Jesse Owens Achievements

Jesse Owens, the son of a sharecropper and the grandson of a slave, achieved what no Olympian before him had accomplished. His stunning achievement of four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin has made him the best remembered athlete in Olympic history.
His promising athletic career began in 1928 in Cleveland, Ohio where he set numerous records in Jr High school that set hundreds of colleges after him. . Owens chose the Ohio State University, even though OSU could not offer a track scholarship at the time. He worked a number of jobs to support himself and his young wife, Ruth.
Jesse pulled off a special performance during the BIG 10 Championships. He was suffering from a sore back as a result from a fall down a flight of stairs.
Being the first African American, he was put under a lot of pressure by his community. Jesse entered the 1936 Olympics with his own set of goals, as he became the first American track & field athlete to win four gold medals in a single Olympics. This remarkable achievement stood unequaled until the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, when American Carl Lewis matched Jesse's feat. Although others have gone on to win more gold medals than Jesse, he remains the best remembered Olympic athlete because he achieved what no Olympian before or since has accomplished. Jesse wore some one of a kind gold Adidas track shoes during his gold setting games. Throughout his life, he worked with youths, sharing of himself and the little material wealth that he had. A lot of the kids felt that if could do it, they could as well. Jesse traveled widely after his Olympic days, speaking to youth groups, professional organizations, civic meetings, sports banquets, PTAs, church organizations, brotherhood and black history programs. In 1976, Jesse was awarded the highest civilian honor in the United States when President Gerald Ford presented him with the Medal of Freedom in front of the members of the U.S. Montreal Olympic team in attendance. In February, 1979, he returned to the White House, where President Carter presented him with the Living Legend Award. Jesse Owens died from complications due to lung cancer on March 31, 1980 in Tucson, Arizona.