• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

FBI once probed Owens 1-~0-'0S- PHOENIX, Ariz. (AP) Former Ohio State University and Olympic track and field hero Jesse Owens was the target of a 1956 FBI investigation that in­ cluded interviews with people about such personal areas as Owens' sex life and background checks to determine if he \vas "a loyal 1\1ncrican." Jesse Owens File photo The Arizona Republic report­ ed Saturdav that the investiga­ gold medals at the Olympics in tion was ~rdcrcd by then-FBI Berlin, to the National Negro Director J. Edgar Hoover. The Congress, \vhich I-loover also re­ investigation is outlined in docu­ garded as an un-Amcrican orga­ ments obtained by the newspa­ nization. per under the Freedom of Infor­ mation Act. A SHOCKED Ruth Owens said, "My husband is resting in THE DOCUMENTS were his grave, so he can't speak for declassified after Owens, a himself. But I followed him all Phoenix resident, died of lung over and I know he was loyal to cancer in Tucson in March 1980 Am~rica. He loved his family at age 66. and his country. The FBI suspected that Ow­ "Jesse \Vas a good n1an. He ens might have been involved in always tried to do what was subversive activities, according right. But he went to his grave to the documents. being dogged. His crime was All Hoover's agents ever that he was black." found was that: The FBI documents show • 0\vens' name appeared on that background investigations one occasion in the Daily Work­ and credit checks were also run er, a Communist Party nev.•spa• on O\vens' \vife, his parents, his per. three daughters, his brothers • O\\·ens \\'as listed in a Mich­ and his sisters. igan nC\\'Spaper as a member of Dozens of people \VCrc inter­ the "Committee to Seek Unity of viewed b)· the FBI during the Racial Groups," \vhich I-Ioover course of the investigation, in­ believed \V:1S a subversive orga­ cluding forn1cr en1ployers and nization. others \vho knc\v O\vcns or knc\v • 0\vcns sC'nt gre~tings in about hirn. I Iundrcds of records 1937, a year after \vinning four \vere chrcke<l. ' .~ " f LANTERN OASIS, Thursday, May 1, 1986 Tracking a legend By Wendy Wallace Lantern staff writer "I fell in Jove with her some the first time we ever talked, and a little bit more every time after that witil I thought I couldn't Jove her more than I did. And when I felt that way, I asked her to marry me, even though we were only in the fourth grade, and she said she would." Ruth Owens remembers her first en­ cowiter with Jesse a little differenUy than he recowits in his autobiography. Yet her recollection is no Jess roman­ tic. Ruth met Jesse at Fairmont Junior High School in Cleveland when shewasl3. "He was in my sister's class. He gave my sister a note to give to n1e. 11 The short message scrawled on the note, "I want to walk you home," sparked a romance °that lasted more than 50 years. And walk her home he did, she said. He met her after school and carried her books. "The little girl I had met, the little pigtailed girl without prejudice, had become IDJ' wife secretly when we were only 16-years..cld." Jesse and Ruth eloped on a rainy day in April, 1930. "We decided all of a sudden," Ruth said. Ruth and Jesse jumped into a car piloted by Jesse's best friend, Dave Albritton. Albritton drove them from town to to"!ffi in Pennsylvania until they found a justice of the peace who would marry such a young couple; Jesse was 18andRuthwas16. After sharing a hotdog, the newlyweds and their driver headed as quickly as possible back to Ohio. Ruth and Jesse didn't disclose their marriage until she became pregnant with the first of their three daughters. In fact, Ruth said, she and .Jesse didn't live wider the ~e roof until after Jesse brought home four gold medals from the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. While Jesse studied at Ohio State, Ruth continued to Jive with her family and baby, Gloria, in Cleveland. Typically, she only saw her husband when he wasn't in training or at a track meet. "That situation existed all through our lives," Ruth said. "His travels kept us a very loving couple," Jesse's wife said. "He was I like a date when he was coming home. 1 LANTERN OASIS. Thursday. May 1. 1986 i' I 6 LANTERN OASIS, Thursday, May 1, 1986 Jesse from the cover 8.nyone else. Ruth Owens "I have often heard him say he went over to Germany to rllll, and run he did," she said. "Jesse was an athlete and it meant a lot to him to go over there and represent the United States and to come out with such honor.'' Ruth Owens did not see her husband compete in Berlin. Instead, she listened as reports came across the Atlantic on the radio. "Then, of course, Jesse was always very close to the sports writers and there were two from Cleveland1 one from The Plain Dealer and the other from the Cleveland News who would always keep me informed,". she said. Ruth Owens did not comprehend the magnitude of her husband's ac­ He was like a date complislunents at the time. "It wasn't really brought home to me when he was coming until he came back from the Olympics with all the hoop-dee-doo and the ticker µtpe parades.'' home. After the Olympics, Jesse and Ruth Owens returned to Gennany several times. 11The German people love him I would be getting the house ready for and they rolled out the red carpet every him and getting the kids together ·and time we returned,'' she said. putting in the kinds· of food he enjoyed "Last October, they named a street eating." after him in Berlin,'' she said. ··one cotlldn 't ask ·for a finer hus­ As a father, Ruth said, Jes:Se was lov­ band,'' she said. ing and very strict. "He had dreams of Jesse's track Career took him all over how he wanted his girls to be raised and the \vorld, but fie is best known for his we lived with that." accomplislunents in the 1936 Olympics. "There were certain things that he .Jesse Owens won gold medals Jn the demanded of them .!..._ get an education, JOO and 200-meter dashes, the broad always be a lady, and carry out the jwnp, and .the 400-meter relay, setting rules and regulations of the home." three Olympic records and casting "Although Jesse was often out of doubt on the Nazi racial propaganda town, his image was in the home at all promoted at the games. times. I would tell the girls "listen to me Ruth Owens does not believe Jesse or I \Vill call your father on the phone tried to prove anything to' Hitler or and he will take care of it,'' she said. 6 LANTERN OASIS, Thursday, May 1; 1986 .Jesse Owens 6 LANTERN OASIS, Thursday, May 1, 1986 Dave Albrittqn - -"I guess maybe that was my ham­ mer, but it worked very well for me.,, Ruth Owens described an incident that occurred with their youngest daughter, Marlene, wheh she was about five years old. Jesse was out of town. "Our youngest daughter was flipping over the couch and she broke a lamp. She was so upset ~ause she knew 'Oh no, Daddy's going to get me when he comes; home,' that she went outside and hid in the bushes and we couldn't find her for a long, long time. Everybody was panicking - where's Marlene? I wa_s his biggest booster where's Marlene?'' "That's liow strong he was in the and he was mine household even though he was absefit " Ruth Owens said. ' When Jesse's track career ended he "One of my bziddies, Dave Albritton, made s~veral business ventures in­ soYnehow got hold of a' car. .• and we cluding ustablishing the Jesse Owens drove into Pennsylvania . ·.. " Cleaning, Stores and a public relations "I was· a~wa:ys the front man,,, Dave agency. - Albritton said, "because I could get a However, more than anything, Jesse car." was a speaker - a motivator. He spent Albritton recalls the times he and a good part of the rest of his life touring Jesse would double date. "I would have the world, delivering speeches and the money to buy the tickets, to the touching_ the lives of thousands. tl)eater," he said. "And of course we would sit way up in the back corner.'' Ruth Owens is currently living in Albritton said he first met Jesse wh~n Phoenix where she and Jesse moved in · they were kids in Alabama. •.'He was 1972. Since ,Jesse's death March 3, 1980, from Oakville and I was from Danville. Ruth has continued to be active in 1They were within walldrlg distance of organizing the Arco-Jesse Owens each other, about four or five miles. We Games held every year in Los Angeles. met on a Slln.day afternoon when our She is chairwoman of the board of the brothers got together to play basetmll, Jesse Owens Foundation that each year Albritton said. , awards scholarships to college-bound "He.and I were too young to play (5- seniors. She is also a board member of , years-old,) so we used to sit, and watch the Phoenix Memorial Hospital that our brothers." recently built the Jesse Owens Strangely enough, both Dave's and Memorial Clinic.

Load more

  113

Copy Link