Hanover College Triangle on
Jesse Owens Visit
September 25, 1964
On this day in 1964, Olympic Gold Medalist Jesse Owens visited campus and spoke at Parker Auditorium on “Facing Tomorrow through Education and Leadership.” Many in the audience would have remembered the drama of his winning four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. For an African American to run faster and jump farther than top German athletes had been a satisfying repudiation of Hitler’s ideas of Aryan superiority. By 1964, Owens had become a popular motivational speaker, inspiring listeners with the story of his growing from an impoverished and disadvantaged childhood to become “the world’s fastest human.” -smv Article submitted by Andrew Bernert, '12.
N.B. The text below is transcribed verbatim, including the occasional typographical error.