Rare Photos of Jesse Owens

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Sep 12, 2013

Rare Photos of Jesse Owens

Presse Sports/Sport the Library/Icon SMI

Sept. 12, 2013 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Jesse Owens, one of the early American Olympic heroes. Owens struck a monumental victory at the 1936 Berlin Olympics for both himself and his country when he took the gold medal in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and long jump, besting Nazi Germany competitors on their home soil. In the course of a week, Owens, the son of a sharecropper and the grandson of slaves, dealt a blow on the world's stage to Adolph Hitler's Nazi propaganda and the myth of a master race. SI.com commemorates the historic achievements of Owens with a look at some rare photos of the Buckeye Bullet.

Jesse Owens

Jesse Owens of Ohio State crosses the finish line in the 220-yard dash with a record speed of 20.3 seconds at the Big Ten Western Conference Track and Field meet at the University of Michigan on May 25, 1935.

Jesse Owens

Owens is shown at the Central Intercollegiate Conference meet on June 7, 1935 as he broke the accepted world broad jump record with a leap of 26 feet 2½ inches.

Jesse Owens

Owens and his high school sweetheart, Minnie Ruth Solomon, apply to clerk Frank Zizelman for their marriage license on July 5, 1935.

Jesse Owens

Owens and Minnie Ruth Solomon take their marriage vows in Cleveland on July 5, 1935.

Jesse Owens

Owens gets his feet examined after track practice on Aug. 13, 1935.

Jesse Owens

Winner of the 100-meter final in the Olympic trials at Randall's Island stadium in July 1936, Owens poses with Ralph Metcalfe, who finished second.

Jesse Owens

Owens, the "one man track team," gives Helen Stephens, the "one woman track team," a few points on how to get a speedy start on July 13, 1936. Both were preparing for the Olympic Games in Berlin.

Jesse Owens

Owens signs autographs for German fans from atop the U.S. Olympic Team's bus during the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Berlin in July 1936.

Jesse Owens

Owens and German champion Luz Long chat together in the Berlin stadium on Aug. 1, 1936 during the Olympic Games.

Jesse Owens

Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalfe (left) keep warm under blankets during the 100m finals at the Berlin games on Aug. 4, 1936. The pair won gold and silver medals respectively.

Jesse Owens

Owens crosses the finish line first in the 100.

Jesse Owens

Jesse Owens competes and wins the gold in the long jump on Aug. 4, 1936.

Jesse Owens

Owens hits the ground to set a new world long jump record at the 1936 Summer Olympics.

Jesse Owens

Owens salutes during the presentation of his gold medal for the long jump on Aug. 4, after defeating Nazi Germany's Lutz Long (right). Naoto Tajima of Japan (left) placed third.

Jesse Owens

Owens salutes during the presentation of his gold medal for the 100m sprint event on Aug. 4, 1936. U.S. teammate Ralph Metcalfe won the silver and Martinus Osendarp of Holland won the bronze.

Jesse Owens

U.S. track and field stars (front row, left to right) Cornelius Johnson, Jesse Owens and Glenn Hardin are shown at their Olympic Village quarters as they receive congratulations from their U.S. Olympic teammates (back row, left to right) Marty Glickman, Gene Venzke, Albert J. Mangin, Foy Draper and Forrest G. Towns, for becoming the first three Americans to win gold medals in the 1936 Summer Olympics. Glickman was pulled from the 1936 Berlin Olympics because he was Jewish.

Jesse Owens

Owens signs autographs during the Olympic Games.

Jesse Owens

Owens rests in a lawn chair at Olympic Village.

Jesse Owens

During a visit to London in Aug. 1936, Owens is accompanied by some admirers on his morning run.

Jesse Owens

Owens signs autographs for fans in London.

Jesse Owens

Owens takes the baton from Frank Wykoff on the last 100-yard lap of the 400-yard relay in a dual meet between the United States and Great Britain at White City in England on Aug. 19, 1936.

Jesse Owens

A snappily dressed Owens makes a dash for a train at London's Waterloo station. He was on his way to joining the liner 'Queen Mary' en route for New York.

Jesse Owens

Owens is kissed upon arrival in New York aboard the liner Queen Mary by his mother and his wife on Aug. 31.

Jesse Owens

Owens, to the right of tap dancer Bill Robinson, poses with a bevy of dancers on Sept. 1, 1936, all rehearsing for the Cotton Club revue opening in New York.

Jesse Owens

Broadway was a "snowstorm" canyon as proud Manhattanites feted returned U.S. Olympic stars, like Jesse Owens, with a fleecy ticker tape parade on Sept. 3, 1936.

Jesse Owens

Owens is shown with his mother and wife upon his return to Cleveland, his hometown, in September 1936. Cheers of thousands echoed in his ears all along a 12-mile civic parade staged in his honor.

Jesse Owens

Owens poses at the starting line before he raced a horse at Tropical Park in Havana, Cuba, on Dec. 26, 1936. Owens ran 100 yards in 9.9 seconds. He finished 20 yards ahead of the horse, which was handicapped 40 yards at the start.

Jesse Owens

Owens rehearses with his band in New York on Feb. 10, 1937, as he planned to start on a tour of the country as a song and dance man.

Jesse Owens

Owens opened a dry cleaning shop in Cleveland, and is shown working on the first suit to be brought in, Aug. 25, 1938.

Jesse Owens

Owens poses while bowling near his home in Detroit on March 7, 1944.

Jesse Owens

Owens crosses the finish line ahead of Ritchie Robert's pacer, The Ocean, at Bay Meadows track in San Mateo, Calif., June 19, 1948. The event was strictly for fun of the spectators at the harness meet.

Jesse Owens

Owens autographs for admiring youngsters in a Chicago clothing store on Jan. 25, 1950, where he was a public relations and promotion man.

Jesse Owens

Jesse Owens was flown into the Berlin stadium by helicopter and a whirlwind of applause accompanied him, Aug. 22, 1951.

Jesse Owens

Dr. Walter Schreiber, acting mayor of West Berlin, congratulates Owens, telling him, "Hitler wouldn't shake your hands, I give you both hands," Aug. 22, 1951.

Jesse Owens

Owens smiles as he poses in 1951 with the four gold medals he won at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Jesse Owens

Owens has a turban wrapped to his head while in India in October 1955.

Jesse Owens

Owens was awarded Mercury's Second Championship Performance trophy on March 16, 1958 on the "Ed Sullivan Show." Owens was presented a trophy honoring him for the greatest individual athletic performance between 1930 and 1945. He also was given a set of gold keys to a new 1958 Mercury.

Jesse Owens

A disc jockey and sports specialist for the Illinois Youth Commission, Owens is pictured here in Chicago on May 18, 1960.

Jesse Owens

Owens takes the torch from New York City Mayor Robert Wagner at City Hall. Owens was the first of 3,500 runners to span the nation on a cross-country run to raise funds for the 1964 Olympic team.

Jesse Owens

Owens makes a nostalgic visit to the scene of his great Olympic triumph, on June 9, 1964.

Jesse Owens

Owens flashes his old technique from the 1936 Olympics for Mets GM George Weiss (right) and coach Yogi Berra at Shea Stadium in February 1965. Owens was hired by the Mets as a running instructor during spring training sessions at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Jesse Owens

The New York Mets started their spring training Feb. 27, 1965 with Owens leading the pack in a running exercise.

Jesse Owens

Owens signs an autograph for a Munich Olympic hostess on Aug. 24, 1972, while talking with 1960 Olympic gold medal winner for the long jump, Ralph H. Boston, a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Jesse Owens

Owens and Penn State running back John Cappelletti eye oranges stacked in the 1974 Orange Bowl Trophy during the awards presentation to Nittany Lion players, at which Owens was guest speaker at University Park, Penn., on Jan. 22, 1974.

Jesse Owens

Owens talks with three of the fastest San Francisco Giants (left to right) Garry Maddox, Gary Matthews and Horace Speed, during spring training drills in Casa Grande, Ariz., on March 8, 1975.

Jesse Owens

Owens sits, surrounded by mementos of his athletics career at his home in Phoenix, Ariz., in 1975.

Jesse Owens

Owens relaxes at home with his pipe in 1975.

Jesse Owens

John Thompson, basketball coach at Georgetown University, towers over President Gerald Ford and Owens during a reception at the White House in Washington on Aug. 5, 1976, for members of the U.S. Olympic team. Thompson served as an assistant coach on the gold-medal-winning U.S. basketball team.

Jesse Owens

Owens praises his country as he speaks near a statue of himself as an Olympic runner at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Aug. 25, 1976. Owens died on March 31, 1980.