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CNN Live At Daybreak
Jesse Owens Went Through Hard Times to Get to '36 Olympics
Aired February 04, 2002 - 06:42 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: You know, February is Black History Month.
CNN's Eric Philips is in Oakville, Alabama at this hour, and he is there to tell us about one African-American born there at Oakville who came out on top at a difficult time for our nation and the world. Eric, tell us about it.
ERIC PHILIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Carol. I am standing here in the Jesse Owens Museum, which is filled with memorabilia from the life and times of Jesse Owens. Although the 1936 Olympics served as a mountaintop experience for Owens, his life was not without valleys.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSE OWENS, 1936 OLYMPIAN: The competition was grand, and we are very glad to have come out on top.
PHILIPS (voice-over): For Jesse Owens, coming out on top meant winning four gold medals during the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, thus discrediting German dictator, Adolph Hitler's, theory of Aryan supremacy. But on top is not where he began.
Owens was born in 1913 in a three-room house on Oakville, Alabama, much like this one. When Owens was young, his family of 11 moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he soon began breaking track records in junior high and high school. After two years at Ohio State University, it was on to the Olympics, where he won the 100 and 200 meter dashes, the broad jump and was a key member of the gold-winning 400 meter relay team. But after the glory days of the Olympics were over, the African-American Olympian found it difficult even to find work to support his wife and three daughters.
MARLENE OWENS RANKIN, JESSE OWENS FOUNDATION: ... all of his life, and I don't doubt that there was anger and frustration, but he never let it show.
PHILIPS: In the years to come, Owens would open his own public relations firm and receive many awards. And reporter Ronnie Thomas remembers interviewing Owens, when he was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1970.
RONNIE THOMAS, "THE DECATUR DAILY": I sat down beside him, and for the longest time, I just sat and stared at the man.
PHILIPS: In 1976, President Gerald Ford awarded Owens the United States Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor. Owens died four years later of cancer at the age of 66.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILIPS: We're back live now. You are looking at an outside shot of the Jesse Owens Park and the museum, which was dedicated to him 16 years after his death. The 30-acre park attracts visitors from around the world and has become the pride of this small community.
We're live in Oakville, Alabama, I am Eric Philips -- Carol, back to you.
COSTELLO: And boy, Eric, you think if Jesse Owens had done what he did today, he would be a wealthy man.
PHILIPS: A multi-millionaire.
COSTELLO: Yes. It's sad, but it is good there's a museum there, so people can see what he did.
PHILIPS: And really remember what he did and all of the contributions that he made to history.
COSTELLO: Absolutely. Thank you, Eric.
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