Editing Jesse Owens (section)

==Life after the Olympics==
[[File:Jesse Owens 1971 Ajman stamp.jpg|thumb|upright|Owens on a 1971 [[United Arab Emirates|UAE]] stamp]]

Owens was quoted saying the secret behind his success was, "I let my feet spend as little time on the ground as possible. From the air, fast down, and from the ground, fast up."<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Altman |first=Alex |url=http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1917099,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090821111755/http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1917099,00.html |archive-date=August 21, 2009 |title=Usain Bolt: The World's Fastest Human |magazine=Time |date=August 18, 2009 |access-date=June 15, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=ThinkExist.com Quotations |url=http://thinkexist.com/quotation/i-let-my-feet-spend-as-little-time-on-the-ground/409051.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120714143337/http://thinkexist.com/quotation/i-let-my-feet-spend-as-little-time-on-the-ground/409051.html |archive-date=July 14, 2012 |title=Jesse Owens quotes |publisher=Thinkexist.com |access-date=June 15, 2010}}</ref>

After the 1936 Olympics, [[Avery Brundage]] organized a grueling European exhibition tour to profit the [[Amateur Athletic Union|AAU]] and [[United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee|USOC]], both of which he led. Owens, exhausted but pressured to compete, ran multiple races across Europe with little rest, food, or support. Despite such treatment, Brundage continued booking events across [[Scandinavia]]. Owens, drained and frustrated, eventually refused to continue. Brundage retaliated by having Owens permanently suspended from amateur competition which immediately ended his career. Owens was angry and stated that "A fellow desires something for himself." As Ruth Owens later recalled, "That Avery Brundage feller tore a big hole inside Jesse."<ref name="bbc2011">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A76754028| title=An Emperor among Professionals|last=Riley|first=Liam|publisher=BBC |access-date=May 17, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=How did it come to this? {{!}} Sport {{!}} The Observer |url=https://www.theguardian.com/observer/osm/story/0,,362001,00.html |access-date=2025-05-16 |website=www.theguardian.com}}</ref> Owens argued that the [[Racism in the United States|racial discrimination]] he had faced throughout his athletic career, such as not being eligible for scholarships in college and therefore being unable to take classes between training and working to pay his way, meant he had to give up on amateur athletics in pursuit of financial gain elsewhere.<ref name="Entine">{{cite book|last1=Entine|first1=Jon|title=Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and why We are Afraid to Talk about it|url=https://archive.org/details/taboowhyblackath00entirich|url-access=registration|date=2000|publisher=PublicAffairs|page=[https://archive.org/details/taboowhyblackath00entirich/page/187 187]}}</ref>

After returning to [[United States|America]] following his Olympic success, racism back home led to difficulty earning a living despite his international acclaim. Owens struggled to find work and took on menial jobs as a gas station attendant, playground janitor,<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 3, 2023 |title=Jesse Owens {{!}} Biography, Olympics, Medals, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jesse-Owens |access-date=June 15, 2023 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |language=en}}</ref> and manager of a dry cleaning firm and at times resorted to racing against motorbikes, cars, trucks and horses for a cash prize.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=March 30, 2021 |title=From horse-racer to speech writer: Jesse Owens' life after the Olympic Games |url=https://olympics.com/en/news/from-horse-racer-to-speech-writer-jesse-owens-life-after-the-olympic-games |access-date=June 14, 2023 |website=Olympics.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.olympic.org/news/from-horse-racer-to-speech-writer-jesse-owens-life-after-the-olympic-games|title=From horse-racer to speech writer: Jesse Owens' life after the Olympic Games|date=April 11, 2017|website=olympic.org}}</ref> <blockquote>People say it was degrading for an Olympic champion to run against a horse, but what was I supposed to do? I had four gold medals, but you can't eat four gold medals.<ref name=":4" /> </blockquote>Jesse Owens had broken racial barriers and done things that no other man had done before him. Yet after he returned home from the [[Olympic Games]], he was not greeted with the glory and praise that other White Olympians had received. Owens stated, “No one had offered me a job" and "I had jumped farther and run faster than any man ever had before, and it left me with next to nothing.”<ref name=":02">Farley, A. P. (2012). The Bitter Tears of Jesse Owens. ''Berkeley La Raza Law Journal'', ''22'', 231–256.</ref> Jesse wasn't being treated like an Olympic gold medalist but instead, just any other African American at that time. Another quote said "So I sold myself into a new kind of slavery. I was no longer a proud man who had won four Olympic gold medals. I was a spectacle, a freak who made his living by competing—dishonestly—against dumb animals."<ref name=":02" /> Despite his athletic triumphs, he was not spared from poverty and was forced to take on degrading work just to afford basic necessities.  

Owens bridged the gap between racial disenfranchisement and opportunity. His Olympic medals showed the Jim Crow South and the world what was possible when African Americans were given a fair chance. Though many resisted racial integration, Owens served as a key figure for the beginning building blocks of the Civil Rights Movement.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Evans |first=Tyson |date=2025-02-16 |title=Jesse Owens: Defying Racism, Shattering Barriers, and Inspiring Generations |url=https://abc3340.com/news/black-history-month/jesse-owens-defying-racism-shattering-barriers-and-inspiring-generations |access-date=2025-05-14 |website=WBMA |language=en}}</ref>

Owens was banned from attending amateur events to enhance his visibility, and soon discovered that commercial opportunities had almost completely dried up. In 1937, he briefly toured with a twelve-piece jazz band under contract with Consolidated Artists but found it unfulfilling. He also made appearances at baseball games and other events.<ref>Jack Neely, "[http://www.knoxmercury.com/2016/08/10/fastest-bandleader-world/ The Fastest Bandleader in the World]," ''Knoxville Mercury'', August 10, 2016.</ref>

Owens was involved politically and lent his support to the Republican Party and [[Al Landon|Alf Landon]] in the [[1936 United States Presidential Election]], saying that [[Adolf Hitler]] congratulated him but that he was snubbed by President [[Franklin Roosevelt]] after winning a gold medal.<ref>{{Cite magazine|title=National Affairs: Owens for Landon|magazine=Time |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,756596,00.html|date=September 14, 1936}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Bracken|first=Haley|title=Was Jesse Owens Snubbed by Adolf Hitler at the Berlin Olympics?|url=https://www.britannica.com/story/was-jesse-owens-snubbed-by-adolf-hitler-at-the-berlin-olympics}}</ref> In 1942, [[Willis Ward]]—a friend and former competitor from the [[University of Michigan]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Eddie Tolan, Willis Ward, and Jesse Owens at 1935 Big Ten Track Meet at Ferry Field · Willis Ward: More than The Game · Exhibits at the Bentley |url=https://exhibits.bentley.umich.edu/s/willisward/item/533 |access-date=June 15, 2023 |website=exhibits.bentley.umich.edu}}</ref>—who was then working at [[Ford Motor Company]] as Assistant Personnel Director, invited Owens to [[Detroit]]. Ward worked for the [[Ford Motor Company|Ford Motor Company's]] "ad hoc civil rights division, serving as the liaison between black and white workers"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Post |first=The Livingston |date=January 22, 2017 |title=Decency, justice and the Michigan-OSU rivalry: The story of Jesse Owens and Gerald Ford |url=https://thelivingstonpost.com/decency-justice-and-the-michigan-osu-rivalry-the-story-of-jesse-owens-and-gerald-ford/ |access-date=June 15, 2023 |website=The Livingston Post.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Willis Ward and Jesse Owens, Ford Motor Company, November 23, 1942 – The Henry Ford |url=https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/177905/ |access-date=June 15, 2023 |website=thehenryford.org |language=en}}</ref> and was an advocate for African American employees in the personnel department. Owens wound up replacing him, and remained with Ford until 1946.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Willis Ward and Jesse Owens, Ford Motor Company, November 23, 1942 – The Henry Ford |url=https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/177905/ |access-date=June 15, 2023 |website=thehenryford.org |language=en}}</ref> In the late 1940s, Owens moved his family to Chicago and opened his own [[public relations]] agency.

In 1946, Owens collaborated with [[Abe Saperstein]] to establish the [[West Coast Negro Baseball League]], where he served as Vice-President and owned the [[Portland Rosebuds (baseball)|Portland (Oregon) Rosebuds]] franchise in Oregon.<ref name="oba20053">{{cite encyclopedia |title=West Coast Baseball Association |encyclopedia=Organizing Black America: An Encyclopedia of African American Associations |publisher=[[BookRags]] |url=http://www.bookrags.com/tandf/west-coast-baseball-association-tf/ |access-date=July 31, 2010 |date=2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100920063619/http://www.bookrags.com/tandf/west-coast-baseball-association-tf |archive-date=September 20, 2010}}</ref> He toured with the Rosebuds, sometimes entertaining the audience in between [[Doubleheader (baseball)|doubleheader games]] by competing in races against horses.<ref name="elpaso2010">{{cite web | title= Sun City home to the Negro Leagues for one weekend | url= http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_15493851 | first= Milan | last= Simonich | date= July 12, 2010 | work= [[El Paso Times]] | department= Hidden El Paso | access-date= July 31, 2010 | archive-url= https://archive.today/20130208044418/http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_15493851 | archive-date= February 8, 2013}}</ref> The WCBA disbanded after only two months.<ref name="oba2005">{{cite encyclopedia |title=West Coast Baseball Association |encyclopedia=Organizing Black America: An Encyclopedia of African American Associations |publisher=[[BookRags]] |url=http://www.bookrags.com/tandf/west-coast-baseball-association-tf/ |access-date=July 31, 2010 |date=2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100920063619/http://www.bookrags.com/tandf/west-coast-baseball-association-tf |archive-date=September 20, 2010}}</ref><ref name="elpaso2010" />

Owens helped promote the [[exploitation film]] ''[[Mom and Dad (1945 film)|Mom and Dad]]'' in African American neighborhoods.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/27355|title=Mom and Dad (1945)|website=American Film Institute|access-date=June 14, 2018}}</ref> He tried to make a living as a sports promoter, essentially an entertainer. He would give local sprinters a ten- or twenty-yard start and beat them in the 100-yd (91-m) dash. He also challenged and defeated racehorses; as he revealed later, the trick was to race a high-strung [[Thoroughbred]] that would be frightened by the starter's shotgun and give him a bad jump. On the lack of opportunities, Owens added, "There was no television, no big advertising, no endorsements then. Not for a black man, anyway."<ref name="Entine" />

He traveled to [[Rome]] for the [[1960 Summer Olympics]], where he met the 1960 100 meters champion [[Armin Hary]] of Germany, who had defeated American [[Dave Sime]] in a [[photo finish]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/news-photo/athletics-legend-jesse-owens-poses-and-jokes-with-his-news-photo/516803630#athletics-legend-jesse-owens-poses-and-jokes-with-his-fellow-armin-picture-id516803630|title=US athletics legend Jesse Owens (R) poses and jokes with his f ...|date=March 21, 2016 |access-date=July 28, 2017}}</ref>

During spring training in 1965, Owens was hired by the [[New York Mets]] as a running instructor.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jesse Owens Was (Briefly) (Really!) a Coach for the Mets&nbsp;– Who2 |url=https://www.who2.com/jesse-owens-was-briefly-really-a-coach-for-the-mets/ |website=who2.com}}</ref>

Owens ran a [[dry cleaning]] business and worked as a gas station attendant to earn a living, but he eventually filed for [[bankruptcy]]. In 1966, he was successfully prosecuted for [[tax evasion]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Jesse Owens Is Fined in Tax Case|work=The Times-News|agency=United Press International|date=February 2, 1966|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-vIZAAAAIBAJ&pg=2316,2150242|access-date=August 10, 2011}}</ref> At rock bottom, he was aided in beginning his rehabilitation. Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower enlisted Owens as a [[goodwill ambassador]] in 1955 and sent the world-renowned track star to India, the Philippines, and Malaya to promote physical exercise as well as tout the cause of American freedom and economic opportunity in the developing world. He would continue his goodwill tours in the 1960s and 1970s. Although he lost his patronage job with the Illinois Youth Commission in 1960, Owens continued his product endorsement work for such corporations as Quaker Oats, Sears and Roebuck, and Johnson & Johnson. Owens traveled the world and spoke to companies such as the [[Ford Motor Company]] and stakeholders such as the [[United States Olympic Committee]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Jesse Owens|url=https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/article/section/sporting-heroes/jesse-owens/|access-date=August 10, 2020|website=Black History Month 2020|date=February 14, 2008 |language=en}}</ref> In 1972, he and his wife retired to Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Metcalfe |first=Jeff |title=Track hero Jesse Owens lived his latter years in Phoenix |url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/olympics/2016/02/12/track-hero-jesse-owens-lived-his-latter-years-phoenix/80256486/ |access-date=February 23, 2023 |website=The Arizona Republic |language=en-US}}</ref>

Owens initially refused to support the [[1968 Olympics Black Power salute|black power salute]] by [[African-American]] sprinters [[Tommie Smith]] and [[John Carlos]] at the [[1968 Summer Olympics]]. He told them:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jesseowens.com/quotes/|title=Jesse Owens: Olympic Legend-quotes|access-date=May 8, 2009}}</ref>

<blockquote>The black fist is a meaningless symbol. When you open it, you have nothing but fingers—weak, empty fingers. The only time the black fist has significance is when there's money inside. There's where the power lies.</blockquote>

Four years later in his 1972 book ''I Have Changed'', he revised his opinion:

<blockquote>I realized now that militancy in the best sense of the word was the only answer where the black man was concerned, that any black man who wasn't a militant in 1970 was either blind or a coward.</blockquote>

Owens traveled to [[Munich]] for the [[1972 Summer Olympics]] as a special guest of the West German government,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-aug-08-1972-jesse-owens-at-the-olympic-games-in-munich-world-famous-69467677.html?pv=1&stamp=2&imageid=C6CC95AC-6A8C-4AEE-9181-4BC5D0F4AA24&p=90011&n=0&orientation=0&pn=1&searchtype=0&IsFromSearch=1&srch=foo%3dbar%26st%3d0%26pn%3d1%26ps%3d100%26sortby%3d2%26resultview%3dsortbyPopular%26npgs%3d0%26qt%3dolympic%2520games%2520berlin%25201936%26qt_raw%3dolympic%2520games%2520berlin%25201936%26lic%3d3%26mr%3d0%26pr%3d0%26ot%3d0%26creative%3d%26ag%3d0%26hc%3d0%26pc%3d%26blackwhite%3d%26cutout%3d%26tbar%3d1%26et%3d0x000000000000000000000%26vp%3d0%26loc%3d0%26imgt%3d0%26dtfr%3d%26dtto%3d%26size%3d0xFF%26archive%3d1%26groupid%3d%26pseudoid%3d%26a%3d%26cdid%3d%26cdsrt%3d%26name%3d%26qn%3d%26apalib%3d0%26apalic%3d%26lightbox%3d%26gname%3d%26gtype%3d%26xstx%3d0%26simid%3d%26saveQry%3d%26editorial%3d1%26nu%3d%26t%3d%26edoptin%3d%26customgeoip%3d%26cap%3d1%26cbstore%3d1%26vd%3d0%26lb%3d%26fi%3d2|title=Stock Photo&nbsp;– Aug. 08, 1972&nbsp;– Jesse Owens at the Olympic games in Munich.: World famous American coloured athlete Jesse Owens. Who won Gold medals in the 1936 Olympic games in berlin is at |access-date=July 28, 2017}}</ref> meeting West German Chancellor [[Willy Brandt]] and former boxer [[Max Schmeling]].<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Browsing Jesse Owens Collection by Subject 'Munich Olympics' |website=The Ohio State University |hdl=1811/53219 |url=https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/53219/browse?type=subject&value=Munich+Olympics}}</ref>

From 1974 to 1977, Owens served on the [[Boys Town (organization)|Boys Town]] Board of Directors, frequently meeting with students to share his life experiences and the challenges he overcame.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lynch |first=Thomas |date=2016-02-25 |title=Achievements of Supporters, Alumni Highlight Boys Town’s Black History Month Celebration |url=https://www.boystown.org/blog/achievements-of-supporters-alumni-highlight-boys-town-s-black-history-month-celebration |access-date=2025-05-15 |website=Boys Town |language=en-us}}</ref>

A few months before his death, Owens had unsuccessfully tried to convince [[President of the United States|President]] [[Jimmy Carter]] to withdraw his demand that the United States [[1980 Summer Olympics boycott|boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics]] in protest of the [[Soviet–Afghan War|Soviet invasion of Afghanistan]]. He argued that the Olympic ideal was supposed to be observed as a time-out from war and that it was above politics.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/04/01/jesse-owens/fcc3d038-d015-4f2e-ab36-75867ae859f9/|title=Jesse Owens&nbsp;– Obituary|date=April 1, 1980|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=June 14, 2018}}</ref>

===Death===
[[File:Grave of Jesse Owens (1913–1980) at Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago 1.jpg|thumb|right|Owens's grave at Oak Woods Cemetery]]

Owens was a pack-a-day [[Tobacco smoking|cigarette smoker]] for 35 years, starting at age 32.<ref name="Nelson2013">{{cite book|author=Murry R. Nelson|title=American Sports: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas &#91;4 Volumes&#93;: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tfTXAQAAQBAJ&q=jesse+owens+started+smoking+32&pg=PA987|year=2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-39753-0|page=987}}</ref> Beginning in December 1979, he was hospitalized on and off with an extremely aggressive and [[drug-resistant]] type of [[lung cancer]]. He died of the disease at age 66 in [[Tucson, Arizona]], on March 31, 1980, with his wife and other family members at his bedside.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0912.html |title=Jesse Owens Dies Of Cancer At 66: Hero of the 1936 Berlin Olympics |work=The New York Times |date=April 1, 1980 |access-date=August 5, 2013}}</ref> He was buried next to the Lake of Memories at [[Oak Woods Cemetery]] in Chicago, near where his children and extended family still lived. The grave is inscribed:
{{Blockquote|Jesse Owens. Olympic Champion. 1936. Athlete and humanitarian. A master of the spirit as well as the mechanics of sports. A winner who knew that winning was not everything. He showed extraordinary love for his family and friends. His achievements have shown us all the promise of America. His faith in America inspired countless others to do their best for themselves and their country. September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980.}}

President Jimmy Carter issued a tribute to Owens, stating: "Perhaps no athlete better symbolized the human struggle against tyranny, poverty and racial bigotry."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=J. Y. |date=April 1, 1980 |title=Olympic Track Great Jesse Owens Is Dead at 66 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1980/04/01/olympic-track-great-jesse-owens-is-dead-at-66/51f3910e-2d63-4370-991c-151a7e86b076/ |access-date=August 14, 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>