A Story for MLK Day: Gerald Ford, Jesse Owens and Righting a Wrong
I shared this story last year on MLK Day, and it's worth sharing again if you haven't heard it. It's the story of how Gerald Ford and Jesse Owens - the most famous Wolverine of all time and the most famous Buckeye of all time - came together in 1976 to right a historical wrong.
Lots of fascinating facts in this article, including the tidbit that Ford (as a senior at Michigan) was in attendance at Ferry Field on the day in 1935 when Owens set four world records in the space of 45 minutes.
Enjoy the story. It'll make you feel good that you're part of this rivalry.
http://thelivingstonpost.com/decency-justice-and-the-michigan-osu-rival…
January 15th, 2018 at 11:02 AM ^
Great share--all the upvotes to you, 82.
January 15th, 2018 at 11:13 AM ^
January 15th, 2018 at 3:30 PM ^
to be a fellow Michigan Man.
January 15th, 2018 at 11:23 AM ^
January 15th, 2018 at 11:24 AM ^
Jesse Owens was a transcendant athlete. Nothing, perhaps in all of sports, can approach the monumental significance of Owens winning four gold medals under the nose of Adolf Hitler in Berlin.
But I hope and believe that the significance of the man is at least partly reflected in the fact that Michigan, his school's arch-rival, considers it a high honor that one of his finest hours occurred on our soil. And that our highest-achieving alum was the one who had the privilege of bestowing upon him the Medal of Freedom.
January 15th, 2018 at 12:05 PM ^
supposed to talk about points....but 20 million!?!?! It's not like DB sent a snarky email to you!
/S
January 15th, 2018 at 12:21 PM ^
It was a glitch, they are unearned.
January 15th, 2018 at 4:17 PM ^
January 15th, 2018 at 5:34 PM ^
Luz Long, whose advice during the qualification round of the long jump (put a shoe a few inches short of the line and jump from there to avoid a DQ) allowed Owens to qualify easily and win in the final. Owens described a "24-carat friendship" with Long at that moment.
Honestly, though, who besides you has a burr in their saddle about the "mythologization of the Berlin Olympics?" Nobody pretends that Hitler retreated to Berchtesgaden to weep in the fetal position after Owens won a medal. The Germans clearly didn't change their course, since the War broke out three years later. But it was a great achievement and did in fact repudiate the Aryan Supremacist beliefs, whether they made a big deal of Owens' African ancestry or not.
Sporting events have personal significance to fans, but nobody pretends that they actually change politics in general. Did the Miracle on Ice win the cold war? Is it somehow overrated because it didn't? Do you take less joy out of Michigan's recent victory in Breslin because Michigan State fans will continue to think that they're a better basketball program?
What Owens did, in the paradigm of sports, is great. Full stop.
January 15th, 2018 at 6:09 PM ^
January 15th, 2018 at 6:48 PM ^
This post is unfortunate. It can neither tell the difference between someone admiring a great sports story and someone propogating a "myth" for racial/political reasons, nor between the words "refute" and "repudiate."
The former is silly. The latter is an error you share with Sarah Palin. Nice work.
January 15th, 2018 at 7:53 PM ^
January 15th, 2018 at 2:54 PM ^
I read this to a couple of my HS classes today. UM Proud.
January 15th, 2018 at 3:35 PM ^
I was just listening to MLK's speech and thought it was something everyone should listen to each year. it is a speech i've listened to many, many times and yet it still inspires me each time i hear it.