FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games.

Owens specialized in the sprints and the long jump and was recognized in his lifetime as “perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history”. He set three world records and tied another, all in less than an hour, at the 1935 Big Ten track meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan—a feat that has never been equaled and has been called “the greatest 45 minutes ever in sport”.

He achieved international fame at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, by winning four gold medals: 100 meters, long jump, 200 meters, and 4 × 100-meter relay. He was the most successful athlete at the Games and, as a black American man, was credited with “single-handedly crushing Hitler‘s myth of Aryan supremacy“.

The Jesse Owens Award is USA Track and Field‘s highest accolade for the year’s best track and field athlete. Owens was ranked by ESPN as the sixth greatest North American athlete of the 20th century and the highest-ranked in his sport. In 1999, he was on the six-man short-list for the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Century.

Ohio State University

Owens attended the Ohio State University after his father found employment, which ensured that the family could be supported. Affectionately known as the “Buckeye Bullet” and under the coaching of Larry Snyder, Owens won a record eight individual NCAA championships, four each in 1935 and 1936. (The record of four gold medals at the NCAA was equaled only by Xavier Carter in 2006, although his many titles also included relay medals). Though Owens enjoyed athletic success, he had to live off campus with other African-American athletes. When he traveled with the team, Owens was restricted to ordering carry-out or eating at “blacks-only” restaurants. Similarly, he had to stay at “blacks-only” hotels. Owens did not receive a scholarship for his efforts, so he continued to work part-time jobs to pay for school.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

Question of the Day

Can I eliminate the poison oak at the back edge of my wooded lawn without using chemicals or going in there and cutting?

Try combining 3 pounds salt and 1 gallon soapy water. Spray this solution on the plant’s leaves and stems.

Advice of the Day

A wet August never brings dearth.

Home Hint of the Day

To clean cane chair seats, wash them with hot water and dishwashing liquid, then rinse and let dry.

Word of the Day

Biddy

A name used in calling a hen or chicken. An Irish serving woman or girl.

Puzzle of the Day

The Grand Canyon State.(Name the U.S. state!)

Arizona

Born

• Izaak Walton (writer) – 1593
• William Alfred Fowler (physicist) – 1911
• Robert Shaw (actor) – 1927
• Sam Elliott (actor) – 1944
• Jonathan Kellerman (mystery writer) – 1949
• Melanie Griffith (actress) – 1957
• Whitney Houston (singer) – 1963
• Brett Hull (hockey player) – 1964
• Deion Sanders (football player) – 1967
• Gillian Anderson (actress) – 1968
• Thomas Lennon (actor) – 1970
• Dan Levy (writer and actor) – 1983
• Forrest Landis (actor) – 1994

Died

• Herman Hesse (author) – 1962
• Jerry Garcia (musician) – 1995
• Gregory Hines (dancer & actor) – 2003
• Fay Wray (won fame as the damsel held atop the Empire State Building by a giant ape in the 1933 film King Kong) – 2004
• Matthew McGrory (actor) – 2005
• Bernie Mac (comedian & actor) – 2008
• Frank Gifford (NFL Hall of Fame football player) – 2015

Events

• The Webster-Ashburton Treaty was signed, delimiting the eastern section of the Canadian-American border. The treaty established the boundaries between the St. Croix and Connecticut rivers, between Lake Superior and the Lake of the Woods, and between Lakes Huron and Superior– 1842
• Henry David Thoreau published Walden– 1854
• Thomas Edison received a patent for a two-way telegraph– 1892
• Edward VII crowned king of the United Kingdom– 1902
• Lassen Volcanic National Park, California, established– 1916
• Betty Boop premiered in the animated film Dizzy Dishes– 1930
• Jesse Owens stole the limelight by winning four gold medals in track at the Olympic Games in Berlin and became the first American to win four medals in one Olympics– 1936
• Smokey Bear was chosen as a fire prevention symbol. Posters were released by the Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council.– 1944
• The second atomic bomb, Fat Man, was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan– 1945
• Fatal missile silo explosion occurred in Searcy, Arkansas– 1965
• Richard M. Nixon resigned as President of the United States– 1974
• The Edmonton Oilers traded Wayne Gretzky to the L.A. Kings– 1988
• Donald Duck received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame– 2004
• A magnitude-4.5 earthquake struck the Greater Los Angeles area– 2007
• A magnitude-7.5 earthquake struck east of Jakarta, Indonesia– 2007
• In Karlsruhe, Germany, police responded to an emergency call: A baby squirrel was chasing a man down the street and would not give up. When police arrived on the scene, the squirrel was still in pursuit, but then the exhausted rodent suddenly stopped and fell asleep. The police named the small squirrel Karl-Friedrich and took him into custody. Soon after, he was taken to an animal rescue center, where he was later reported to be doing well. Police said likely the baby squirrel had lost its mother and had fixated on the man as a replacement.– 2018

Weather

• A twister passed along the north side of Wallingford, Connecticut, killing 31 people and destroying more than 30 homes, a church, and a schoolhouse– 1878
• 113 degrees F in Perryville, Tennessee– 1930

COURTESY www.almanac.com