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James Cleveland Owens
was the son of a farmer and the grandson of black slaves. His family moved to Cleveland
when he was 9. There, a school teacher asked the youth his name. "J.C., "he
replied.
She thought he had
said "Jesse", and he had a new name.
Owens ran his first
race at age 13. After high school, he went to Ohio State University. He had to work
part time so as to pay for his education. As a second-year student in the Big Ten
games in 1935, he set even more records than he would in the Olympic Games a year
later.
A week before the Big
Ten meet, Owens accidentally fell down a flight of stairs. His back hurt so much
that he could not exercise all week, and he had to be helped in and out of the car
that drove him to the meet. He refused to listen to the suggestions that he give
up and said he would try, event by event. He did try, and the results are in the
record book.
The stage was set for
Owens victory at the Olympic Games in Berlin the next year, and his success would
come to be regarded as not only athletic but also political. Hitler did not congratulate
any of the African-American winners.
"It was all right
with me," he said years later. "I didn't go to Berlin to shake hands with
him, anyway."
Having returned from Berlin, he received no telephone
calls from the president of his own country, either. In fact, he was not honored
by the United States until 1976, four years before his death.
Owens' Olympic victories made little
difference to him. He earned his living by looking after a school playground, and
accepted money to race against cars, trucks, motorcycles and dogs.
"Sure, it bothered
me," he said later." But at least it was an honest living. I had to eat."
In time, however, his
gold medals changed his life. "They
have kept me alive over the years," he once said. "Time has
stood still for me. That golden moment dies hard."
