One of the four gold medals that Jesse Owens won in the 1936 Berlin is now on sale at an auction house in California. Owens shattered Hitler’s myths of Aryan supremacy at a time when segregation and discrimination was still rampant in the USA. His feat remains, to this day, one of the greatest individual athletic accomplishments of all time. Owens was from Cleveland.
He won gold in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, 400-meter relay and long jump. It’s unclear to which event this medal belonged. What is known is that Owens gave the medal to his friend, the black entertainer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, and is now being auctioned as part of the estate of Robinson’s widow.
Proceeds will go to college tuition, and charity, according to SCP auctions.
This would be the most amazing Christmas present of all time.
This article appears in Nov 27 – Dec 3, 2013.
Rick from Pawn Stars – “If this was definitely the one from the 100 win, I would open the vault. But you have to realize that is my risk for what may be little – real little – reward. And this could be taking up space in the shop for months, if not years. I can’t go any higher than $500, cash-money.”