “OG”
As we watch and cheer for the US athletes let’s not forget the OG or Original GOAT of the Olympics. Jesse Owens is truly one of the Greatest Of All Times in the category of track and field. Owens won four Olympic gold medals just months after perhaps the greatest athletic achievement of all time, when he set three world records and tied a fourth within 45 minutes in May 1935! which ‘Sports Illustrated’ described as the "Greatest 45 minutes ever in sports" history. The tally was in fact six world records, as two of the races he ran accrued him two world records apiece. A record that still stands 85 years later! Now that’s a GOAT!
After receiving 4 gold medals at the 1936 Olympics the press focused on Hitler not shaking the Black man’s hand instead of his history making, world record setting achievements. However, Hitler did not shake anyone’s hand. As a matter of fact, when the Olympic committee told him he would have to shake EVERY medal winner’s hand, he chose not to attend the games at all. Yet the press failed to mention that after the Olympics, in which 18 African American athletes competed with record-breaking success, only white athletes were invited to meet President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the White House. It was an election year, and FDR “did not want to be perceived as being soft on the “negro issue,” The most decorated American athlete of the Games, Owens had to enter his own celebratory reception at the Waldorf Astoria through the freight elevator. Although, many gold, silver and even bronze medal winners go on to receive endorsements and are chosen to be spokespersons for many companies, Mr. Owens was black-listed and received none. Owens returned home from the 1936 Olympics with four gold medals and international fame yet had difficulty finding work. He took on menial jobs as a gas station attendant, playground janitor, and manager of a dry-cleaning firm. He also raced against amateurs and even horses for cash before eventually filing for bankruptcy and being prosecuted for tax evasion.
After smoking a pack of cigarettes, a day for 35 years, Mr. Owens hospitalized in December 1979, with an extremely aggressive and drug-resistant type of lung cancer. He died of the disease at age 66 in Tucson, Arizona, on March 31, 1980, with his wife and other family members at his bedside. He was buried at Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago. The grave is inscribed "Jesse Owens 1936 Olympic Champion".
The dormitory that Owens occupied during the Berlin Olympics has been fully restored into a living museum, with pictures of his accomplishments at the games, and a letter (intercepted by the Gestapo) from a fan urging him not to shake hands with Hitler. In 2016, the 1936 Olympic journey of the eighteen Black American athletes, including Owens, was documented in the film Olympic Pride, American Prejudice.
After receiving 4 gold medals at the 1936 Olympics the press focused on Hitler not shaking the Black man’s hand instead of his history making, world record setting achievements. However, Hitler did not shake anyone’s hand. As a matter of fact, when the Olympic committee told him he would have to shake EVERY medal winner’s hand, he chose not to attend the games at all. Yet the press failed to mention that after the Olympics, in which 18 African American athletes competed with record-breaking success, only white athletes were invited to meet President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the White House. It was an election year, and FDR “did not want to be perceived as being soft on the “negro issue,” The most decorated American athlete of the Games, Owens had to enter his own celebratory reception at the Waldorf Astoria through the freight elevator. Although, many gold, silver and even bronze medal winners go on to receive endorsements and are chosen to be spokespersons for many companies, Mr. Owens was black-listed and received none. Owens returned home from the 1936 Olympics with four gold medals and international fame yet had difficulty finding work. He took on menial jobs as a gas station attendant, playground janitor, and manager of a dry-cleaning firm. He also raced against amateurs and even horses for cash before eventually filing for bankruptcy and being prosecuted for tax evasion.
After smoking a pack of cigarettes, a day for 35 years, Mr. Owens hospitalized in December 1979, with an extremely aggressive and drug-resistant type of lung cancer. He died of the disease at age 66 in Tucson, Arizona, on March 31, 1980, with his wife and other family members at his bedside. He was buried at Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago. The grave is inscribed "Jesse Owens 1936 Olympic Champion".
The dormitory that Owens occupied during the Berlin Olympics has been fully restored into a living museum, with pictures of his accomplishments at the games, and a letter (intercepted by the Gestapo) from a fan urging him not to shake hands with Hitler. In 2016, the 1936 Olympic journey of the eighteen Black American athletes, including Owens, was documented in the film Olympic Pride, American Prejudice.