Talk:Jesse Owens/Archive 1

Official??
In what way is that the official site? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.247.27.150 (talk) 07:56, 22 November 2007 (UTC)
 * It is still under construction but it is the official website owned by his family. Sillyfolkboy (talk) 01:58, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Tinus Osendarp
"However, see Tinus Osendarp."
 * What's the however? Nothing in that article seems to contradict this paragraph.  Yes, he was white and Jesse creamed him, but the article doesn't contradict anything nor can I see why it's linked here.  I assume there's a reason, but apparently, it has been left out of both articles, which is annoying.   Is it just that he was the fastest white guy?  If so, maybe the Jesse Owens article should say "Notably, he defeated Tinus Osendarp who had been expected to win the x and y events" (assuming he had been expected to win, I don't know the Tinus story at all). --Daniel Quinlan

Why is it necessary to point out the how Jesse Owens "creamed" the "fastest white guy" in the race? That hardly seems relevant to the article as a whole, and the fact that the article doesn't mention it annoys you seems extremely POV. --Nazrac 22:27, 14 September 2006 (UTC)
 * That is an old edit from 2003. It is no longer relevant. David D. (Talk) 05:47, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Phrasing
"[...] on August 9, 1936 he won his fourth gold medal of the games as a member of the 4 x 100-meter relay team."
 * The current phrasing is odd. Why is the date pointed out for the last event and not the other three.  Is the exact date even really needed or useful?  I suggest striking, perhaps even reverting.  Daniel Quinlan 07:34, Aug 10, 2003 (UTC)
 * For now I gave the dates, to show they are not on the same date, as in 1935. Aliter 19:40, 4 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Hitler

 * 1) Made it slightly more neutral, by removing something unprovable.
 * 2) How do we know: "Adolf Hitler had intended to use the games to promote "Aryan superiority"."? Mind you, I fully believe the German propaganda machine did, but we write here we know someone's personal ideas.
 * 3) Is it true that Hitler has "criticized African-American athletes as "black auxiliaries" and "non-humans""? I know the Nazi-controlled press did, but this is the first time I see these words put into a person's mouth. Aliter 19:40, 4 Jul 2004 (UTC)
 * Problems solved, I see. Thanks. Aliter 03:01, 11 Jul 2004 (UTC)

No, not solved. To me, "A persistent myth has grown up that Hitler had intended [...]" implies that it isn't true, which is a statement that needs to be justified. Maybe I just interpret the statement wrong, but if it can be misintepreted it needs to be changed. Abostrom


 * I agree. I think you do interpret the statement wrong: The comma behind "Aryan superiority" means the next part of the sentence follows from the first part; the Jesse Owens-quote disproves the second, and hence the total. But the structure is probably too complex, ivhgcdygcfghfccghcft invites misreading, and it's debatable whether the second part in fact does follow from the first. We know people falsely claim Hitler refused to shake hands with Owens, etc. etc.. We should probably either limit ourselves to those part or rewrite the more general part as a separate statement. Aliter 00:10, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)


 * The discussed paragraph smells very bad now. Just as Abostrom wrote, it sounds as if it isn't true that the Nazis tried to use the Olympic for propaganda purposes. I think the paragraph is not NPOV; it is biased. I will put a tag on the article's page until this is resolved. Ben T/C July 6, 2005 10:39 (UTC)


 * We are talking about the paragraph, introduced by anonymous user 203.219.108.182, on July 10, 2004, who has only this and the following edit and nothing else.

''A persistent myth has grown up that Hitler had intended to use the games to promote "Aryan superiority", and was in the stadium for some of Owens' events but had refused to acknowledge him after his remarkable performances. In fact, in Owens' autobiography, The Jesse Owens Story, Owens himself recounted how Hitler had stood up and waved to him:


 * "When I passed the Chancellor he arose, waved his hand at me, and I waved back at him. I think the writers showed bad taste in criticizing the man of the hour in Germany." - Jesse Owens, The Jesse Owens Story, 1970.

In what was to become an act of extreme irony, the American president of the time, Franklin D. Roosevelt, then involved in an election and concerned about the reaction in the USA's southern states, refused to see Owens at the White House: Owens was later to remark that it was Roosevelt, not Hitler, who snubbed him. ''


 * I don't want to change this personally, as I am not an expert in the field and not a contributor to the article, but if this is not changed to a better form, especially by removing the part "A persistent myth has grown up", than I will remove all three paragraphs. Ben T/C July 6, 2005 10:59 (UTC)

Hitler could not hide that he was angry when the black athlets won their "superior aryans." Is very evident, and there is no doubt about his racism in: his book, his speeches, and his killing industry against Jews, Gypsies, Blacks (he invaded Africa), other non aryans, and even "week aryans" like homosexuals or mentaly retarded, etc.
 * If it is possible to insert parts of the olimpic games documentary without violating any copyright that could be more objective.
 * Other point I think must be modified is the euphemistic style of the article using: afro-american ethnicity and alike instead of black. The nazis used euphemisms to disguise their actions, they talk euthanasia to kill "the week aryans". Please do not use euphemisms in the article. I was tempted to correct that but I am not fluent enough english writer.
 * The article should not be neutral when neutrality means to be a revisionist, Hitler never hided his racism and was supported by a very efficiently planed and detailed propaganda machinery, a very well documented fact.
 * For that reason I do not agree with the deletion of his propagandistic intentions as something unprovable argued by Aliter in the following paragraph above:

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 132.248.181.1 (talk • contribs)

Wording
User:Wyss wants the text to read "After the first day, when Hitler left the stadium before an awards ceremony involving an African-American" and "Hitler opted for the latter and skipped all further medal presentations.". The first sentence is missleading, Hitler left early (according to some sources due to rain), but it had nothing to do with the awards ceremony. The second sentence gives the impression Hitler awarded the medals himself and that is clearly false. I suggest it is changed to "After the first day, when Hitler left the stadium after greeting only some of the athletes" and "Hitler opted for the latter and did not attend on the second day.". Considering the persistent urban legend regarding this matter it should be made clear what happened. I have also heared that Hitler shook hand with him and congratulated him on the banquet later that day. However the Germans did ask the US relay team to remove Jewish athletes from the team, something they gladly did. // Liftarn


 * AH left early the day before to avoid shaking hands with a black athlete (not Owens) during the awards ceremony.


 * When the IOC told him to either be present for all ceremonies or attend none, he opted for the latter.


 * Nowhere does the article even imply AH was handing out awards.


 * The article conforms with the documented record. Wyss 17:11, 26 August 2005 (UTC)


 * Any source for the claim that "AH left early the day before to avoid shaking hands with a black athlete" instead of leaving for, say, rain or some other reason. Do you have any source for the claim of that he didn't attend the second day for that reason rather than some other reason? The wording "skipped all further medal presentations" hints AH in some way was involved in the medal presentations rather than just being a spectator. // Liftarn


 * Try these . Hitler was not handing out medals, but had the opportunity to be present to shake hands with the winners at the awards ceremonies. Wyss 16:52, 28 August 2005 (UTC)


 * That first link gave a few interesting pieces of information. "that day he didn't congratulate anybody" and "That first day he had shaken hands with all the German victors". Regarding the nameless person he now has a name "Hitler did snub a black American athlete, but it was Cornelius Johnson, not Jesse Owens. It happened the first day of the meet. Just before Johnson was to be decorated, Hitler left the stadium. A Nazi spokesman explained that Hitler's exit had been pre-scheduled, but no one believes that." apart from the POV they could be used to make the article better. // Liftarn

No hand shakes
Neither Hitler nor Roosevelt shook hands with Jesse. There were no direct snubs... it was an era of deeply institutionalised, overt racism. Hitler did wave at Owens. AH was a genocidal sociopath but he had a human side and some considerable personal charm (there are reasons why so many powerful people cooperated in his rise to power). For AH the games were as much a propaganda exercise for showing off the recovering German economy and infrastructure and benefits were derived. German athletes won many medals and the Nazis thought of the 1936 olympics as a big success. Readers shouldn't imagine AH anxiously sitting in his swastika festooned fuhrer box, rooting for every event, he wasn't even there for most of them, nor for any of the awards ceremonies after the first day.

I've re-written that section of the article accordingly, put in another Owens quote (so most of the story is now in his, widely-documented words), cleaned up the picture layout and removed the PoV tag. Wyss 6 July 2005 12:04 (UTC)

"Young slaveowner" beats Owens
This article mentions twice--once in the body, and once in the "Trivia" section--that "Owens was defeated in a footrace by Graham Talley, a young slaveowner, which fueled his determination to become a great runner." If Owens was born in 1913, how can this possibly be true? Where were there any slaveowners in the 1920s? A quick google revealed nothing. Until I can check the facts in a more reliable source, I have flagged the article as "disputed."

--Williamebil 12:09am MST, 16 Nov. 2005


 * I deleted the unlikely references and removed the disputed tag. If there is anything to it at all, perhaps Talley was the descendent of slave owners, but the whole thing probably should be considered a hoax, without verifiable evidence.--Silverback 09:08, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

Vandalised
This article has been vandalised in several places. --Darthmgh 03:02, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Some "graffiti" were still there in February 15th. When I went to the Edit page, the offensive graffiti were not there; the text appeared correct. So I simply saved it without making changes; when I returned to the article, the graffiti were gone.

Cultural depictions of Jesse Owens
I've started an approach that may apply to Wikipedia's Core Biography articles: creating a branching list page based on in popular culture information. I started that last year while I raised Joan of Arc to featured article when I created Cultural depictions of Joan of Arc, which has become a featured list. Recently I also created Cultural depictions of Alexander the Great out of material that had been deleted from the biography article. Since cultural references sometimes get deleted without discussion, I'd like to suggest this as a model for the editors here. Regards,  Durova  15:08, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Equal rights in Germany
Please stop inserting this misleading pro-Nazi propaganda and deleting sourced content. If you have reasons, please list them here before editing the article again. Haber 23:09, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

Please stop inserting your Ku Klux Klan propaganda/racist POV vandalism. There was no discrimination/persecution of Black people in Germany, in contrast to your country. Your edits and denial of American racism against Black people are utterly unacceptable. Aosser 09:51, 30 October 2006 (UTC)


 * The version which I approve acknowledges that there was racism in both countries. The point is that JO rose above it and showed us the way.  Falsely asserting that Germany treated blacks equally does not help anyone to understand.  You are deleting sourced content and flat-out lying.  Please desist. Haber 17:26, 30 October 2006 (UTC)


 * The gall of someone who's claiming the Nazis had no problem with black people calling someone else's edits "propaganda/racist POV vandalism" is pretty amazing. 74.74.227.114 (talk) 00:44, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

Matthew "Mack" Robinson
In the trivia section it states, "The runner he beat in the 200m at the 1936 Summer Olympics was Jackie Robinson's brother, Matthew 'Mack' Robinson, who also beat the world record at the time." The Matthew "Mack" Robinson link shows that an article has not been created for him yet. Today's Did you know... section on the main page has a link to Matthew Robinson (athlete) but I am fairly new here and after some research I still could not figure out how to make a redirect to the Matthew Robinson (athlete) article if it could be created.

LPDDISPATCH 07:34, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

For the record
I've heard JO broke 6 records 25 May 1935. Were the OR or WR? Include it? Trekphiler ™🇨🇦 05:07, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

This Article Reallly Needs to be Cleaned Up!
There are loads of grammar mistakes and the information is poorly communicated. I think we should class it as 'Requiring Cleanup'. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Digitalapocalypse (talk • contribs) 10:02, 23 December 2006 (UTC).

Should This Be Here?
I don't know how, but someone has managed to sneak the following lines in:

"Jesse Owens was so outraged that Hitler did not shake his hand he summoned an earthquake and lighting to come from the heavens to kill hitler ... Hitler counter-spelled jesse owens spell which gave Jesse Owens magic powers allowing him to win 4 gold medals in the 1936 olympics"

I think it's bollocks and needs to be removed. Can anyone who doesn't disagree please do so? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 86.128.39.65 (talk) 01:43, 22 January 2007 (UTC).

adoption
I have removed the foloowing here from the article: It needs a source and is not appropriate in the early years section. Should have its own section if there is enough info that cn be used.:
 * Jesse Owens is also known for his love for children. He contributed to the adoption agencys. He formed his own adoption services. When friends and family came together in 1980, they wanted to find a way to honor the spirit of a man who strongly believed in his country and the value of its youth; this being said he supported the war in Vietnam.

It also needs to be copy edited if there are sources. how does the Vietnam part relate to this theme? David D. (Talk) 17:09, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Owens biography
I have no idea, where this quotation comes from, because it is not in "The Jesse Owens Story" from 1970. In the book Owens despises Hitler and never calls him "Chancellor". This Part should be removed:

On reports that Hitler had deliberately avoided acknowledging his victories, and had refused to shake his hand, Owens recounted:[4] “ 	When I passed the Chancellor he arose, waved his hand at me, and I waved back at him. I think the writers showed bad taste in criticizing the man of the hour in Germany. ” —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 85.178.87.168 (talk) 16:23, 4 April 2007 (UTC).

"Berlin Games: How Hitler Stole the Olympics Dream"
This section appears to contradict much of the info in the rest of the article. A solitary link to a book being sold on Amazon isn't a very good citation, especially for an entire, controversial section. --JD79 18:43, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

Maybe the important bits of info could be moved in the bulk of the article, as in "blah blah blah blah, though this claim is disputed by author blah blah in "Berlin Games: blah blah blah".

Contradiction in Article
In the Berlin Olympics part, it says "after friendly and helpful advice from German competitor Lutz Long"- while the later part of the article says the historian Guy Walters said this was untrue.

I've changed it to that he allegedly said...

Oakville vs. Danville
I find it it be very important that the name of the community where Owens grew up be noted. In his autobiography, Jesse constantly refers to Oakville when discussing the positive and negative points in his life. Therefore, it is important that it is listed as where he's from. (Wrdmegle (talk) 19:14, 13 January 2008 (UTC))


 * If I recall correctly, the article mentioned him being born near Danville. I'm not sure if it mentioned Oakville as being his original birthplace.  The reason Danville was in there is because most people actually know where Danville is.  Very very few know where Oakville is.  AlaGuy (talk) 01:38, 14 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Danville isn't exactly a bustling metropolis. If you know where Danville is, you can find Oakville.  In fact, it would be better to put Moulton as the town it is close to than Danville.  Also, anyone can find Oakville if they type it in to mapquest or google maps. (Wrdmegle (talk) 07:57, 15 January 2008 (UTC))


 * Yes, you can find it by typing it in. But, I think we're looking to simplify the process for readers so that they don't have to go to other sites to find out where Oakville is.  If you're looking for a city to say it's close to, I'd say Decatur.  Really, do most people know where Moulton is?  It may be the county seat, but I think people are more likely to know where a city with about 19 or 20 times the population of Moulton is. AlaGuy (talk) 19:46, 15 January 2008 (UTC)
 * This has been on going for a while. See this edit. If he was not born in Danville then we should not say he was. I agree it's not hard to find these places on a map and giving incorrect information is more confusing than listing a less well known community, IMO. David D. (Talk) 21:11, 15 January 2008 (UTC)


 * I think we've gotten past putting Danville in the article. Should we put a larger city (Decatur or Moulton) to give Oakville's relative location?AlaGuy (talk) 23:00, 15 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Here's the problem. Jesse constantly refers to Oakville in his autobiography, so it obviously needs to be referenced.  Once you've put the county in there, that's plenty of geographic reference (there's only 67 in the whole state). I think you replace that part if anything, not the Oakville part. It's proper to put a less well known community down when you are describing something unique to the area.  See Emmett Till for one of the best examples of this.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wrdmegle (talk • contribs) 20:03, 17 January 2008 (UTC)


 * I'm just saying that Oakville is an unincorporated community, and there are few people that can tell you how to get there. I agree, the lesser known place should by all means be included.  I still believe there should be another community included to give a relative location.  Of course, it would be put in after Oakville is mentioned.  It'd be nice to get a third, three or four more would be nice, opinion. AlaGuy (talk) 20:09, 17 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Danville is also an unincorporated community. The only difference is that Danville has a post office that some homes in Oakville receive mail from, including the memorial park (creating confusion with addresses).  However, Danville is in Morgan County, not Lawrence, and most from Oakville do not claim to be from Danville.    —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.36.254.93 (talk) 07:43, 21 January 2008 (UTC)


 * I don't understand why you are worrying about the specific location. Most readers look at the state alone, which town is referenced will likely make no difference to comprehension.  As such i think it is better to be accurate rather than clear, with respect to better known towns nearby. If he uses Oakville in his biography who are we just change that? David D. (Talk) 20:26, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

So i thought I'd try mapquest and see what i get with Oakville, AL. Why do we consider this to be a problem? The Oakville location seems quite easy to find. David D. (Talk) 22:15, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 15:05, 1 May 2016 (UTC)

Long jump incident?
My dad was just telling me of an incident which ocuured between Owens and a German athlete. Apparently the German told Jesse to jump a foot over the white line, which led to him continualy being flagged for fouls. Can anyone give me a link so I can mentally confirm this story? I don't think it is in the article, maybe we should add it? A Prodigy Talk 21:41, 13 August 2008 (UTC)
 * It's exactly the other way around; a German athlete, Luz Long, who helped him by advising him to jump from a foot before the bar.Long got a Coubertin Medal for sportsmenship for it.Thijsdetweede (talk) 17:18, 17 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Ah OK, must not have been listening to my dad properly XD. Thanks for clearing that up Thij, nice to hear such heart-warming stories isn't it?  A Prodigy   ~In Pursuit of Perfection ~ 17:57, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

Native American heritage is missing
Jessie Owens was also part Native American. This should be added in and cited. Sean7phil (talk) 23:40, 5 August 2009 (UTC) Yes, I agree. I'd always heard that he was part Native (Amerindian). In his photos, he looks part African-American and part Amerindian; this was common in parts of the US South.

winning gold medals shows the fallacies of racial supremacy?
...I mean, maybe it does, but I question whether it's encyclopedic to state as fact that it does. The article reads "Owens surprised many and showed the fallacies of racial supremacy by winning four gold medals..." Obviously everyone here agrees that racial supremacy is a premise built on fallacies. And, very likely, Owens' victory in 1936 illustrated that for some people, at the time and later. But it's still an argument, a point of view, and is probably inappropriate editorializing as presented. Of course I realize that his Olympic win occupies a place in history that is inextricably linked to the legacies of racism, both in Germany and the US, but there has to be a better way to get at those issues than to say - as this sentence does - that "Owens won four gold medals, therefore racism is wrong." That's not only clunky but also unencyclopedic. I deleted it once but it was reverted back, so now I'm seeking consensus to delete it again.Darthmix (talk) 16:22, 2 April 2010 (UTC)
 * You are right. That is just self-evident. It should be deleted. - Darwinek (talk) 16:38, 2 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Okay, so, no dissent on this yet? I'm going to go ahead and delete and if any disagreement materializes hopefully we can hash it out here. Darthmix (talk) 19:39, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Siblings
This is arguably a minor detail, to be sure, but one that became an interesting puzzle once I started looking into it: Just how many siblings did Mr. Owens have and where was he in the birth order?

The current version of the Wikipedia article says that he was "seventh of eleven children". Checking various external, reasonably reputable websites, I find two that say "seventh" ...
 * 1) "Seventh child of"
 * 2) "Seventh child of"

... while three others say "tenth" (or variations):
 * 1) "youngest of ten"
 * 2) "last of 10"
 * 3) "tenth child of" (six brothers, three sisters)

I find no sites that say Mr. Owens' parents had eleven children; it's either "seven" or "ten" as listed above.

Using the information from the Jesse Owens Museum site, which actually names his brothers and sisters (bumping up its credibility, in my opinion), I believe the sites which say "seventh" have unintentionally turned "seventh son" into "seventh child". Given this, I'm changing the first sentence of the "Childhood" section to say, "James Cleveland Owens was the youngest of ten children, three girls and seven boys, born to Henry Cleveland Owens and Mary Emma Fitzgerald in Oakville, Alabama on September 12, 1913."

Cheers! -- Bgpaulus (talk) 18:43, 25 June 2012 (UTC)

Trees
Only survivor is at OSU? Did anyone even READ TFA? "The only remaining known tree is planted at Rhodes High School in Cleveland" And yes, OSU and USC are cloning and DNA typing the 2 known ones to compare to the suspect @OSU, but that doesn't make the OSU tree real, OR the last survivor. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.187.118.19 (talk) 17:32, 25 June 2012 (UTC)


 * WP:SOFIXIT. Cheers! -- Bgpaulus (talk) 19:35, 25 June 2012 (UTC)

Small addition to awards
http://www.lostindiana.net/Lost_Indiana/Lost_Indiana__International_Palace_of_Sports.html

Read about Jesse Owens in this bit — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lakecityransom (talk • contribs) 01:52, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

He also won the olympic order in 1976, see the relevant page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.91.66.186 (talk) 20:10, 3 August 2012 (UTC)

Origin?
Wheere did his family come from--78.48.227.207 (talk) 04:28, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

Edit under "Berlin Olympics."
The last paragraph of the section starts with "on the other hand." This indicates that the paragraph is in contrast to whatever came before it, but the paragraph seems to only support the preceding paragraphs. This should be changed or omitted. 68.63.179.29 (talk) 18:58, 26 May 2013 (UTC)

File:Jesse Owens3.jpg to appear as POTD soon
Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Jesse Owens3.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on August 5, 2013. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2013-08-05. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. Thanks! — Crisco 1492 (talk) 23:53, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

JO AND HIS JAZZ PATIO
In 1941, the NARBA ( North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement),reassigned radio station WAAF to 950 kHz. Throughout the late 40’s and into the 50’s, oversaw WAAF's transition toward more diversified and brokered programming. The station began to feature Jazz programming that drew both black and white listeners. The “Equality Station” featured a young and controversial Marty Faye, very young Dick Buckley, Holmes “Daddy-O” Daylie as well as Olympic legend, Jesse Owens. The station’s signal and central dial location helped it reach Jazz listeners all over the city. Jesse's tag line for his show was "This is JO and his jazz patio". — Preceding unsigned comment added by FARRIDER1 (talk • contribs) 17:22, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

Tributes
Since 1998, one of the Southeast's largest high school cross country races, the Jesse Owens Classic, is held near Jesse Owens Memorial Park in Oakville AL. The number of high school runners participating has grown to over 3,000 the last several years.

See http://alabamahighschoolrunner.homestead.com/15thannualjesseowenscrosscountryinvitational.html for a link to the 2013 edition of the race. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Abaileycng (talk • contribs) 18:56, 14 August 2013 (UTC)

Hitler / Roosevelt "Snub"
Recently came across a newspaper article (very short, more of a blurb really) from October 1936 regarding the Hitler/Roosevelt "snub" and was hoping to have it added as a reference for the "snub" quote of Owens. I believe the newspaper article is the source for the book that is already referenced. I feel the article is worthwhile of referencing because as a period article it sheds some light on Owens' feelings at that time. Article: [http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9kxhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=uHQNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6051%2C1761645 'Snub' from Roosevelt. (St. Joseph News-Press - Oct 16, 1936)]

—Atcamp (talk) 02:57, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

berlin olympics
One of the reference for a paragraph is http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v5n1p123.html The institution for history review is an holocaust-denier website. How can it be considered as a neutral source? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.14.81.144 (talk) 16:21, 9 February 2014 (UTC)


 * I have replaced a few of the more dodgy sources. Span (talk) 17:33, 9 February 2014 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 15 February 2014
typo at large, in the 'Berlin Olympics' section. search 'teeammate.

69.79.26.112 (talk) 16:19, 15 February 2014 (UTC)

✅ Thanks for pointing it out (makes a change from "teamate") - Arjayay (talk) 16:54, 15 February 2014 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 23 February 2014
24.55.131.4 (talk) 18:16, 24 February 2014 (UTC) remember to see if facts are true guys there are liers

--24.55.131.4 (talk) 18:16, 24 February 2014 (UTC)

If you want to suggest a change, please request this in the form "Please replace XXX with YYY" or "Please add ZZZ between PPP and QQQ". Please also cite reliable sources to back up your request, without which no information should be added to any article. - Arjayay (talk) 18:40, 24 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: There might even be some liars, but you have not requested a change.

Edits To Lede 3/23/14
The lede was devoid of several important aspects of Owns' true notability and by omission mitigated his importance in sports and social history. My sourced additions to the lede begin to correct this, but more work needs to be done in the body of the article as well. I will provide some sourced additions there soon.Sensei48 (talk) 02:00, 24 March 2014 (UTC)

War Years
Was Jesse Owens involved in the war effort in any fashion from 1942 to 1945? The article skips right over this time frame. Seki1949 (talk) 00:55, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

The 2014 film, Saints & Soldiers: The Void features him as Sgt. of a Hellcat Tank Destroyer. The film airs racial issues within the US Army in a very predominant way that I don't recall in any other World War II film that I've ever seen.

I don't know the answer to your question, in fact I come here to find out the same thing as I hadn't heard it mentioned before. 86.169.122.107 (talk) 01:00, 21 December 2014 (UTC)

Pan Am
Hey wasn't a Pan American Airbus A310 named after Jesse Owens- sincerely,Administrator for Pan American Clippers Wikia — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2605:E000:D760:800:501F:CA42:15A7:EB4D (talk) 06:12, 2 July 2015 (UTC)

Script error on this page (August 26, 2015)
To any qualified editor:

There's a error message at the top of this page, which says, in bolded red: "Script error: The module returned a value. It is supposed to return an export table." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.218.131.96 (talk) 19:36, 26 August 2015 (UTC)
 * This has been resolved; see Village pump (technical)/Archive 139. -- John of Reading (talk) 20:56, 26 August 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 3 one external links on Jesse Owens. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Attempted to fix sourcing for http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00016393.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20100920063619/http://www.bookrags.com:80/tandf/west-coast-baseball-association-tf to http://www.bookrags.com/tandf/west-coast-baseball-association-tf/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20121205073129/http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_localcle/20101115/ts_yblog_localcle/jesse-owens-new-mark-on-cleveland to http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_localcle/20101115/ts_yblog_localcle/jesse-owens-new-mark-on-cleveland

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers. —cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 06:37, 28 August 2015 (UTC)

Handshake
The article states that Mischner saw Hitler shake Owens' hand, but the source does not say that, so I've changed the wording. The source says that Mischner "said that Owens carried around a photograph in his wallet of Hitler shaking his hand before he left the stadium." Mischner supposedly saw the photo. If he carried it around it is amazing that no-one else ever mentioned seeing this photo or witnessing the event - including, presumably, the mystery person who took the photo. It's much more likely that the elderly Mischner is referring to the official photo of himself that Hitler sent to Owens, which Owens may have shown him, and that he's confusing that in his mind with the handshake issue. The Telegraph article states that Mischner is the only source for this implausible claim. Paul B (talk) 16:54, 4 July 2011 (UTC)


 * In the TV documentary "Britain's Greatest Pilot: The story of Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown", Brown (who was a visitor at the 1936 Olympics) says he witnessed Hitler shaking Owens' hand. Although 95 when interviewed, he certainly is still very much compus mentis. Perhaps worth including in the article?1812ahill (talk) 14:56, 15 October 2014 (UTC)

My father was on the 1936 Olympic team and my Mom was there also. She roomed with Glen Cunningham's wife, they stayed in a German Home. Mother said that the Olympic committee was behind the handshake issue. She said that Hitler sat in a special box to watch the events and that each day he had all the gold metal winners brought to his box where he did the handshake deal with lots of photographers. She said the Olympic committee was concerned with all the publicity Hitler was getting an put a stop to it and that is why there was no handshake with Owens. — Preceding unsigned comment added by SharBarnes (talk • contribs) 04:31, 22 February 2016 (UTC)

Pending changes
Is the pending changes arrangement for this page productive, or would it be better semiprotected? William Avery (talk) 00:28, 22 February 2017 (UTC)
 * It's productive, but since most of the IP edits aren't, maybe semi-protection would be better. -- ‖ Ebyabe talk - Union of Opposites  ‖ 04:50, 22 February 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified
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Smoking
The article states he smoked for 35 years, but does not say which year he began smoking nor when he ceased to do so. If he smoked regularly during his professional career, that is remarkable considering how badly smoking affects physical performance. If he only began smoking after his career was over, why start smoking so much later in life than most smokers? Either way does not make sense; the article should clarify it. Qzm (talk) 19:41, 13 September 2009 (UTC)
 * It should be clarified. However, even today there are many professional athletes who are known to smoke. - Darwinek (talk) 17:54, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

N.B.: It says he smoked a pack a day for 35 years, not that he smoked ONLY for 35 years. He might have smoked less than that initially. 2604:2000:F226:3200:C845:C801:BDD6:34F8 (talk) 07:43, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

That's a really good statement🤗 Tysavage2.0 (talk) 18:42, 28 November 2017 (UTC)

Owens' Metric Records
My edit to the added sentence about the metric records that Owens may have set at the 1935 Big Ten track meet did not publish my full edit summary, which was "Conform added sentence to what the cited source actually says. If Owens' metric records have been established as fact, they would need a separate source asserting that." Sensei48 (talk) 07:56, 28 January 2019 (UTC)"

A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for speedy deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for speedy deletion: You can see the reason for deletion at the file description page linked above. —Community Tech bot (talk) 20:52, 26 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Jesse Owens3.jpg

speer
The article says that the sayings of speer proves the truth of the history. But the sayings of speer are only of speer not the sayings of hitler. I believe the article must to remove "Away from the public eye, Hitler expressed his true feelings and disgust at Owens. Albert Speer, Hitler's architect and later war armaments minister, later recollected:"--201.253.128.193 (talk) 01:02, 29 June 2012 (UTC)


 * I agree. It should be removed, or at least edited to emphasize these are merely Albert Speer's words.(62.131.62.156 (talk) 18:19, 14 July 2012 (UTC))


 * Many of Speer's postwar recollections are suspect to me. Seki1949 (talk) 00:55, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

I came here to express the same sentiment, as that particular quote seems a bit fishy to me - like it was a revelation to Hitler at that time. Kmitch87 (talk) 23:02, 8 August 2012 (UTC)


 * Remember the title of the biography by Gitta Sereny: 'Speer -  His Battle with the Truth'. Valetude (talk) 14:23, 18 September 2019 (UTC)

At the Melbourne Olympic Games
At the Melbourne Olympic Games, he was a guest at a State Dinner for the IOC and the chief sporting officials on 21st November 1956 at the Melbourne Exhibition Building. The following day he was part of the TV broadcast team for the Opening Ceremony at the MCG: The Argus 22nd November 1956, page 3. (Attendance was 103,000 in perfect weather. The broadcast was to a small number of sets in Melbourne; with film of it ‘rushed’ to Sydney for broadcast the following day.) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Alipius (talk • contribs) 06:05, 30 March 2020 (UTC)

Owens was a track-and-field athlete who set a world record in the long jump at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin—and went unrivaled for 25 years. He won four gold medals at the Olympics that year in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, along with the 100-meter relay and other events off the track. In 1976, Owens received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1990.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io This commenting section is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page. You may be able to find more information on their web site. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Theprankster12300 (talk • contribs) 20:24, 1 March 2021 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 2 March 2021
97.82.53.100 (talk) 00:31, 2 March 2021 (UTC) S Dr him! But Gee read scientist f everyday statement
 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. Elliot321 (talk &#124; contribs) 01:51, 2 March 2021 (UTC)

Jesse Owens: myth and reality
That whole section is weird. There is no proof for any of these statements, and somehow I believe that was probably German propaganda from the 30s. It's just weird. Needs to be editted out completely, or I guess at least cited... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.193.182.232 (talk) 08:36, 24 February 2009 (UTC)
 * I think someone just copied pasted their article into the text. Everything it mentions (including the "Hitler snub") is dealt with in the article anyway. I think that perhaps page protection is needed again. Sillyfolkboy (talk) 17:00, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

"Hitler's snub" was mentioned in Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics 

Every user is welcome to improve the article by providing information published in primary or secondary source. Sure not a myth or very controversial issue - which has no place in Encyclopedia. --Hiens (talk) 07:06, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

This whole nonsense of a 'snub' really needs to be put to bed once and for all. Owens quite clearly stated that he did not feel snubbed by Hitler at the Games, on the contrary. Hitler even waved at him and he waved back. Can anybody really imagine a head of state in front of his own people and the world's camera's and Press make a fool of himself by storming out of an ocassion like that. What total and utter rubbish. A myth told over and over again seemingly over the decades becomes fact. Here's a man who was allowed to compete in Nazi Germany on a profesional level and denied that right in his own United States of America. A nation with one of the most disgusting racial policies in the world at that time.....and to it's own citizens. Seperate military units, seperate schools, seprate seating on buses, seperate wash basins in public toilets. How ironic, treated as hero by citizens of Nazi Germany and treated like shit back home in the USA. The only snub Jesse Owens received was from Roosevelt and the US authorities. Get used to it. Detmold 9/12/09 00:54
 * Not sure where you're going with this Detmold, you seem to be saying Nazi Germany had better race relations that the US? What kind of fascist are you? The country that brought us the Neuremberg Laws to discriminate against Jews, Crytallnacht, The Final Solution (11+ million racial minorities murdered in death camps)? Yes, the US had some terrible race laws, but no where near a terrible as Germany. Learn your history and get used to it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.60.169.188 (talk) 02:35, 9 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Learn history yourself. Trotting out well known facts doesn't alter the reality that Owens experienced segegation in the US, but not in Nazi Germany. As Detmold says, that's ironic, but true. Saying so does not imply any fascist sympathies at all. Paul B (talk) 16:43, 4 July 2011 (UTC)
 * No, how about YOU learn history yourself, as Jesse Owens was still proud enough of being an American that he chose to both represent the US and stand respectfully for it, despite the racial inequalities at the time, criticizing those who gave the black power salute at the Olympics years later.Crun31 (talk) 21:19, 21 July 2021 (UTC)

It is interesting to note that Jessse Owens was brouhgt in as a replacement for American Jewish athletes Marty glickmand and Sam Stoller in the 4 x 100 relay. So, the Germans were willing to accept a black athlete as a hero, but the US team was afraid to offend Hitler with a possible Jewish hero. ^^^^ —Preceding unsigned comment added by Histeacher (talk • contribs) 21:37, 1 March 2010 (UTC)


 * The fact is that they were a *lot* slower than Jesse and Metcalf, who were brought in to replace them when the team manager fretted that a second-best 400m relay team would be beaten in the same way the 4x400m relay team were. It's just that simple. Little grape (talk)


 * There are many public sources describing that Jesse Owens had lived trough many disadvantages because of his race. This wikipedia article has been "cleaned" concerning these disadvantges.


 * This discussion section proposes that in comparison to even more unfair treatments of people in Nazi Germany the treatment of Jesse Owens in the USA is not to be mentioned, or what am I missing....


 * By the way, even in July 2012 in the USA, black people must not marry in churches reserved for white people, read this article.


 * Anyone against telling the truth abount Jesse Owens life in the US?
 * --Fairness1900 (talk) 09:55, 29 July 2012 (UTC)


 * Why you write FDR and not Franklin D. Roosevelt ?

Literature and film
Jesse Owens was featured in Horrible Histories TV series song FLAME aired on July 20, 2012 with Giles Terera as Jesse Owens. — Preceding unsigned comment added by HanaHeart (talk • contribs) 10:01, 15 November 2021 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 16 March 2022
Simple grammar suggestion: in the section on post-Olympic life history, change “world-renown” to past tense: “world-renowned”. A-michael-w (talk) 23:10, 16 March 2022 (UTC)
 * ✅ Thank you - FlightTime  ( open channel ) 00:01, 17 March 2022 (UTC)

Owens world record was 10.2 seconds for the 100 meters, not 10.3 s as stated in the article! (Sources: IAAF/World Athletics.)
Owens ran an official world record of 10.2 seconds over 100 meters, in 1936 - so, his personal best is not 10.3 s as stated in the article! (SOURCES: IAAF/World Athletics.) 85.233.243.205 (talk) 12:42, 18 March 2022 (UTC)