How much was Jesse Owens worth?
| Net Worth: | $150 Thousand |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Athlete |
| Date of Birth: | September 12, 1913 |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 1.78 m |
About Jesse Owens
James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens, an American track and field athlete, was born on September 12, 1913, and he passed away on March 31, 1980. Jesse Owens was the first athlete to win four gold medals in track and field at a modern Olympic Games. He was the son of sharecroppers and the grandson of slaves. Owens won gold in the long jump, the 200-meter dash, and the 100-meter dash in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The 400-meter relay was won by his relay team later. Olympic legend Jesse Owens is regarded as one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century.
- Dates: September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980
- Also Known As: James Cleveland Owens (born as), J.C., “The Buckeye Bullet”
- Famous Quote: “The battles that count aren’t for gold medals. The struggles within yourself–the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us–that’s where it’s at.”
Family and early years
Henry and Mary Emma Owens’ tenth child, James Cleveland Owens, was born on September 12, 1913, in Oakville, Alabama. James Owens, also known as “J.C.” by his family, was the son of a sharecropper and the grandson of slaves. The Owens family, like the majority of sharecroppers, lived in a run-down shack and struggled to make ends meet.
The youngest of his family, J.C., was a sickly youngster who spent his entire childhood dealing with severe cases of pneumonia and bronchitis. His family frequently feared that he wouldn’t live since they couldn’t afford to call a doctor.
But J.C. wasn’t always unwell. When he felt well enough, he would go nine miles one way to his one-room classroom inside the Baptist Church, where a volunteer instructor would instruct him. J.C. was badly undereducated in his early years despite this, which he never completely managed to overcome.
Henry Owens sold his lone mule and all of his farm equipment to his landlord one day because his parents wanted better for J.C. and his siblings. Time to relocate to Cleveland, Ohio, it was 1922.
Over six million African Americans moved from the rural South to the metropolis of the North between 1916 and 1970, and the Owens family was among them. The Owens family was seeking for better jobs and a better life in the North, much like other people.
Sadly, they were unable to realize their dream. While Henry and his other boys did at first find employment in the steel mills, it didn’t continue for very long. They were therefore compelled to accept odd jobs whenever and wherever they could in an effort to make ends meet.
On the other side, J.C. performed admirably in Cleveland. He supported his family by working part-time jobs (at a greenhouse, a grocery store, a petrol station, and a shoemaker, for example) while simultaneously being able to attend school.
Education
J. C. founded Bolton Elementary School in Cleveland, where he was compelled to repeat the second grade at the age of nine. Despite the setback, J.C. learned two crucial things while attending Bolton Elementary: first, his nickname, and second, running.
J.C. already had a moniker, which was J.C. On the other hand, a teacher mistakenly gave J.C. a new moniker on his first day at Bolton. He said “J.C.” when his new teacher asked him what his name was, but the teacher misheard and said “Jesse.” “Jesse” acquired his lifetime moniker since he was too shy to correct her.
Young Jesse Owens did not appear to be athletic when running. He appeared to have a frail physique, was usually ill, and was little. But Jesse Owens had a unique quality, and early on, track coach Charley Riley recognized it. Owens had to work after school to support his family, despite Riley’s offer to train him. Riley agreed to coach Owens before school as an exception. The instruction was beginning to pay off after a few months. Fast was Owens.
Coach Riley continued to work with Owens as he transferred to Fairmount Junior High School to hone his track and field abilities. As he grew stronger, Owens began to set junior-high records in the broad jump and high jump for the school team.
Owens paid close attention as Coach Riley spoke. Riley gave Owens guidance on how to handle life’s many difficulties in addition to teaching him to “run like you’re on a red-hot stove.” Coach Riley was revered by Owens, who regarded him as a second father.
Coach Riley invited Charley Paddock, a white track and field athlete who competed in the 1920 and 1924 Olympics, to speak to the Fairmount Junior High pupils in 1928. Meeting Paddock had a profound impact on Owens. Owens made it his goal to compete in the Olympics after that, despite the fact that there were only two black American athletes in the 1920 Games, three in the 1924 Games, and none in the 1928 Games.
Sports victories in high school
Jesse Owens kept up his rigorous training. Owens dominated the major track competitions at East Technical High School and won the Ohio state title each of his three years in high school. His senior year, he served as both the student body president and the track team captain.
Owens set a new high school world record in the 220-yard dash (20.7 seconds) and tied the world record in the 100-yard dash while representing his team at the National Interscholastic Meet in Chicago in 1933. (9.4. seconds). The mayor of Cleveland hosted a victory parade for the squad when they got back to Cleveland.
Family and Marriage
When he found out that his 16-year-old girlfriend, Minnie Ruth Solomon, was expecting a child in 1932, 18-year-old Jesse Owens, who was still in high school, was shocked. In August 1932, their daughter Gloria was born. In order to support herself and the child, Ruth dropped out of high school, moved in with her parents, and took a job. Owens kept garnering attention for his athletic prowess.
On July 5, 1935, Jesse and Ruth were later united in marriage. While Owens attended the 1936 Olympics and pursued his education, they continued to live apart. Two more daughters were born to them later, Marlene (born 1937) and Beverly (born 1940).
Although Jesse Owens had a lot of admirers and his name was occasionally associated with other women, he and Ruth remained together until his passing.
College sports
As the first member of his family to graduate from high school, Owens surprised his family by enrolling at Ohio State University out of the many institutions that sought him out. A black man’s life in Columbus was not simple. The only theater he could go to required black patrons to sit in the final six rows of the balcony, there were no dorms open to blacks, and the majority of eateries would not serve him.
The decision to attend Ohio State has advantages, namely financial gain. A lot of money is required for college, and during the Great Depression, finding money was particularly difficult. At the time, track and field athletes were not eligible for sports scholarships, therefore the school assisted him in obtaining the money.
This included planning speeches, working as a freight elevator operator, and serving as a page in the Ohio assembly.
Unfortunately, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) grew suspicious and ultimately concluded that Owens should no longer compete as an amateur because he was receiving payment for his athletic achievements rather than for actual job. Owens and the university successfully argued that he should maintain his amateur status.
Owens struggled through college. He had no academic experience, so he was essentially working a full-time job in addition to attending school. He was consequently on academic probation almost every term. However, Owens excelled in sports.
The Big Ten title, held at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on May 25, 1935, is what made Owens renowned despite taking part in other track meets. In front of 12,000 spectators, Owens tied and broke six world records. He was actually the “Buckeye Bullet” (a play on the mascot of his institution, the Buckeye).
Should Americans Attend the 1936 Olympic Games?
Larry Snyder, Jesse Owens’ college track coach, spent two years honing his technique and molding him into one of the fastest men in history. At that time, Owens was prepared to make his Olympic debut in 1936.
At a time when Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was already persecuting Jews and robbing them of citizenship, the 1936 Olympic Games were set to take place in Berlin, Germany. The AAU suggested boycotting the competition. The decision was supported by American Jews, Protestant and Catholic church organizations, labor unions, and a number of local governments.
The American Olympic Committee (AOC) decided to travel to Germany to determine whether a boycott was appropriate. Hitler responded by agreeing to tone down his rhetoric that proclaimed the superiority of the Nordic, white, “Aryan” race over all others. Following that, the AOC decided that Americans should take part in the Olympics.
African Americans were urged by many in the black press not to compete, but Owens and others saw the Olympics as an opportunity to shine. Black athletes exclusively faced up against white athletes in boxing and track and field competitions at that time. Berlin was a chance to prove to Hitler that he was mistaken about who was the best.
In July 1936, Owens applied for and was given a spot in the Berlin Olympics. He traveled to Germany with his companions aboard the SS Manhattan in cabins below deck.
At the Olympics: Jesse Owens
For the Olympics in Berlin, it was chilly and rainy; the dirt made running conditions challenging. Initially, Jesse Owens ran in the 100-meter dash. Owens was astonished to hear cheers from the German fans after bracing himself for a cool reception. Despite being nervous, Owens ran quickly and finished four feet in front of his closest competitor. Owens won his first gold medal by finishing the 100 meters in 10.3 seconds, tying the world record.
Hitler did not extend a handshake to him after the race. A persistent misconception that Hitler left the stadium rather than shake Owens’ hand began with this incident. Hitler, in actuality, did not wish to celebrate any non-Aryan victor. Hitler believed his German athletes would win every heat when the Olympics first began, but when reality showed differently, he decided he had better not congratulate any winner (not even German), lest he have to do it for everyone (including those he considered subhuman).
On the third day of the Olympics, Owens qualified for the morning 200-meter sprint with ease but struggled in the long jump.
An athlete had three chances to jump at least 23 feet, 5 inches in the long jump to advance to the finals. Owens fouled his first two attempts by stepping over the starting line and taking what he believed to be a test run. The mistakes left Owens a little confused. It would be dreadful if he didn’t qualify because this was the event in which he held the world record. He was just left with one jump.
Owens later recalled how his main competition in the long jump, German track star Carl Ludwig “Luz” Long, suggested that Owens mark his take-off location behind the real take-off board. Owens removed a foot ahead of the line to qualify because he didn’t need to break any records, just qualify.
The two guys competed against one another in the finals, both setting new records. Jesse Owens accomplished the biggest leap ever on his final attempt, landing at 26 feet 5 1/2 inches (8.06 meters). Long went over right away to congratulate Owens. Long made a superb display of sportsmanship by not only placing his arm around Owen’s shoulder but also taking hold of Owen’s hand and lifting it high.
Owens had won his second gold medal and broken a 24-year-old Olympic record. Long won the silver medal in the end.
Long and Owens talked for hours at the Olympic Village after the long jump competition. Long and Owens became friends despite their disparate upbringings and the racial tension of the Olympic Games. But only a few years later, in 1943, Long lost his life while serving in World War II.
The 200-meter finals were scheduled on August 5, 1936, day four of the Olympics. By this point, Owens was a well-known Olympic figure, and media members, admirers, and even rival Olympians clamoured to speak with him, obtain his autograph, or get their photo taken with him.
Owens performed remarkably well in the 200-meter race, especially given that the track was muddy. He ran the 200-meter course around a curve in 20.7 seconds, breaking the previous record. His third gold medal had been won by Owens.
Given that he was able to leave with three gold medals, most people thought Owens had finished competing in the 1936 Olympics. But two days later, Owens was selected by the American Olympic team to take the place of the 400-meter relay team’s lead runner. The two Jewish runners who were originally slated were replaced by Ralph Metcalfe and Owens, both of whom were African Americans. Nobody can definitively say why this alteration was done.
The American relay team ultimately took home a second gold medal. Owens set an Olympic and world record during his leg of the relay race, finishing in 39.8 seconds.
Jesse Owens, then 22 years old, became well-known in both America and other countries thanks to his four gold medals. Owens was hailed as the fastest person in the world by the international media. Olympian legend Owens was.
following the Olympics
Unfortunately, being an Olympic superstar comes with less privacy than a movie star but less wealth. Owens hoped that he would be able to return to the US and figure out how to monetize his celebrity. The money never really showed up.
Owens was finally able to return home after an arduous, ill-planned, hurried, barnstorming tour of Europe for the AAU. However, Owens’ refusal to remain in Europe for additional exhibition events infuriated the AAU. They didn’t appear to mind that Owens was worn out, homesick, and in need of some rest. Nevertheless, Jesse Owens departed with his coach Larry Snyder and sailed on the Queen Mary to return home.
In Columbus and Cleveland, Owens received a hero’s welcome upon his return, but in New York City, the Olympic heroes were not as warmly received. Owens and other black Olympians had to take the back elevator since the front elevator was designated for “whites only.” for the winners’ reception at the Waldorf-Astoria. Furthermore, Owens wasn’t the only world leader to shun him; President Franklin Delano Roosevelt didn’t send him a letter of congratulations, nor was he invited to the White House like previous medal winners had done.
When he got back home, Owens sought to take advantage of all the lucrative offers that had been made to him, many of which were for tens of thousands of dollars. Sadly, the majority of them turned out to be fake. Although Owens did join Bill “Bojangles” Robinson on tour, there wasn’t much he could do because he couldn’t sing.
Owens was a skilled public speaker who earned money from appearances all throughout the nation. Speaking about what it was like to break a record, win in Berlin, or suddenly become renowned, Owens drew sizable crowds.
He traveled extensively for exhibitions throughout the course of the following three years because the speaking engagements were sadly insufficient. In a desperate attempt to raise money, Owens competed in races against both cars and horses.
Owens was brought before the IRS in 1938 for failing to file a tax return for the previous year, 1936. Then, a year later, Owens was forced to file for bankruptcy due to the collapse of a dry cleaning company he and several associates had founded.
Owens, who was already 27 years old, went back to Ohio State in 1940 to finish his degree, which had been his longtime goal. Owens assisted with coaching track there but quickly realized he was struggling in school. Regrettably, he left school in December 1941. (Ohio State conferred an honorary doctorate in athletic arts upon him in 1972.)
Combat Experiences
Due to Adolf Hitler’s hostility, World War II had been declared by 1941. By the year’s end, the United States had also declared war on Germany and Japan as a result of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.
Owens was not immediately eligible for the draft since he was married and had kids. Owens worked on a nationwide youth fitness program for the Civilian Defense Office rather than engaging in combat. In order to oversee the recruiting of African-American workers to maintain production during the war, Owens accepted a position with the Ford Motor Company in 1942. Later, he worked in public relations. Owens received regular hours and a paycheck as a result, but his debt load remained high.
Activities after the War
Following the conclusion of WWII, Owens’ situation started to improve. As a result of his name being in the news once more, he was frequently approached to make product endorsements and he obliged. Additionally, Owens served as a public relations consultant and spokesman for numerous businesses, including Ford, Atlantic Richfield, and the US Olympic Committee.
Jesse Owens started working with disadvantaged youngsters in 1955 after discovering something novel and motivational to do. Owens changed the lives of hundreds of children, first through the Illinois Youth Commission and subsequently the South Side Boys Club in Chicago.
Also in 1955, President Dwight Eisenhower dispatched Owens as a Goodwill ambassador to Malaya, India, and the Philippines. In a nation that criticized American race relations, Life magazine commended Owens as “a practically perfect envoy” in October 1955.
Years Later
When the summer Olympics came around every four years, Owens would acquire popularity once more. Owens was aged, though. He could no longer run and preferred to play basketball or golf instead. He was also balding.
He was deployed to West Africa in 1971 as a goodwill envoy by President Richard Nixon. A few months later, he made a promotional tour of thirty American cities for the television special “The Black Athlete.”
The Jesse Owens Story, I Have Changed, Bloodthink: My Life as Black Man and White Man, and Jesse: A Spiritual Autobiography are the four books he co-wrote with author Paul Neimark beginning in 1970. These volumes, which grew from Jesse’s motivational black-preacher speaking style that he had honed over the years of barnstorming, mixed myth and story.
Owens received the Living Legend Award from President Jimmy Carter in February 1979 at the White House. Carter praised Owens for “his work with young athletes as an unofficial ambassador overseas, and a spokesman for freedom.” Owens received the highest honor bestowed to a civilian, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, from President Gerald Ford.
Death
By the late 1970s, Owens’ health was deteriorating. Owens and his wife moved to Arizona after retiring in the expectation that a change in environment would be beneficial. He smoked heavily for 35 years, therefore he was unable to avoid developing cancer.
On March 31, 1980, Owens passed away from complications related to lung cancer. Jesse Owens had a $150k net worth at the time of his passing.
He was laid to rest in Chicago’s Oak Woods Cemetery.
The 1984 Los Angeles Olympics were preceded by “The Jesse Owens Story,” a four-hour television drama that was released four years after his passing. Carl Lewis won gold in all the same competitions that Owens had in 1936.
