Sale of gold medal recalls Owens' glory and hardship

Jesse Owens' gold medal haul, which included victory in the long jump, was a blow to Adolf Hitler and his Nazis who orchestrated the Olympics of 1936. Photo / AP

One of the four Olympic gold medals won by track and field star Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Games is up for sale in an online auction that runs until Sunday.

The medal being auctioned recalls both the Nazi propaganda myths that Owens busted with his world record-setting 100-yard dash, and the American segregation that he came home to when he returned to the US after the Games, which Adolf Hitler orchestrated to showcase his ideas of Aryan supremacy.

"Almost single-handedly, Owens obliterated Hitler's plans," SCP Auctions partner Dan Imler said. "You've got an African American, son of a sharecropper, grandson of slaves who overcame these incredible circumstances and delivered a performance for the ages."

The auction began on November 20 and 15 bids have been received, with the highest at nearly US$209,000 ($255,000), Imler said.

"We expect a lot of bidding activity on the final day of the auction, which is typical."

Owens won gold in the 100m and 200m, the 400 relay and the long jump. But when he returned from the Berlin Games, he struggled to provide for his family.

His job options were limited by segregation and because he returned home instead of going on tour with the US Olympic Team, he was stripped of his amateur athletic status.

"When they came back, the US was just as it was when he left - segregated. Even though he came back an Olympic hero, he wasn't offered opportunities that Olympic heroes of today are offered," said his daughter, Marlene Owens Rankin, 74, of Chicago. "We lived well, a middle class life. We didn't want for much. But like many black men of that era, he struggled to provide for his family."

Owens gave one of his four Olympic gold medals to dancer and movie star Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, another supremely talented African-American whose career was hemmed in by limited roles for black men, Imler said. Robinson befriended Owens after the athlete returned from the Olympics.

"They formed a friendship and also a professional relationship. Bojangles helped Owens get work in the entertainment field," Imler said. "Owens gave him this medal out of gratitude and as a token of their friendship."

Owens worked for a short time as a band leader but eventually returned to his hometown of Cleveland where he worked for the parks department and eventually found his way into public speaking, his daughter said.

"The black community revered him for what he had accomplished," she said. "Had it been an even playing field, my father and Bojangles would have been superstars."

The medal comes from the estate of Robinson's widow. The Robinson family declined to comment but Imler said they planned to use the proceeds to pay college tuition and contribute to charity.

- AP