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Term Paper

To Outrun a Way of Thinking

      Run: In one aspect that was all Jesse Owens did. Jesse Owens did not run away. He was given the opportunity to shy away from the oppression of Adolf Hitler, but he did not show fear. He knew that he had to represent his country and complete his job to the best of his abilities and he would walk away a proud and accomplished man. His performances at the 1936 Olympics were ground breaking for African American athletes and his performances were done in a modest fashion (Schwartz). Owens showed that he was the greatest African American athlete in his early childhood, through his Olympic experience, and on into his adulthood.
       The Olympics are when athletes compete against athletes from different countries. In a way Jesse Owens was competing against a dictator named Adolf Hitler. Jesse did not believe that he was up against Hitler but that he was simply in an athletic event. The United States believed that Jesse Owens was staring Hitler in the face and saying that African Americans were not less than human. They could also achieve great accomplishments. Jesse Owens is one of the most monumental African American athlete ever to compete in the Olympics, and he showed that throughout his life such as in his early childhood leading up to his Olympic experience, and it manifested itself into his life
      
after the Olympics. 
      Jesse Owens was born in Dansville, Alabama on September 
12th, 1913. His birth name was James Cleveland Owens (Young 98). He was the seventh child out of eleven but several had died due to diseases. During his own childhood, Jesse Owens suffered from many diseases. He had a hard time breathing which would make one wonder why he excelled in the athletic department. Athletics could have helped cure him of some of his illnesses, such as bronchial congestion and pneumonia. His father was a sharecropper and Jesse helped him pick cotton when he was young. This could have instilled a modest hard-working attitude in Owens when he was young. Also, Owens had a shoe repairing job when he was young which also made him realize the value of hard work at a young age. 

      Unlike other African American athletes of the time such as Joe Louis, Owens received a formal education (Young 99). He was elected president of the student council in middle school. Jesse met his coach, Charles Riley, when he was in middle school. Charles took special care of Owens when he was young and began training him (Rand). This coach-athlete relationship started a friendship that did not end from that point on. Jesse qualified for the National High School Championship in Chicago in 1933. He tied the world record in the 100 yard dash and at the Big Ten Championships three years later he broke that record. The Big Ten Championship was on May 25, 1935 at Ann Arbor, Michigan. At the time, Jesse Owens was a sophomore attending Ohio State University. He was at a fraternity house party the week before and was complaining of back problems to his coach. On the day of the meet his back was really bothering him and his coach said that he did not have to run if he did not feel up to it(Young 101). Owens decided he would run the hundred and see how his back felt after that. Owens only needed 75 minutes to break three world records in the 100-yard dash, broad jump, and 220-yard dash. He overcame an ailment and still did better than the rest of the world could do. Owens was not one hundred percent at the time and still came away with victory. 
      Jesse Owens was sent to outrun evil and national enemies at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin (Platt).”This was the guy that tweaked Hitler's mustache. This is the guy who showed the master race they were the minor race. Jesse Owens was an authentic American hero from then on," Jim Murray.  During the thirties, scientists were conducting skeletal studies to see if African Americans were simply born to run faster (Young). Jesse Owens proved it would take more than a science experiment to find out where his speed originated. “War clouds gathered on the horizon, at a time when Hitler’s racial preachments shocked Americans who believed in the ideal” (Young).
      
       Metcalfe was a sprinter who was always second violin at his college and he had hoped when he got to the Olympics he would win gold (Young 100). His community had high hopes for him. Metcalfe was simply cast in the shadow of a sprinting phenomenon named Jesse Owens. During these Olympics, he won four gold medals in the space of ten days. Owens won the 100-yard dash blowing away his nearest competitor. His long jump record stood until 1960. During that historic leap, he could hear a roar of cheering coming from the Americans because they knew he was soaring to victory. Jesse Owens was modest and not cocky like some athletes can grow to be. He knew that he had a job to complete and that he was capable of doing the tasks. I believe that Jesse Owens knew that not only was Germany being oppressed but also this kind of segregation was still continuing in the United States and need to be ended. 
      Owens’ greatest Olympic memory was when the American flag was being raised in victory (Young). Hitler was said to have walked out of the stadium when the medals were being given. Even after he found out that news, Jesse Owens just believes that he could not have stayed there all day and must have had other things to do. The medal he received ironically had a swastika design on it.
      
      After his performances at the 1936 Olympic games he was received as a hero by the United States. However, he did not receive any special attention. He was still considered a second class citizen and was forced to sit in the back of the bus. Jesse Owens was not able to live where he wanted due to segregation that was still occurring. Even as a national hero who stood up to Hitler, you could not fight segregation laws. He still participated in exhibition races after the Olympics but did not pay income tax and was forced to file for bankruptcy. In the fifties and sixties he was a public speaker, which is an ideal job for him being such a prime motivation. In 1950, he was named the top track and field athlete of the half century (Platt120). In 1976, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his performance in Berlin. Some people still believe that Jesse Owens is the all time best African American athlete because of the sport he chose and how he accomplished his feats. At the end of his life he had three jobs: Grandfather, disc jockey, and a businessman. Jesse Owens died in 1980 from cancer at the age of 67. 
      
      Jesse Owens embodies the quiet competitor. He did not need to do anything flashy to get his point across. He simply needed to show up with a pair of cleats. He silenced one of the most feared men in all of history. He was crucial to our American psyche because he did not back down in fear. He continued to persevere despite controversy. Fear did not consume his life and he grew from that experience. I have not seen a quote from him scolding Hitler’s actions on that day. Jesse Owens is a modest creature who lived to please himself. He wanted to live a satisfying life and rise above the terrors going on around him. Those terrors could be going on in Germany or in the United States alike. I believe in a somewhat indirect fashion Jesse Owens was crucial in our battle against Adolf Hitler and helped Americans see that we could rise above his tyrant ways and become victorious away from and athletic arena and on a moral platform.