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Time Machine: Jesse Owens
Olympic medalist promoted ethics over dusty trophies in C.R. visit
Diane Fannon-Langton
Apr. 30, 2024 5:00 am, Updated: Apr. 30, 2024 10:01 am
Jesse Owens, winner of four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, told The Gazette in February 1960 that it wasn’t true that Adolf Hitler refused to shake his hand in the Olympic Stadium.
Owens, then 46, said there was no chance for Hitler to do so.
“Of course,” he said, “I’ve known all along there was nothing in that story about Hitler. But for years every time I’d meet a stranger, he’s asked about it. It was taken for granted everywhere and finally I got tired of denying it.”
Cleveland native
Owens’ talent as an athlete became evident at his Cleveland high school. He went to Ohio State University, where he was coached by Larry Snyder and soon became the best track man in the Big Ten.
His next stop was Berlin and the Olympics, where he won gold medals in the 100-meter, the 200-meter, the long jump and the 4x100-meter relay.
The records Owens set lasted until the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles where Carl Lewis won four golds.
After the Olympics, Owens returned home to Cleveland and worked as a playground director. He joined a pro circuit, running exhibition races against horses and motorcycles. He also traveled the country as a motivational speaker. He later became a director of the Chicago Boys Club.
After retirement, Owens continued as a youth guidance counselor and sports instructor in Chicago for the Illinois Youth Commission.
In Cedar Rapids
As the principal speaker at the May 6, 1960, Cedar Rapids YMCA’s annual sports recognition dinner, Owens talked about sportsmanship.
“Our Little League and other programs are very popular, but they may be teaching the wrong thing,” he told the crowd. “Dad is pushing Junior to be on one of the teams, mostly because he wants his son to do the thing in athletics he couldn’t do when he was a boy. So, Dad blames the coach when Junior doesn’t make the team, and he blames the umpire if Junior’s team doesn’t win.
“The important thing to many dads is that the team MUST win the championship. But trophies aren’t important. In six months, these trophies here tonight will be corroded, and the banners will be gathering dust.
“What has happened to the child is what is important. If he has learned a code of ethics, then that child has won the greatest championship. That will never corrode or gather dust.”
Four young men from the Y who’d set the national junior swim record had their picture taken with Owens that evening. They were Dan Hunting, Maurice LeVois, Doug Ernst and Chuck Gibson.
Asked by Gazette photographer John McIvor to assume a sprint starting pose, Owens joked, “I’ll get down, but I can’t guarantee I’ll get back up. ... And shoot it from the front. A side view will show the hair I haven’t got.”
McIvor snapped another photo that was never published until now. It was of Owens with a group of boys at the Y. Owens is holding one of the awards presented at the banquet; the young men with him are not identified.
Other Iowa stops
Owens, whose livelihood depended in part on speaking engagements, returned to Iowa frequently.
He delivered the main address at the State College of Iowa (now the University of Northern Iowa) banquet in November 1966 and was at Cedar Rapids’ Memorial Coliseum in September 1968 for an event sponsored by the Cedar Rapids Sports Club.
The program included reporters interviewing Owens, followed by a showing of the 1968 documentary, “Jesse Owens Returns to Berlin,” narrated by Owens. One of those to meet Owens was Rudy Novak, an insurance salesman who competed at a gymnast in the 1924 Olympics in Paris. Novak, then 81, died a month later.
The Collins Radio Technical Association asked Owens to speak at the group’s father-son night at Armar Ballroom in February 1970. He made a point of stopping at the Jane Boyd Community House as well, where he chatted with a boys’ basketball team.
“How’s your team doing? ... A 4-9 record, huh? That’s great. ... Who’s your coach? ... How many players on your team? ... Listen, you kids work hard in those practice sessions, and don’t miss any.”
Owens was in West Union in March 1971 to speak at the Iowa Jaycees Distinguished Service Banquet.
He was back in Cedar Rapids in October for the dedication of the rebuilt Tyler Elementary School with its Jesse Owens Gymnasium. While there, he also visited the school’s Martin Luther King Jr. Library.
A little more than a year later, Owens was the featured speaker at the Cascade Aquin Catholic High School in Cascade.
Owens was grand marshal of the Drake Relays parade in Des Moines in April 1979. When he was at Ohio State, he’d competed in the Drake Relays in 1935.
Owens died March 31, 1980, of lung cancer. He was 66.
The United Press International news agency summed up his life: “Though his records have been shattered, Owens has been universally regarded as the greatest track and field athlete of the 20th century.”
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