degree from Ohio State – although he was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1972. This doctorate he said he acquired for his wits and his charm. He received dozens of awards including American’s highest civilian decoration the Medal of Freedom Award at the White House in 1976. President Ford presented the medal, with the 250-member US Olympic team in attendance.

Owens returned to the White House in 1979, where President Carter presented him with the Living Legend Award. On that occasion President Carter said, "A young man who possibly didn’t even realize the superb nature of his own capabilities went to the Olympics and performed in a way that I don’t believe has ever been equaled since… and this superb achievement, he has continued in his own dedicated but modest way to inspire others to reach for greatness."

Posthumous recognization

The street leading to the Olympic Stadium was renamed Jesse Owens Allee at Munich in 1982. His widow Ruth and family attended that dedication ceremony as  guests of the German government.

The Congressional Gold Medal was presented to Owens in 1990, by President Bush. Ruth took the honor from the President.

A young black man, the son of a sharecropper and grandson of a slave, Owens achieved what no Olympic athlete before him had accomplished. Fueled by the need of others and despite the setbacks and poverty he faced before and after the Olympics, Owens was a citizen of the world and a source of hope, inspiration, pride and determination to the millions who knew him or knew of him and his enduring accomplishments during his 66-year lifetime.

New York Times athletics correspondent Frank Litsky remembers Jesse : "Jesse was a nice human being. He was warm, he’d put his arm around you, he’d tell you a story, he was full of stories and they were nice stories, they were inspiring. When you left him you had a feeling that something good had happened and you smiled. Your day had been made and he did that for a lot of people."