The Phoenix index., 1940-04-27
Jesse Owens Track Greatness Proves
Real Stars Are Born, Not Made; Ohio
Ace Picked Cotton AS Youth
BIZ Zuc1us MelanchozYJo Zones

first places and unanimous acclaim worlds fastest h
man. That is the saga of James Cleveland OWenS-more
fctiona than any Horao Ager tale the column ever read
read.
James, by the way is the correct of the young
man we're all haing Jesse Owens Enormously called
"esse" by persistent teacher during his boyhOod days
Owens being contentious in the least goodnaturedy
permitted the wrong designation and to this day. has been
identified jesse Owens rather than Jimmy Owens
The story of Owens rise is similar to that OF Joe
Louis The parallel is especially striking in that both were
born in Alabama picked cotton during childhood days
The world heavyweight boxing champion halls from La
fayete The worlds fastest M NV was 9o l Hsnr
Owens, moved to Cleveland Ohio in 1922.
In 1926 Jesse Owens entered Fairmon Junior High in
Cleveland where he first took track His first coach was
Charles Riley, white and he thinks is he who deserves
credit for the fame he Owens has garnered the
cinderpath.
Even in Junior high school, Owens actually outran and
outumped the university stars of Cleveland In fact all his
junior high track records still stand They high Jump,
feet yard dash 214 seconds; 100 meters 1O6 sec
onds; and Is yard dash, IA seconds
The Olympic hero entered East Tech High in 1880,
Riley still coaching him. He participated in AZ meets in
senior high losing only vea in his second year. He was
never loser in his junior and senior He set
record every sprint from the SO yard dash to the
22O yard dash during this period Not single Of those
marks has been exced They SO yard dash 5Z
seconds 100 yard dash sa seconds S2O yard dash z I
Mansfield Relays (prep cassic) Owens set new
the 100 and 22O yard dashes and the broad jump
At Ohio State where Jesse Owens did his collegiate
work he broke all kinds of records after his entrance there
in 1888
But the day of days in Ovens career-the day when
he became foremost and field artist world his
tory-was May &C. 1885.
That eventfu afternoon before nearly 100000 unbelev-
ed Buckeye Bullet personally blasted three exist
ing world records and tied fourth
Owens raced the 22O yard dash in 2O3 seconds new
world mark and 22O yard high hurdles in 226 seconds
also new world record eapt 26 feet, IA inches in
the broad jump That too, world mark Ihen 10
cap ALL he gaoped to victory in the 100 yard dash In "a
seconds tying the 1880 word record set by Frank Wy
koff of the University of Southern California.
However, Ovens 100 yard dash performance pales
that of Wykofs in that the white boy used starting
blocks Jesse used nothing whatever not ordinarily listed
under the head of personal equipment.
Needless to say, the day extravaganza lett the
whole track world absolutely daZed Even those who saw
will tell you until this day they still don't believe it. But it's
1t happened. Cold type bear out in the records
Thus Owens rightly has his place in the world OF sports
alongside Bobby Jones in gof Jack Dempsey and Joe
Louis boxing Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb in baseball and
Bill Tlden in tennis In fact Owens to track what they
said men to their respective fields of endeavor
Great as Owens Big Ten performance at Ann
ArbOr, Michigan that eventfu day in 1885, he all but
bucked il the 1886 Oympics at Berlin There the Buck
eye Bullet streaked the 100 meters in 1912 seconds new
world record the 200 meters in 2O seconds anoher new
world marl, and eapt 26 feet, and 2164h inches (ew
Olympic record) The Olympic broad jump leap as noted
IA inches ,
To climax all the other record-breaking in the Olym-
piad Owens teamed with Ralph Metcafe also coored Foy
Draper and Frank Wyko in that order to capture the
400 meter relay in 1913 secondsanother world record.
Jesse Owens proves concusivey that real athletic
stars are borr-not made With the proper gifts from
Natu we'd have TOuiS Jesse Owens!