Four-time Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens, the world’s fastest human, passed the baton to Akron to relay valuable lessons about life.
The Clevelander is the subject of a new movie Race, starring Stephan James, which chronicles Owens’ rise from East Technical High School and Ohio State University to the 1936 Olympics in Nazi-era Berlin.
Owens, 22, won gold medals in the 100-meter dash, long jump, 200-meter dash and 400-meter relay, shattering Olympic records and dashing Adolf Hitler’s claims of Aryan supremacy.
As a guest speaker in Akron, Owens enjoyed recounting his moment in the limelight, teaching athletic techniques and encouraging youths to stay on the right track.
Here are memorable moments from his visits.
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Owens was 42 in February 1956 when he spent four days in Akron, speaking at a dozen school assemblies, lecturing at Grace Evangelical and Reformed Church and conducting a track clinic at the University of Akron’s Memorial Hall.
He was most proud that he and his wife, Minnie, had raised three girls.
“I have a grown family now,” he said. “My oldest daughter, Gloria, has finished college and is teaching. My second daughter, Beverly, is in college and the youngest, Marlene, is getting ready to go to college.”
In a 90-minute workout with 200 young athletes, Owens demonstrated proper starts, strides and hurdle takeoffs. He told the boys that they had to make sacrifices to stay in condition.
He advised coaches to teach sprinters to keep their knees high and arms straight, and to run on a straight line. He said a striding finish was better than a lunge.
“Each time a sprinter works out, he should practice 10 to 15 starts,” Owens said. “The best method is to start and go 10 yards the first time, 20 the second time and so on until you have completed 100 yards.”
After a question-and-answer session, Owens worked with University of Akron track stars Gary Flinn and John Wiener and North High School athletes Bob Harlin and Chuck Bickett.
Owens predicted that the United States would dominate the field at the Summer Olympics that year in Melbourne.
“Judging from our past records and the number of good boys we have, I don’t see how any nation can beat us in the 100 meters through the half mile.”
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Two years later, Owens returned to town Oct. 29, 1958, to be the keynote speaker of the Akron Rubber Group before 750 people at the Mayflower Hotel in Akron.
He acknowledged that many Americans believed Hitler snubbed him in 1936 by refusing to shake his hand at the medal ceremony in Berlin.
“When I stepped up there on that pedestal, I was too excited to know whether I was snubbed or not,” Owens said. “And, to tell you the truth, I didn’t go to the Olympics for a handshake. It was, of course, my big thrill.
“When you suddenly realize you’re tops in the world ... and the band strikes up The Star-Spangled Banner ... and the chills start running up and down your spine ... why, many, you wouldn’t trade places with anyone on Earth.”
Owens worked for Cook County commissioners in Chicago and devoted his time to helping underprivileged youths. He encouraged adults to help children find a path toward a useful life.
“Sports isn’t the only answer. Some kids are interested in sports ... that’s good. Others are interested in music, some in mechanics ... that’s good, too. We try to find out what program each boy or girl reacts to best. Then we take it from there.”
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University of Akron Athletic Director Red Cochrane led a Memorial Hall crowd in singing Happy Birthday as Owens celebrated his 55th birthday Sept. 12, 1968. The Olympian addressed nearly 400 people.
Owens discussed civil rights and spoke against a proposed boycott by black athletes of the Summer Olympics in Mexico City. Speaking to a group of youths at Gardner Student Center, Owens said:
“My point is that there is opportunity now — let’s forget the past — for our 22 million black people. We must take advantage of it, improving ourselves first and then helping our fellow black people.”
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Owens, 58, returned to Akron on Nov. 9, 1971, to attend an Olympic Fund dinner at the new Cascade Holiday Inn. About 220 people attended.
Asked again about his 1936 run-in with Hitler, Owens responded: “Sure, I saw him every day. He had this little mustache, but he looked just like anyone else and put his pants on one leg at a time.
“But I couldn’t think about him. You had to keep your thoughts on the games. If you took your mind off the starting gun, you might as well have stayed home.
“And I’ll tell you this ... where Hitler is today is of no particular worry of mine. I’m just happy to be right here in Akron.”
Owens said he believed that athletes had made great strides: Athletes of the 1970s were bigger, stronger and more agile than those in the 1930s.
“I don’t feel the athletes of today have any more desire than we had, but let’s just say you should feel fortunate to be living in this time because of some very extraordinary youngsters,” he said.
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Owens’ next trip to Akron made U.S. news. While visiting friends June 28, 1975, the 62-year-old Olympian doubled over in pain and had to be rushed to a doctor.
He was admitted to St. Thomas Hospital for acute appendicitis. Dr. E. Gates Morgan performed the operation, which took less than an hour.
Owens told a reporter that he was “feeling pretty good” after the appendectomy. “It’s just that everything is sore as hell.”
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Jesse Owens, 66, died of lung cancer March 31, 1980, in Tucson, Ariz.
Among those attending the Chicago funeral were Larry Snyder, Owens’ track coach at Ohio State, and Woody Hayes, former football coach for the Buckeyes.
“I admired so much what he did for the youth of this country,” Hayes told a reporter. “Athletically, what he did was great, but what he did otherwise was even better.”
Beacon Journal copy editor Mark J. Price is the author of the book Lost Akron from The History Press. He can be reached at 330-996-3850 or mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.