Jesse Owens: Biography

On Spetember 12, 1913, James Cleveland was born to the parents of Henry and Emma Owens in Oakville, Alabama. He grew up there until he was nine. While living in Oakville, he went by J.C. for short. James Cleveland was the youngest of ten children in his family. His siblings included six brothers, Prentice, Johnson, Henry, Ernest, Quincy, and Sylvester, and three sisters, Ida, Josephine, and Lillie.

As most southern folks, the Owens were sharecroppers. They would plant cotton, corn, and many other crops throughout the summers. Every year they would struggle to maintain a harvest to feed their family of 10. Jesse was able to attend school in a one room school house where he learned to read and write.

In his spare time, Jesse enjoyed running around the farm. When Jesse Owens wrote his autobiography, he described his childhood as...

" I always loved running. I wasn't very good at it, but I loved it because it was something you could do all by yourself, under your own power. You could go any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind it you felt like it, seeking new sights just on the strength of your own feet and courage of your lungs."

Jesse's House in Cleveland. (Not their first one)

Jesse's sister, Lillie, moved to Cleveland, Ohio when she became old enough to work. In a letter to Jesse's family, she wrote about the great opportunities of the big city. Soon enough, the family hopped on a train and moved to Cleveland where they joined Lillie. Because they had almost no money, they lived in the ghetto of the city like most other Black folks. In Cleveland, Jesse was able to join a more formal school.

On the first day of school when the teacher asked for Jesse's name (this was before he went by Jesse and as J.C.) he said J.C., but the teacher mistook his southern accent and called him Jesse. From then on, everybody just called him Jesse.

One day during gym class, students were being timed on how fast they could sprint 60 yards. When it was Jesse's turn, the coach was amazed at Jesse's speed. He quickly invited Jesse to join the track team. There he meet Coach Riley. Riley saw amazing potential in Jesse especially because Jesse refused to give up. Riley was more than a coach though, he was someone that Jesse could go to for other personal matters too. Riley would tell Jesse to, "train for four years from next Friday."

The 100 yard dash in High School

Riley had Jesse competing in the 100 yard and 220 yard dashes. Because Jesse was so fast, Riley knew he would be a great jumper too. So he entered him in hurdles, high jump, and long jump. Sometimes Jesse would also do the 440 yard run.

Jesse was a high school sensation. He had the world record (high school) for the 100 yard dash at 9.4 seconds. This was Cleveland East Technical High School's most amazing thing that had ever happened there.

Multiple colleges recruited Jesse, but he wanted to stay close to home. So, he went to Ohio State University. While going to Ohio State, he was discriminated against so he had to live off campus with other African American atheletes. Amazing enough, Jesse was not awarded any scholarships to go to Ohio State so he was forced to work to pay for school. Soon enough it would be time for Jesse's Olympic career to begin.