FACTS ABOUT JESSE OWENS

1. He was born the last of ten children of poor Alabama sharecroppers. When they moved to Chicago, his first grade teacher misunderstood his southern accent and called him “Jesse” instead of his nickname J.C. (for James Cleveland).  J.C. was too scared to correct her.
2. When he was five, his mother cut out a lump in his chest with a kitchen knife while he bit down on a leather strap. They could not afford to take him to a doctor.  He lost a lot of blood, but survived.
3. He became a track star in high school and ended up at Ohio State University. He was called the “Buckeye Bullet” and was elected team captain.  He was the first African-American to be a captain in any sport there.  And yet, he could not live in a dormitory because he was black.
4. In 1935, at the Big Ten Championships, he set three world records and tied a fourth in 45 minutes. First, he tied the record for the 100-yard dash.  Fifteen minutes later, he broke the world record in the long jump by six inches.  Within the next 30 minutes, he broke the records for the 220-yard dash and the 220-yard low hurdles.
5. When he participated, he and other runners wore shoes provided by Adolf Dassler. A decade later, he founded Adidas.
6. It is a myth that Hitler refused to shake his hand after he won the 100-meter dash. In fact, Hitler gave him a Nazi salute and they waved.  Hitler did not snub him because Olympic officials had asked der Fuhrer to stop recognizing winners after he had tended to limit that to just Aryan athletes the first day.  He was told to either recognize them all or none.  Ironically, it was FDR who snubbed him by not inviting him to the White House or even congratulating him.  By the way, in Berlin Owens rode on buses in which he could sit wherever he wanted.
7. Owens set a record by winning four track gold medals (a feat only equaled by Carl Lewis in 1976). He won the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, long jump, and was part of the 4×100 relay. 
8. He almost didn’t win the long jump. He faulted on his first two jumps and had to make the third one to move on.  A German competitor named Carl Long suggested Jesse put a towel down for where he could safely launch his jump. It worked and Jesse went on to beat Long for the gold medal.
9. He was not supposed to win the gold for the relay. Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller had trained to be on the relay team, but they were replaced by Jesse and Ralph Metcalfe (second in the 100 meters) the day before.  Glickman and Stoller happened to be Jewish so there is a belief that they were removed to avoid embarrassing Hitler.  But it could be argued the change was made to get the two fastest sprinters onto the team.  America would have won anyhow, but the Owens team set a world record that stood for twenty years.
10. The Olympics did not make Jesse rich. He had to make money doing things like racing horses between games of baseball doubleheaders.
11. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1976 by President Ford. He is on two stamps (1990 & 1998).  He was ranked #6 on ESPN’s list of greatest athletes of the 20^th Century.

https://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-jesse-owens

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jesse-Owens

https://www.ushmm.org/exhibition/olympics/?content=jewish_athletes_more