Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics

by Jeremy Schaap

  xii Banned from amateur competition: Associated Press, “Jesse Owens Beats Horse at 100 Yds. In Cuba Carnival,” Washington Post, Dec. 27, 1936, p. X1.

  xiii “to make friends”: A. M. Rosenthal, “Ex-‘Fastest Man’ a Speedy U.S. Aide,” New York Times, Oct. 5, 1955, p. 4.

  1. A DAY TO REMEMBER

  4 David Albritton, Ohio State’s: Larry Snyder, “My Boy Jesse,” Saturday Evening Post, Nov. 7, 1936, p. 14.

  In fact: Gayle Talbot, “Thorpe Tops Ruth as Greatest Athlete,” Washington Post, Feb. 12, 1950, p. C2.

  On this day: Earl Gustkey, “The Greatest Day in Track & Field,” Los Angeles Times, May 25, 1985, pt. 3, p. 1.

  5 Mel Walker: Courier-Mail (Queensland, Australia), May 25, 2000, p. 41.

  The day before: Jim Benagh, “Remembering Jess Owens’s Other Big Day,” New York Times, May 20, 1985, p. C9.

  7 “About everybody beat him”: Mark Heisler, “A Day They Will Not Forget,” Los Angeles Times, Apr. 11, 1980, p. E1.

  Three timers had clocked Owens: Arthur J. Daley, “Was Jesse Shortchanged,” New York Times, July 6, 1954, p. 27.

  8 “I’m not bragging”: “Owens’ Sayings Reveal the Man,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Aug. 6, 1936.

  8 In the previous day’s: Francis J. Powers, “Jesse Owens Can Leap 27 Feet, Says Coach,” Los Angeles Times, May 24, 1935, p. A17.

  9 “by about a foot”: Heisler, “A Day They Will Not Forget.”

  10 “absolutely beautiful”: Ibid.

  “Every coach in the Big Ten”: Snyder, “My Boy Jesse.”

  12 “It was like an accordion”: Heisler, “A Day They Will Not Forget.”

  13 “I broke out”: Jesse Owens, I Have Changed (New York: William Morrow, 1972), p. 32.

  “I want to tell you”: Alvin Silverman, “Owens’ Words Tell Why He Rose from Junior High ‘Punk’ to ‘Fastest Human,’” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Aug. 6, 1936.

  2. OUT OF ALABAMA

  14 “My father’s long”: Jesse Owens, Jesse: The Man Who Outran Hitler (Plainfield, N.J.: Logos, 1985), p. 37.

  17 “We’ve got to do something”: Ibid., p. 5.

  18 Between 1882 and 1902: The History of Jim Crow, http://www.jim-crowhistory.org/scripts/jimcrow/glossary.cgi.

  “I’m going to take”: Owens, Jesse, p. 6.

  19 “We never had any problems”: Ibid., p. 10.

  20 “I always loved running”: Ibid., p. 18.

  In 1922, when Jesse: William J. Baker, Jesse Owens: An American Life (New York: Free Press, 1988), p. 16.

  “It’s crazy to go on”: Owens, Jesse, p. 22.

  21 In Cleveland, J.C. enrolled: Baker, Jesse Owens, p. 19.

  One day when Jesse: Bob Dolgan, “Cleveland’s Golden Son,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Sept. 25, 2000, p. 2C.

  23 “I thought I’d win”: Owens, Jesse, p. 39.

  24 “Don’t talk, Jesse”: Ibid., pp. 40–41.

  Soon thereafter Jesse found: Ibid., pp. 43–44.

  25 Four years later, in Paris: The 200-meter bronze medalist was Eric Liddell, a Scottish missionary whose story was chronicled in the Academy Award-winning film Chariots of Fire. Paddock failed to place in 1924 at 100 meters, the race that was won by the Englishman Harold Abrahams, whose story was also central to Chariots of Fire.

  27 “I haven’t got the heart”: Alvin Silverman, “Owens’ Words Tell Why He Rose from Junior High ‘Punk’ to ‘Fastest Human,’” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Aug. 6, 1936.

  29 “hunted up interpreters”: “Sexton Cracks Shot-Put Mark,” Los Angeles Times, Aug. 22, 1932, p. 7.

  “He will be an asset”: Baker, Jesse Owens, p. 35.

  In just one year: “Soccer Outfit Will Not Quit,” Los Angeles Times, Dec. 25, 1932, p. D1.

  He also made: “Ohio State to Train Runners in New Style,” New York Times, Sept. 3, 1932, p. 10.

  3. VINCIBLE

  31 “Dear old Babe Ruth”: Will Rogers, “Mr. Rogers Spent Sunday with the Sporting Pages,” New York Times, May 26, 1935, p. 19.

  32 “a Republican holiday”: Will Rogers, “Mr. Rogers Takes Note of the NRA Slaughter,” New York Times, May 28, 1935, p. 27.

  33 “I think the praise”: William J. Baker, Jesse Owens: An American Life (New York: Free Press, 1988), p. 52.

  34 “After last Saturday’s performances”: “Jesse Owens Recalls Snub by Metcalfe,” Chicago Daily Tribune, May 29, 1935, p. 22.

  35 “most of [them]”: Wilfrid Smith, “Owens Leads Ohio State to Central Track Title,” Chicago Daily Tribune, June 8, 1935, p. 21.

  “almost heartbroken”: “Jesse Owens Recalls Snub by Metcalfe.”

  36 “There was no doubt”: Ibid.

  37 “under-cover of the semi-darkness”: Bill Henry, “Ohio State Due Today,” Los Angeles Times, June 11, 1935, p. A13.

  “Perhaps the Indians”: Harry Carr, “The Lancer: The Negro Wonder,” Los Angeles Times, June 11, 1935, p. A1.

  “a good-natured colored boy”: Bill Henry, “Jesse Owens Faces Lens,” Los Angeles Times, June 12, 1935, p. 7.

  “The local colored colony”: Bill Henry, “Bill Henry Says—,” Los Angeles Times, June 14, 1935, p. A15.

  38 “Setting here”: Will Rogers, “Mr. Rogers Is Hobnobbing with Some Fast People,” New York Times, June 13, 1935, p. 25.

  Jim Thorpe was working: Sadly, Steamboat Bill was Rogers’s final picture. Two months after Owens visited him, Rogers and his friend Wiley Post were killed near Point Barrow, Alaska, when their plane’s engine failed on takeoff. Also an Oklahoman, Post was one of the celebrity aviators of the era and had twice flown around the world. “President and pauper alike expressed sorrow, for both men were known over virtually the length and breadth of civilization,” the Associated Press reported from Alaska.

  39 “It was good for him”: Larry Snyder, “My Boy Jesse,” Saturday Evening Post, Nov. 7, 1936, p. 15.

  “Short muscles in the calf”: Braven Dyer, “Why Is Jesse Owens Greatest Track Star?” Los Angeles Times, June 13, 1935, p. A11.

  40 “Nobody can answer that”: Ibid.

  “Don’t miss today’s appearance”: Braven Dyer, “The Sports Parade,” Los Angeles Times, June 15, 1935, p. 9.

  “He won so easily”: Bill Henry, “Owens Wins Four Events but Troy Triumphs,” Los Angeles Times, June 16, 1935, p. 23.

  41 “I never saw”: Associated Press, “Frank Wykoff Marvels at Ease of Jesse Owens’ Track Form,” Washington Post, June 17, 1935, p. 15.

  “I have to get my lead”: Ibid.

  43 “I feel fine”: Bill Henry, “‘I Was Lucky to Win Four Firsts,’ Owens,” Los Angeles Times, June 24, 1935, p. 10.

  “trailed Owens”: Associated Press, “Jesse Owens Dances after Taking 4 Events,” Washington Post, June 24, 1935, p. 16.

  “He beat just the pick”: “Owens Enters Four Events, Wins Four National Titles,” Chicago Daily Tribune, June 23, 1935, p. A1.

  44 “There were only nine inches”: Braven Dyer, “Owens Double Winner at San Diego,” Los Angeles Times, June 28, 1935, p. A11.

  45 “Jesse Owens, Negro college student”: “A Solomonic Judgment: The Submerged Tenth,” Los Angeles Times, June 28, 1935, p. A4.

  “So important”: Baker, Jesse Owens, p. 57.

  46 “one last chance”: Cleveland Plain Dealer, “Owens, Told He’d Be Sued, Will Sprint to Wed Maid He Wooed,” July 4, 1935.

  “Possibly Ralph Metcalfe”: John Kieran, “Sports of the Times: Just Jesse, a Tale of Speed,” New York Times, June 30, 1935, p. S2.

  “Fortnight ago”: “Negroes in Nebraska,” Time, July 15, 1935.

  47 “However,” he said: Donald McRae, Heroes Without a Country: America’s Betrayal of Joe Louis and Jesse Owens (New York: Ecco, 2002), p. 82.

  Finally, on their twelfth try: Arch Ward, “Talking It Over,” Chicago Daily Tribune, July 5, 1935, p. 17.

  48 “This was to have been”: Arthur J. Daley, “Owens Beaten Twice by Peacock as New York A.C. Retains U.S. Track Title,” New York Times, July 5, 1935, p. 16.

&n
bsp; “Enter Mistah Owens”: Braven Dyer, “The Sports Parade,” Los Angeles Times, July 6, 1935, p. 7.

  50 A romantic Jesse was not: Baker, Jesse Owens, p. 58.

  “The wedding set”: “Dan Cupid Catches Up with Owens,” Los Angeles Times, July 6, 1935, p. 5.

  51 “Then,” Arthur Daley wrote: Arthur J. Daley, “Two Records Are Shattered in All-Star Track and Field Meet at Ohio Field,” New York Times, July 10, 1935, p. 25.

  52 “It looked to me”: Paul Gallico, “Give Owens a Rest, He’ll Beat Peacock in the Dash,” Washington Post, July 11, 1935, p. 19.

  “I just mean”: Ibid.

  “I can only see Peacock”: Paul Zimmerman, “Paddock Sees Peacock as Olympic Champion,” Los Angeles Times, July 10, 1935, p. 5.

  53 “Peacock is the fastest”: McRae, Heroes Without a Country, pp. 86–87. “Of course I’m worn down”: Ibid., p. 87.

  54 “It’s going to take”: Ibid.

  “If both men were”: Gallico, “Give Owens a Rest.”

  “a high tension”: Dick Schaap, An Illustrated History of the Olympics (New York: Knopf, 1975), p. 210.

  “Owens is a form runner”: Ibid.

  4. HEEL BONES AND A NEW START

  55 “The latter clause”: William J. Baker, Jesse Owens: An American Life (New York: Free Press, 1988), p. 60.

  56 “industry, training, incentive”: “Jesse Owens Success Analyzed by Doctor,” Los Angeles Times, July 28, 1935, p. 18.

  57 “a tempest in a teapot”: Paul Zimmerman, “Paddock Takes Up Cudgel on Behalf of Jesse Owens Against A.A.U. Officials,” Los Angeles Times, Aug. 15, 1935, p. 12.

  “We failed to find”: “Owens Case Is Closed,” New York Times, Sept. 1, 1935, p. S8.

  “Humanity demands”: “Negro Olympic Ban Urged,” New York Times, Aug. 23, 1935, p. 9.

  58 “Owens Not Washed Up”: Edward J. Neil, “Owens Works on New Start,” Los Angeles Times, Aug. 4, 1935, p. 24.

  59 “Tests so far”: “New Start for Owens,” Los Angeles Times, July 31, 1935. p. 9.

  5. THE JUDGE AND THE MILLIONAIRE

  63 “No better place”: William O. Johnson, All That Glitters Is Not Gold: The Olympic Games (New York: Putnam, 1972), p. 78.

  64 “You didn’t have to”: Ibid.

  “He was sincere”: Red Smith, “The Noblest Badger of Them All,” New York Times, May 12, 1975, p. 48.

  64 “There is no room”: “May Ask New Pledges: Olympic Committee Members Are Alarmed by Berlin Outbursts,” New York Times, July 26, 1935, p. 9.

  65 “The German Olympic Committee”: John MacCormac, “Reich Keeps Games, Giving Way on Jews,” New York Times, June 8, 1933, p. 1.

  66 “We shall see”: “German Jews Face Exclusion from Olympics Despite Pact,” Washington Post, Aug. 6, 1933, p. 21.

  “all special facilities,” “German Jews Barred from Olympic Games,” Los Angeles Times, Aug. 6, 1933, p. D1.

  67 “The lamentable events”: Associated Press, “Toscanini Refuses to Go to Baireuth,” New York Times, June 6, 1933, p. 1.

  “The Olympic games will not”: Ibid.

  68 “set the seal”: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/olympics/zcc034.htm.

  “I think that one”: Barbara S. Kraft, “Moscow’s Olympic Flame Flickers in the Cold Memory of Berlin, 1936,” Los Angeles Times, Feb. 24, 1980, p. E1.

  “Now that it is”: Stan Cohen, The Games of ‘36 (Missoula, Mt.: Pictorial Histories, 1996), p. 3.

  69 In 1930, on the occasion: “Gets German Decoration,” New York Times, Aug. 19, 1930, p. 7.

  “The issue becomes”: “Nazis Seek to Oust 1936 Olympic Head,” New York Times, Apr. 4, 1933, p. 13.

  70 “To my mind”: Arthur J. Daley, “Berlin Faces Loss of Olympic Games,” New York Times, Apr. 18, 1933, p. 18.

  “The German committee”: Associated Press, “Brundage’s Approval of Berlin’s Conduct Forecasts U.S. Acceptance of Olympic Bid,” New York Times, Aug. 11, 1934, p. 10.

  71 “are an international event”: Kraft, “Moscow’s Olympic Flame Flickers.”

  “Certain Jews must understand”: Smith, “The Noblest Badger.”

  “Should the Games”: Duff Hart-Davis, Hitler’s Games: The 1936 Olympics (New York: Harper & Row, 1986), p. 76. Messersmith, incidentally, had achieved brief notoriety in 1932 when Albert Einstein criticized American consular officials in Berlin—not Messersmith, but his underlings—who had interviewed him when he was applying for a visa to the United States. “I suggest in the future Consuls put pins in their victims’ chairs so they will feel stuck from the beginning,” Professor Einstein said.

  72 “The fact that no Jews”: “Brundage Favors Berlin Olympics,” New York Times, July 27, 1935, p. 2.

  73 “As I wished”: Richard Mandell, The Nazi Olympics (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1987). pp. 50–51.

  “welcomed the allotting”: Organisationskomitee Für Die XI. Olympiade Berlin 1936 E. V., The XIth Olympic Games, Berlin, 1936, Official Report, Vol. 1 (Berlin: Wilhelm Limpert, 1937), p. 47.

  74 “This sacred site”: Frederic Spotts, Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics (New York: Overlook, 2004), p. 71.

  “The stadium must”: Hart-Davis, Hitler’s Games, p. 47.

  75 “could not take place”: Albert Speer, Inside the Third Reich (New York: Touchstone, 1997), p. 80.

  “Overnight”: Ibid.

  “In 1940, the Olympic Games”: Ibid, p. 70.

  77 “The Chancellor is taking”: Hart-Davis, Hitler’s Games, p. 13.

  78 It was Hitler: Spotts, Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics, p. 354.

  “I will advance”: “Olympics in Germany in ‘36 Ok’d by Hitler,” Washington Post, Mar. 17, 1933, p. 13.

  “a veritably historic opportunity”: Genet, “Berlin Letter,” The New Yorker, Aug. 1, 1936.

  79 “There has never been”: Frederick T. Birchall, “All Considerations of Cost Set Aside in German Preparations for Olympics,” New York Times, July 20, 1936, p. 19.

  80 “The Negro in the South”: Michael Mirer, “Ben Johnson ‘39: How Fast Can a Man Run 60 Yards?” Columbia Spectator, Jan. 19, 2000, www.columbiaspectator.com.

  81 Johnson—who: Arthur R. Ashe, Jr., A Hard Road to Glory (New York: Amistad, 1993), p. 33.

  in August 1935: William J. Baker, Jesse Owens: An American Life (New York: Free Press, 1988), p. 65.

  82 “No American Participation”: Cohen, The Games of ‘36, p. 4.

  “With the possible exception”: George S. Schuyler, “Letter to the Sports Editor,” New York Times, July 11, 1936, p. 8.

  “6. WE ARE WITH YOU, ADOLF”

  83 “I went to Germany”: “Sherrill Rebuffs Olympic Ban Plea,” New York Times, Oct. 22, 1935, p. 1.

  84 “The issue is not Germany”: “Sherrill Assailed for Olympic Stand,” New York Times, Oct. 23, 1935, p. 9.

  84 That night, in Yonkers: “Sherrill Rebuffs Olympic Ban Plea.”

  85 “Germans are not discriminating”: “Sherrill Assailed for Olympic Stand.”

  Rubien must have known: International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, www.jewishsports.net/medalists.htm.

  “absolutely no discrimination”: “Olympic Aide Saw No Discrimination,” New York Times, Sept. 10, 1935, p. 10.

  86 DRIVE CAREFULLY!: William L. Shirer, The Nightmare Years, 1930–1940 (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2001), p. 230.

  “his good offices”: “Jahncke Asks Ban on Olympic Games,” New York Times, Nov. 27, 1935, p. 2.

  87 “The boycott campaign”: Ibid.

  “It is logical to expel”: “Nazi Views on Sports Cited by Churchman,” New York Times, Dec. 16, 1935, p. 10.

  88 “Have no doubt of it”: “Gov. Earle Urges U.S. Olympic Ban,” New York Times, Dec. 4, 1935, p. 26.

  “the regimentation of all”: Ibid.

  “ask for no quarter”: Ibid.

  “I came here”: Ibid.

  89 “Will you convey”: “Negroes Decry Olympics, Association Urges AAU to Boycott Berlin Games,�
�� New York Times, Dec. 7, 1935, p. 7.

  90 “No political situation”: “Negro Athletes for Olympics,” New York Times, Dec. 4, 1935, p. 26.

  “These colored athletes”: “17 Coaches Protest Nazi Sport Tactics,” Chicago Daily Tribune, Dec. 3, 1935, p. 23.

  91 “In retrospect”: David Margolick, Beyond Glory: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, and a World on the Brink (New York: Knopf, 2005), p. 118.

  92 “What would old Adolf”: Paul Gallico, “Gallico Thinks Schmeling Is Disappointed in Louis in Workout,” Washington Post, Dec. 9, 1935, p. 20.

  93 “The principal effect”: New York Times, Dec. 7, 1935, p. 1.

  “If necessary”: Ibid.

  “It was double-crossing”: “A.A.U. Blocks Vote on Olympics Ban,” New York Times, Dec. 8, 1935, p. 1.

  94 “I am glad”: Ibid.

  95 “One of the immediate tasks”: “Gen. Sherrill Suggests Reds Back Games Foes,” Washington Post, Dec. 9, 1935, p. 19.

  “What you are trying here”: “AAU Backs Team in Berlin Olympics,” New York Times, Dec. 9, 1935, p. 1.

  96 “A famous spell-binder”: Ibid.

  “I bow to the will”: Ibid.

  7. A BLESSING IN DISGUISE

  98 “If there is discrimination”: William J. Baker, Jesse Owens: An American Life (New York: Free Press, 1988), p. 65.

  “Jesse Owens is sitting”: Ibid., pp. 65–66.

  99 “I see no reason”: Associated Press, “Owens Is Center of New Wrangle Over Olympics,” Chicago Daily Tribune, Nov. 11, 1935, p. 22.

  100 “the world’s outstanding”: Susan D. Bachrach, The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936 (Boston: Little, Brown, 2000), p. 58.

  “My dear Mr. Owens”: David K. Wiggins and Patrick B. Miller, The Unlevel Playing Field: A Documentary History of the African American Experience in Sport (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2005), pp. 164–65.

  102 “contributed the most”: “Owens Off Honor Roll,” Los Angeles Times, Dec. 8, 1935, p. 17.

  103 “I am disappointed”: “Owens, Track Champion, Ruled Ineligible,” Chicago Daily Tribune, Dec. 29, 1935, p. A1.

  104 “We regret having Owens out”: Associated Press, “Owens’ Enforced Rest Seen Boon to Negro’s Chances in Olympics,” Washington Post, Feb. 13, 1936, p. X16.