Jesse Owens

Jesse Owens was born September 12, 1913 in a small town in Danville Alabama. Jess was one of eleven brothers and sisters. He was the seventh child in the family. His family was very poor. Mother and father both were share croppers, farmers who rented out their land to get crops. Jesse's life as a child was hard. He was very thin because the family was so poor. At one point of time he was about to die from pneumonia. The family decided that it was time to move up north to Cleveland, Ohio. Henry, Jesse's father was a farmer. He was not fit for any other job. He couldn't read nor write. The whole family worked very hard.

Jesse ran track. Jesse's coach was worried about his poor health. He wasn't eating like he should have to be running track. It was really hard for Jesse to do track after school because he also had to work. His coach told Jesse to start coming to school an hour early so they could do some training. Jesse's family was so poor at the time that the coach would bring food for Jesse in the morning for him to be able to train. The coach cared about Jesse. He worried so much about Jesse and knew Jesse was a good runner.

Jesse Owens became a champion athlete in track. Owens was well known at Cleveland East Technical High School. At Cleveland East Technical High School there were few black students and Jesse Owens was one of them. He became student council president. During the time things were good at school but his family was still poor. Jesse worked shining shoes. Jesse was doing well at track and received many invitations from colleges and universities. Jesse's family was so important to him that he turned the schools down. He was married at the age of 16 and he needed to support his wife and so he wanted to stop running track. He wanted to support his family.

Jesse's coach from high school cared so much about him, that he talked to a coach at Ohio State University to get Jesse's father a permanent state job. Because the United States was still segregated at the time, Jesse was not given a scholarship and had to work his way through school by working at several jobs like working in the library and operating an elevator, and also waiting tables. That soon paid his own way to college. On May 25, 1935, Jesse was in the Big Ten College Track-Fields where he broke three world records and was tied for a fourth. Jesse had a great next year. In one of the greatest athletic feats of all time, Jesse earned four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic games. Despite his amazing success, when he returned from the Olympic games, he soon found out that he needed a job to support his family. His wife was pregnant with their second child. Jesse didn't finish college at the time, but instead made money by racing against horses, cars and motorcycles.

Jesse Owens to me is a very hard working person who always put family first. That showed a lot in him. That showed he had courage. Jesse Owens was a great hero. He kept going and didn't stop. That’s a great hero.