OWENS MIGHT HAVE appreciated any story about him that didn’t mention the Nazi dictator who reportedly snubbed him after Owens won FOUR GOLD MEDALS in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. This is as close as he’s going to get. The track legend first hurdled onto the national scene three years earlier in Chicago when, then a high school senior from Cleveland, he tied the world record for the 100-YARD DASH. After his Olympic triumph, Owens struggled for footing in a career and found it back here, succeeding in public relations and working with disadvantaged kids. Owens moved to Phoenix in the early ’70s, but after his death in 1980, he was buried in Chicago, a city that never snubbed him.
Number of world records Owens broke or tied within 45 minutes at the 1935 Big Ten championships: 4.
Year the FBI investigated Owens to determine if he was a “loyal American”: 1956.
Percentage of the Olympic gold medal that is required to be made of silver: 92.5.
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“After all those stories about Hitler and his snub, I came back to my native country and couldn’t ride in the front of the bus.”
–JESSE OWENS
