“Jesse Owens didn’t rewrite the record book — he tore it up.” — Richard Rothschild, Sports Illustrated, May 24, 2010. [i] “I hold radio to be the most modern and the most important instrument of mass influence that exists anywhere ... By means of this instrument you are the creators of public opinion.” — Joseph Goebbels, address to the managerial staff of German radio, March 25, 1933 [ii] “Michigan Track Team Qualifies 16 men, Leads in Big Ten Meet” screamed the top of page one headline in the Michigan Daily on the morning of Saturday, May 25, 1935. A subhead read “Owens wins four preliminary firsts.” Student reporter William Reed dutifully reported Owens’ marks as 9.7 seconds in the 100-yard dash, 21.4 seconds in the 220, 24.9 seconds in the low hurdles, and 25’ 1¼” in the long jump. Michigan’s multi-sport star Willis Ward finished second to Owens in the long jump, but Ward unexpectedly was scratched from the 100-yard dash, and he failed to qualify in the 220-low event when he knocked down two of the hurdles in his preliminary heat. [iii] It was the third and final day of a marathon of both meetings and track & field events for the Big Ten colleges. (Back then it was also still known as the Western Athletic Conference.) The event, always coinciding with the spring all-conference meeting, was a major affair. Athletic Directors of the member colleges met and planned future schedules for all sports. Directors and coaches engaged in a golf tournament on Thursday, May 23 at the vaunted Michigan Golf Course. Friday morning there were meetings for all athletic directors, football coaches, and track coaches. While the Big Ten football schedule for 1935 was already set, representatives from independent programs such as Notre Dame and Pitt would also be present, trying to fill out their future season schedules in 1936 and 1937. [iv] Friday afternoon was the preliminary events (or trials as they were called) for all of the 15 track and field events. The top competitors in each “heat” or preliminary would advance to finals on Saturday. This pattern had been in effect since at least 1923, when the University of Michigan had last hosted the affair. Ferry Field, site for the meet, had already been modified multiple times since Detroit seed businessman and philanthropist Dexter Ferry purchased and donated 20 acres of land to the University of Michigan in 1902. The university used it and other property acquisitions to build a stadium, capacity 9,000, which opened in 1906. Those seats were in the north bleacher area of the field, atop which stood a press box. Both Ferry Field and its press box expanded over the years. Additions eventually brought the field’s capacity to 42,000 fans. But that wasn’t big enough either. An estimated 50,000 fans jammed the enlarged field for the 1923 Ohio State game. The east end bleachers were expanded again in 1924 to bring the capacity to 46,000. But more than 48,000 packed the stands for three of Michigan’s games in 1926. [v] By then, the Athletic Department had begun construction on a much larger facility, a 72,000-seat behemoth which opened as Michigan Stadium, largest in the U.S., in 1927. Ferry Field’s bleachers came down, and the site became dedicated for the Wolverine track and field team and intramural sports. The south stands remained, but everything else – including the press box – had been demolished so the grounds could be repurposed. Knowing a lot of reporters might head to Ann Arbor later that month for the Big Ten Meet, Michigan’s Board in Control of Intercollegiate Athletics met of May 7. According to the minutes, “It was moved by Professor Anderson and seconded by Mr. Oliver and unanimously carried that the construction of a 50 foot press box in the cement stands of Ferry Field for the Conference Track Meet to be held in Ann Arbor May 24th and 25th, 1935, at an approximate cost of $500 be authorized with the understanding that one-half this cost is to be paid out of the Conference receipts and the balance to be paid by the Board in Control of Physical Education of the University of Michigan.”[vi] And it was from this press box that Michigan Publicity Director Phil Pack and his team would be busy with the 1935 Big Ten Meet. Pack was one of the first full-time sports publicity directors in the nation. He had collaborated with Michigan Athletic Director Fielding H. Yost to successfully carry out a bond-selling campaign to raise the funds for Michigan Stadium in 1926-27. He produced and directed the printing of the program for the meet. He was also a consummate professional in working with the media. [vii] There would not be a live radio broadcast of the championships that weekend. There were dozens of print reporters and photographers present, and also film cameras were working at Ferry Field to record some of the action. But as there were not dedicated camera crews from the major newsreel companies, video and photos would be copied and sent out via mail or delivery (if results warranted it) to major media not present at the meet. Next to Pack in importance for attending fans and the reporters was Ted Canty, field announcer. But Canty would not be present in the press box. Michigan hadn’t set up a new public address system at Ferry Field, so he employed both a megaphone and on-the-field microphone to announce results and information to the crowd. Like Pack, Canty was a sports veteran. He had served in an announcing capacity many times before, including at the 1930 Big Ten Championships at Northwestern and a 1929 Cornell vs. Michigan indoor dual meet. [viii] There was a scorer’s table at the field, a place where referees would turn in results and points could be tabulated. Pack also had a team of assistants in the press box, and they would help with posting results from there also, especially in the case of inclement weather. While it was cloudy and overcast in the days prior to Saturday, sunshine abounded and the thermometer was around 80 degrees F when the final events began that afternoon. In addition to the new Press box, Michigan’s construction crew made one other change to Ferry Field for the big meet. The long jump pit had been moved from the far end of the stadium to a prime location right in front of the main grandstand. It was hoped that Ward would battle the favorite – Owens – in a series of crowd-pleasing jumps in the final. But the 108-foot runway to the take-off board and pit had grass, not cinders, on it. [ix] + + + + + + + Fortune continued to smile on Jack Clowser. A sports reporter for the Cleveland News, Clowser’s beat had included high school athletics. He had become the predominant reporter covering the on-the-track achievements of Jesse Owens, dating back to Owens’ days at Fairmount Junior High. Clowser had also profiled Owens’ record-setting achievements for East Technical High School at state championship meets. He also covered him and three others from the school in June 1933 when East Tech won the University of Chicago’s National Interscholastic Track and Field Championships. Clowser kept in touch with him as Owens moved to Columbus and competed for the Ohio State Buckeye track team. Clowser’s editors had approved him driving 160 miles in his Cadillac from his home in Rocky River to Ann Arbor so he could cover Owens’ performances in the Big Ten Track and Field Championships. He also had a hunch that Owens might want a ride back to Cleveland after the meet, and OSU Coach Larry Snyder wouldn’t object to his star getting family time before classes resumed in Columbus the next week for his star. To cinch the plan, Clowser reached out to Owens’ middle and high school coach Riley. The two had become friends. Riley eagerly agreed to accompany Clowser to Ann Arbor, and the reporter drove the short distance from his home in Rocky River to Lakewood to pick up the coach at his residence. By early morning they were on their way across U.S. Route 6 west towards Michigan. Clowser took his press credentials and his notebook with him. He planned to file a story for both the Cleveland News and for the Associated Press after the Big Ten Meet was over. He was hoping that Owens’ successes would elevate him to even greater stardom than the young sprinter had already achieved. He was also pleased at the number of possible exclusive stories he might obtain on the drive back to Cleveland from Ann Arbor with Owens in his car. Besides Clowser and Riley, thousands of others would be in the stands at Ferry Field that day. One of them was Tolan, another Black sprinter, nicknamed the Michigan Express. Already graduated from college, Tolan finished first in the 100-meter and 200-meter races in Los Angeles in 1932. Like Owens after him, Tolan had led his high school team to triumphs at the 1927 National Interscholastic Championships. Owens and Tolan had befriended each other at the 1932 Olympic Trials in Chicago. Tolan was competing with a mild injury that day, and Owens exchanged his middle lane assignment with Tolan there to give the elder competitor a better shot at qualifying in the 100-meter race. Owens knew his chances of qualifying were slim, and he wanted to assist his fellow Negro. It had worked, and Tolan went on to gold medal fame at the 10th Olympiad in L.A. later that summer. Michigan also invited a number of high school recruits to Ann Arbor to observe the meet. One of them was an outstanding high school football performer and track athlete from Northwest Indiana, Tom Harmon. Harmon would go on to become Michigan’s first Heisman Trophy winner. “It was a long time ago. But if you ever saw him run, one thing you never forgot about Owens is how fluid he was,” Harmon recalled in an interview in 1985, 50 years after the event. “It was quite a day. And it sure gave me a lot to talk about when I got back to Gary. [x] “He seemed to run just to the point of winning, he never seemed to have to shift into high gear,” Harmon added. “Three world records was one thing, but to do it as easily as he seemed to be running, that made it all the more amazing.” + + + + + + + Ohio State’s Larry Snyder took a team of 28 competitors to Michigan, and had multiple entries in all the events at the championship. Owens made the journey in his coach’s Huppmobile, sitting gingerly in the rear of the car trying to alleviate some horrific back pain. [xi] No one could have predicted, especially Snyder, just how well Owens would perform in Ann Arbor. He had injured his back in a horseplay accident two weeks earlier at his boarding house on East 11th Street near the Ohio State campus. Owens was in agony, so much so that Snyder ordered X-rays taken of his back at the OSU hospital before the meet. [xii] The pain was quite visible on his usually-emotionless face at times during the Big Ten Meet. Mel Walker, a Buckeye high jumper, recalled the story of Owens’ condition. “He was suffering from back spasms the night before, and I gave him a long rubdown,” he said. “I always told him: ‘If it hadn’t been for my rubdown, you never would’ve been able to walk on the track that day.’”[xiii] But Owens remained in great agony as he got into Coach Snyder’s car for the short journey from the Huron Hotel in Ypsilanti, where the Buckeye team was staying, to Ann Arbor. [xiv] Fortunately for Owens and the other Blacks on the OSU squad, the Huron Hotel admitted Blacks in their guest rooms. The team could also eat together. Owens knew from his visit to the University of Michigan campus two years ago and from the friendships which he’d struck up with Ward and others on the Wolverine track team, Ann Arbor was more diverse and accommodating to Blacks than Ohio State and many other Big Ten campuses. Often on the road, white athletes would get hotel suites while their Black teammates slept the night in the YMCA. Even on the drive to Ann Arbor, the diner in Findlay refused to allow Owens, Mel Walker, and his Black teammates seats inside. Coach Snyder brought egg sandwiches and coffee for them to eat outside in the car while the whites went inside for a late breakfast. [xv] On Saturday at the finals, Owens was in so much torment that had to be helped out of the vehicle and up the stairs to the Ferry Field dressing room. Trainer Tucker Smith massaged him with alcohol, rubbed him down, and applied red pepper to his back. [xvi] The pain was unabated, and Owens couldn’t even reach over his head to put on his red “Ohio” uniform. Smith assisted him. But sunshine and warm weather had a positive effect on his disposition and health. He told Coach Snyder he wanted to compete in the finals. Desiring to protect his star, Snyder instead at first planned to drop him from the finals. Owens pleaded with his coach to let him try the first event, the 100-yard dash, and then go from there. Snyder demurred at the onset, but then relented. Normally Owens would engage in 15 minutes of stretching and do some light laps around the track prior to his first event. But not today. He would simply run the race and see how his back responded. At 3:15 p.m. Owens lined up for the sprint. He dug small circles for his spikes into the cinder track with his trowel, the same one which Riley had given him years ago. Starter W.J. Monilaw commanded the sprinters to their marks. Owens took off with the starter’s gun, and finished first in an official time 9.4 seconds, tying Southern California’s Frank Wykoff for the world record. Or was it? Some of the timekeepers had actually clocked Owens in 9.3 seconds. But meet referee Charles Rawson insisted that the times be rounded up in deference to the current world record-holder. Owens wasn’t upset. In the near future, there would be opportunities for Wykoff and Owens to oppose each other face-to-face on Wykoff’s home turf in California. Journalists dutifully filed “flash” dispatches from Ferry Field, reporting that Owens had tied the world 100-meter mark. A minute later, Canty announced to the crowd that the winner of the 100-yard dash, tying the world record, was Jesse Owens of Ohio State University. Robert Grieve of Illinois had finished second, and Michigan’s Sam Stoller placed third in the event. Those three stood atop of the platform for the victory ceremony, held just minutes after event. Owens’ time was also a new Big Ten record, eclipsing Tolan’s 9.5 second time in 1929. Tolan came down from the stands and made his way to the track to congratulate his friend in person. [xvii] Meanwhile, other athletes had already been competing in the long jump. Ohio State had “passed” or deferred when Owens’ named had been called earlier in the competition. Snyder conferred again with his star. The two decided he would only make one try at this event, even though the rules allowed him up to three attempts. Both wanted to preserve Owens’ back. Japan’s Chuhei Nambu held the world long jump record of 26 feet, 2 and ½ inches. Feeling confident but knowing he’d make just one leap, Owens asked Smith to put a handkerchief on the ground at that record distance next to the sand pit as a marker. Canty, sensing what was happening, questioned Smith about the placement of the hankie for confirmation. Upon acknowledgement, Canty went to the microphone and drew the crowd’s attention to Owens’ impending try at breaking another world record. He also called for silence, a plea which went up in vain at first. [xviii] As Owens gingerly did a few stretches near the runway, a crowd of athletes, those fans already on the field, and others from the stands scrambled for a viewing spot at the finish point, the newly-dug long jump pit. They wanted to be eyewitnesses to possible track history. Slowly Owens made his way to the end of the runway. There he exchanged greetings with Ward. “You on a roll or something?” Ward asked, pointing towards the hanky marker. Owens just grinned in response. [xix] Using his megaphone, Canty instructed the crowd to stand clear of the long-jump pit and again asked for silence. Those around the pit finally ceased milling around and talking, and all eyes then fixated on Owens has he rocked back and forth in a half-crouch. For Owens, this event was all about speed. The faster one could accelerate, the greater the flying distance once airborne. He raced faster and faster down the grass runway, hit the takeoff board, and jackknifed through the air. Owens saw he surpassed the handkerchief on his descent. He could also tell from where he landed and the reaction of the 12,000-plus crowd that he’d broken the record. After the judges carefully measured and recorded the distance, announcer Canty told the audience that Owens’ leap was 26 feet, 8 ¼ inches, almost six inches beyond Nambu’s record. It also turned out to be a mark that would last for more than 25 years. It was just past 3:25 p.m. Bedlam broke loose at Ferry Field. Walker, Dave Albritton, and other Buckeye teammates mobbed Owens to congratulate him on the new world record. They were among a throng of well-wishers. But it was a brief celebration. Owens had to depart for the 220-yard finals soon. Still the long jump continued, expectations of a Ward vs. Owens showdown notwithstanding. Ward finished in second with his 25 feet, 1½ inch leap. Purdue’s Harry Hollis took third, with Michigan’s Stoller placing fourth. But even as the event concluded to determine the lower placements, it was scurrying time once again for the assembled reporters. They were phoning back to the AP Bureau and their papers with a quick dispatch on what they’d just witnessed. About 170 miles southeast, in Columbus, the Ohio High School Athletic Association was hosting its state high school track and field championships that very day at Ohio Stadium. There the field announcer began interrupting the proceedings every time the press box received a wire service update from Ann Arbor. “Jesse Owens ties the world record in the 100-yard dash with a time of 9.4 seconds” read one announcement. The crowd roared in approval. Just minutes after Canty’s announcement in Ann Arbor, people at Ohio Stadium received the news. “Jesse Owens sets the world record in the broad jump with a 26 feet, 8 ¼ inch jump” came the next announcement. The crowd yelled even louder in delight. Just two years earlier, Owens was winning events for East Tech at that very site. [xx] The 220-yard dash was next, and Snyder knew there was no holding Owens out at this point in the meet. The Michigan crowd became silent at 3:34 p.m. as the runners in the finals went into their starting blocks. Monilaw again fired the starter’s pistol. Owens quickly and fluidly sprinted into the lead, finishing at 20.3 seconds, three-tenths of a second better than the previous world mark held by Roland Locke of Nebraska. Bob Grieve of Illinois, who won the event in 1934, finished third. Iowa’s Andrew Dooley placed second, and it was he and Grieve who joined Owens on the platform for Canty’s victory ceremony announcement around 3:45 p.m. * There were two sets of times and records for this event, one on a straight course and one on a curved course. Owens’ mark was for the straight course at Ferry Field, which he ran on the outside lane. Again, reporters scrambled to their phones. Bulletins shot out news from Ann Arbor that Owens had won a third event and set yet another world record. High school athletes and a crowd in Columbus went wild again when the news was announced at Ohio Stadium. Similar announcements took place as other sports stadia across the country that afternoon made public address announcements about Owens record-breaking performances. Remaining was the finals of the 220-yard low hurdles. Owens told reporters afterward that he was no longer feeling pain as he approached the starting line. The gun sounded at 3:58 p.m., and the finalists were off. Owens navigated the 10-hurdle straightaway and crossed the finish line in 22.6 seconds, two-fifths of second ahead of the former world record Charles Brookings.* From the 100-yard dash final to the conclusion of the 220-yard hurdles, Owens had set three world records and tied a fourth in about 43 minutes. Robert Doherty of Northwestern took second, and Francis Cretzmeyer of Iowa placed third behind Owens. Just before the meet’s final event, the mile relay, the Big Ten Track & Field Championships had victory platform ceremonies for the two-mile run, the long (then broad) jump, and the 220-yard low hurdles. Another sensational sophomore, Indiana’s Don Lash, had also won the two-mile race after placing first in the mile run earlier in the meet. So, the Big Ten honored youth with Owens’ triumphs plus Lash’s double victories. But all the fellow athletes and those in the stands knew they had just witnessed the rarest of feats, a track grand slam. After Owens’ fourth trip atop the victory platform, Canty then took Owens by the hand and led him to the field microphone. “Ladies and gentleman, for the fourth time this afternoon, from the same man, a world record performance,” he announced. Canty then paused a few seconds for effect. “With a view to next year’s Olympic Games it no longer seems enough for us to present ‘Owens of Ohio State University,’ but let us say, ‘Owens of the United States!’” [xxi] A great cheer erupted from the stands in response. AP Sports Editor William Weekes and Clowser both wrote stories about Owens’ feats for the Associated Press wire service, which carried it via Teletype to member papers across the U.S. and around the world. Weekes’ story focused on the entire Big Ten meet, and it appeared in a thousand papers across the globe on May 26. Clowser’s filing, which also ran on AP, was focused solely on Owens’ accomplishments. “The name of the twenty-one-year-old Owens is being read this morning by untold thousands in London, Stockholm, Berlin, Geneva, Tokyo, and other world capitals,” Clowser wrote. “Chuhei Nambu, Japan’s outstanding athlete, is probably reading that his world broad-jump record has been broken by a youth from Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A., And in Berlin members of the crack German Olympic squad, reputed to be close to Reichsfuhrer Adolf Hitler, are scanning the information the United States has found a sensational record-breaker who will make a profound difference in the 1936 Olympics.” [xxii] Clowser’s hunch was also correct: Owens asked him for a lift back home to Cleveland. He and Riley gladly complied, and Clowser gathered additional information for a second-day story he filed for his paper on Monday. Clowser dropped Riley off first at his home on Hall Avenue, then proceeded to East 100th Street where Owens’ parents and siblings awaited his arrival. By then the Sunday papers were out, and Owens’ amazing feat soon had friends and relatives swamping the family’s front porch. In a matter of hours, Owens become a household name all over the nation. Fox Movietone News had already ran a video profile of him which appeared in theaters in the Fall of 1934 when Owens had set the indoor high jump record. Now movie footage from Ferry Field found its way into the various newsreel services and was appearing in movie theaters all over the U.S. With 60 million American attending a theater weekly, soon many of them would have a face to go with the name they’d only read about in the papers before or heard about from friends and relatives. Michigan captured the team competition trophy when its four-man team won the final event at the Big Ten Meet, the mile relay. Michigan led with 48 points. Ohio State placed second with 43½ points, 20 of them earned by Owens. It hadn’t fully sunken in just yet, but Jesse Owens had gone from high school sensation and promising track and field freshman to a superstar in a span of less than 45 minutes. And he was only 21 years old. + + + + + + + About 4,000 miles away, Germany was investing far more than just $500 with an eye towards the 1936 Olympics. Even before the May Big Ten Track and Field Championships, crews in the Berlin suburb of Zeesen were busy constructing five new shortwave towers to add to the three already in operation. Radio engineers were modifying standard shortwave transmitters by adding a newly-developed quartz control apparatus, which would make them much more effective at reaching specific parts of the globe more effectively. [xxiii] Implementation of plans and production schedules were both important. “What the press was to the nineteenth century, radio will be to the twentieth,” Goebbels has said when he opened the Deutsche Funkausstellung (German Radio Show trade fair) in Berlin in August 1933. “We need broadcasting that is in step with the nation, radio that works for the people.” To that end, the Nazi Party was planning to have full control over radio programming in Germany by August 1935. And it wanted programs to be heard in all of Germany’s homes. [xxiv] Goebbels was also making big plans to have the 1936 Summer Olympics presented to the world through the press and especially through radio as a showcase of Germany’s return as a world power. Just north of Zeesen in the city of Berlin, thousands of construction workers in 1935 were following architect Werner March’s blueprints to complete work on Olympiastadion, a coliseum which could hold up to 110,000 people. [xxv] More than 42 million German marks were spent just on the stadium, and tens of millions more German marks were dedicated to a 330-acre sized Reichssportsfield Berlin, surrounding the stadium, the venue for many additional Olympic events. [xxvi] Just after Owens’ triumph in Ann Arbor, the Ministry of Propaganda in Germany published the first issue of “Olympic Games 1936: Official Organ of the XI Olympic Games.” The Ministry continued issuing the magazine for 15 issues, through August 1936, in four different languages, sent via mail to all participating nations’ Olympic committees. Dr. Carl Diem, longtime secretary of the Germany’s Commission for Sport and Recreation, was behind much of the pre-Games publicity. In the second monthly magazine, Diem wrote: How many telephones should be provided for the Reichs Sports Field; which should be local and which connected with a central office; where a light system; where a microphone and where a loudspeaker? How high should the flag poles be; how high the steps; how should the seats be covered and how should the galleries be floored? …[xxvii] Already traveling across Germany in May 1935 were two Olympic-themed exhibits. An official Olympic Exhibition opened in at the German Museum in Berlin in February 1935, stayed there for six weeks, and then toured the major cities of Germany weeks at a time through September 1936. [xxviii] For rural Germany, the Olympia Zug brought the upcoming Olympic Games to the countryside. Consisting of four large-sized Mercedes-Benz diesel tractor trailers, each carrying two additional trailers (perhaps the world’s first usage of triple-wides). The 12 units would form a ring, from which worker erected a tent which went from edge to center. The traveling exhibit included 15 high flagpoles which were arranged as an outer circle around the Olympic encampment, each displaying red, white and black banners of Nazi Germany. Twelve hosts helped explain the upcoming Olympic Games and the exhibit’s contents to visitors. The caravan traveled more than 10,000 kilometers across the entire country during the summer of 1935 for a series of one- to three-day stays in dozens of villages. [xxix] Goebbels was already busy using the upcoming Olympic Games to an unprecedented degree as a propaganda program, both internally and externally. Jesse Owens, the U.S., and the rest of the world would be on Adolf Hitler’s stage less than 15 months after the 1935 Big Ten Track and Field Championships, and the Nazis were planning to take full advantage of it. + + + + + + + Propaganda and national socialism were far from Owens’ mind when he arrived at his family’s home early on May 26, 1935. Aunts, uncles, cousins and friends all came to great him. Alan Silverman, reporter for The Cleveland Plain Dealer, stopped by for a lengthy interview. Local papers competed intensely against each other, and Silverman – already scooped by Clowser – wanted a better second day story if possible. Other reporters would speak with Owens. To the Call & Post, the city’s Black newspaper, Owens repeated what he most wanted, a permanent job for his father. Owens believed that his track success would move Ruth Solomon’s parents to be more accepting of him. He also knew that some challenges were ahead, as Coach Snyder had already made arrangements for the Ohio State Buckeyes to travel. The team would soon train in Southern California and face the University of Southern California in dual meets in Los Angeles. Then the Buckeyes would compete in the 1935 NCAA Track and Field Championships near San Francisco. Along the way there and back, Owens knew he’d renew his friendly rivalry with Willis Ward, and that he’d also be facing Temple University’s Peacock and Columbia University’s Johnson once again. But many more reporters and cameramen would now be following his every move now as well. Beginning with the upcoming California meets, journalists would be omnipresent. There was no way Owens could comprehend just how powerful the media spotlight on him had become, and how it would remain there for the rest of his life. John Kerezy is an associate professor of Media and Journalism Studies at Cuyahoga Community College. This excerpt is from the biography he has written, “Jesse Owens: Superstar, Sensation, Survivor, Symbol,” which will be published later this year by Kent State University Press. ------------------------------------------------------ [i] “The Greatest 45 Minutes in Sports History” https://www.si.com/more-sports/2010/05/24/owens-recordday [ii] David Welch, “The Third Reich, Politics and Propaganda” Routledge, 1993, p. 30 [iii] William Reed, Michigan Daily, p.1, May 25, 1935 [iv] Western Conference (Big Ten) Track and Field Program, May 1935, provided by Bentley Archives, University of Michigan [v] Bentley Historical Library, website: https://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/stadium/stadtext/ferry.htm [vi] Email correspondence with Bentley Archives’ Greg Kinney, October 2022 [vii] From the Bentley Archives https://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/stadium/stadtext/staddate.htm#:~:text=The%20Michigan%20Board%20in%20Control,the%20addition%20of%20wooden%20bleachers. [viii] Ibid [ix] Hal McRae, “Heroes Without a Country” p. 44 [x] Earl Gustkey “The Greatest Day in Track and Field” Los Angeles Times, May 25, 1985 [xi] From the Western Conference (Big Ten) Track and Field Program, May 1935, opcit. [xii] Maury Koblentz, ”Track Unit to Bid for Big Ten Championship,” Columbus Dispatch, May 23, 1935. [xiii][xiii] Gustkey, ibid. [xiv] Jack Clowser “My Favorite Assignment” series, Cleveland Press, January 1966. Clowser reported on various aspects of Owen’s performance at this track meet dozens of times during his career. [xv] McRae, pps. 35-36 [xvi] McRae, p. 38 [xvii] McRae, pps. 43-44 [xviii] Jack Clowser “Owens Tramples Records” My Favorite Assignment, The Cleveland Press, January 22, 1966. [xix] McRae, pages 44-45. [xx] Ohio State University Lantern, (need to retrieve again) May __, 1936. [xxi] Lebovitz, Hal “Owens Conquered Pack 25 Years Ago,” Plain Dealer, May 22, 1960. Clowser’s account has words slightly different than Lebovitz’s sory. [xxii] Donald McRae, “Heroes Without a Country,” page 50 [xxiii] Socolow, Michael J. Six Minutes in Berlin (Studies in Sports Media). University of Illinois Press. Kindle Edition. LOC 2299 [xxiv] Horst J.P. Bergmeier and Rainer E. Lotz, “Hitler’s Airwaves: The Inside Story of Nazi Radio Broadcasting and Propaganda Swing, Yale University Press, 1997, p. ??? [xxv] Raphaëlle Radermecker, Berlin’s Olympic Stadium (1936) - A Famous Nazi Monument, https://berlinpoche.de/en/olympic-stadium-berlin-1936 [xxvi] Richard D Mandell, “The Nazi Olympics,”1971 McMillan and Company [xxvii] Ibid, p. 87 [xxviii] Ibid p. 122 [xxix] Ibid, pps. 123-124