The Library of Congress > Linked Data Service > LC Name Authority File (LCNAF)

Owens, Jesse, 1913-1980


  • [Individual was a Presidential Medal of Freedom awardee.]
  • URI(s)

  • Fuller Name

    • James Cleveland
  • Variants

    • Owens, James Cleveland, 1913-1980
    • Owens, John Cleveland, 1913-1980
    • Owens, J. C., 1913-1980
  • Additional Information

  • Exact Matching Concepts from Other Schemes

  • Closely Matching Concepts from Other Schemes

  • Sources

    • found: His The Jesse Owens story, 1970.
    • found: Sabin, F. Jesse Owens, Olympic hero, c1985:CIP title page (in title, Jesse Owens) galley (d. 3/30/80)
    • found: IMDb, Feb. 21, 2007(Jesse Owens, b. Sept. 12, 1913; d. Mar. 31, 1980)
    • found: New Columbia encyc., 1993(Owens, Jesse; b. Alabama; also called John Cleveland Owens, although his original name was said to be simply J.C. Owens)
    • found: Wikipedia, WWW, Aug. 30, 2011(James Cleveland Owens, nicknamed J.C., which was turned into Jesse; American track and field athlete; born in Oakville, Alabama; attended Ohio State University; died in Tucson, Arizona)
    • found: jesseowens.com, Aug. 30, 2011(James Cleveland, or J.C., until his schoolteacher turned it into Jesse; won 4 gold medals in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany)
    • found: African American national biography, accessed March 17, 2015, via Oxford African American Studies Center database(Owens, Jesse; James Cleveland Owens; track and field athlete, Olympic medalist; born 12 September, 1913 in Oakville, Alabama, United States; studied at Ohio State University (1933); received a honorary doctorate of athletic arts, Ohio State (1972); broke world records in 220-yard sprint, 220-yard hurdles and long jump, equaled the world record in 100-yard dash at Big Ten championships, on Ann Arbor campus, University of Michigan (1935); tied the world record in 100-meter sprint and broke world records in 200-meter sprint, long jump, and 4-by-100-meter relay to win four gold medals, Olympic games, Berlin (1936); won a race against a horse in Havana, Cuba (1936); became a supervisor of black workers at Ford Motor Company, Detroit, and a director of the South Side Boys' Club, Illinois State Athletic Commission and Illinois Youth Commission; was tapped by U.S. State Department for a junket to India, Malaya and the Philippines to make speeches in praise of the American way of life (1955); goodwill ambassador at Melbourne Olympics (1956); established public relations firm Owens-West & Associates, Chicago (1960); was selected as Associated Press Athlete of the Year (1936) and honored the greatest track athlete of the past half century by Associated Press (1950), was enshrined in Track and Field Hall of Fame (1974), received the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1976) and the Living Legends award (1979); died 31 March, 1980 in Tucson, Arizona, United States)
  • General Notes

    • [Individual was a Presidential Medal of Freedom awardee.]
  • Instance Of

  • Scheme Membership(s)

  • Collection Membership(s)

  • Change Notes

    • 1980-08-15: new
    • 2024-01-12: revised
  • Alternate Formats