Jesse Owens

J.C. was born into a poor sharecropper’s family in Alabama, a frail infant who became a sickly child. With no money for doctors or medicine, his parents spent many cold winters nursing him through deadly bouts of pneumonia. Six long years later, he was walking nine miles to school with his siblings.

J.C.’s father moved the family to Ohio when he was eight. The first day of school, a teacher misunderstood him to say his name was Jesse. The name stuck. Along with his brothers and sisters, young Jesse worked countless odd jobs to help support the family— and he ran. Jesse had discovered that he loved to run.

One day during gym class a high school Coach named Charlie Riley noticed Jesse’s raw talent and invited him to join the track team. Jesse hesitated; his work would prevent him from attending afternoon practices. Coach Riley agreed to meet in the mornings. The combination of Coach Riley’s determination to see Jesse’s running form perfected and the speed of Jesse’s natural ability created a track star.

In 1936, a twenty-three year old record setting African American college graduate walked onto the world stage of the 1936 Olympics in Germany and personally destroyed Hitler’s myth of the superiority of the Aryan race. Jesse Owens was the first American in the history of Olympic Track and Field to win four gold medals in a single Olympics.

During his career Jesse Owens met remarkable success and painful discrimination. He spent the rest of his life using the unique platform his triumphs brought to fight injustice for those around him. And yet everyone who came to know Jesse spoke highly of him. In today’s Southern Quote we honor the accomplishments of the late Jesse Owens, who once said, “Find the good. It’s all around you. Find it, showcase it and you’ll start believing in it.” – Jesse Owens