When Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics, Hitler walked out. He couldn’t take the challenge to Nazi racism, which claimed superiority of the Aryan race. He refused to shake hands with a black champion.
Back home things were not better. FDR, the white president, invited the white Olympians to the White House. Owens and other black athletes were not invited. He then struggled to find work. People were in awe of him and wanted to shake his hand, but no one would hire him.
He finally found his niche inspiring, coaching and working with underprivileged youth, as well as taking speaking engagements.
He was a smart, athletic, articulate leader ahead of his time. For the fastest man in the world, society moved much too slowly.
Today there is a stadium named in his honor at Ohio State University.
While the disease of racism has not been cured, we must recognize that we have made significant strides in the last 75 years, in part because of people like Jesse Owens.
I suspect black athletes are now welcome in the White House.
