Legendary track athlete Jesse Owens has Calgary connection
Posted Feb 22, 2016 10:53 pm.
Last Updated Feb 22, 2016 11:38 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
‘Race’ is the 2016 biopic on Jesse Owens’ quest to become the greatest track and field athlete in history.
Owens, an African American was thrust onto the world stage of the 1936 Olympics, where he won four gold meals in the midst of Adolf Hitler’s vision of Aryan supremacy.
Doug Kyle, who won a silver and a bronze for Canada in track at the 1959 Pan Am Games in Chicago now calls Calgary home and has his own personal experience with Owens.
Kyle tells 660 News, he actually met Owens once in 1967 when he came up here to speak at a booster club dinner and managed to convince him to present trophies to Calgary track and field athletes which was a huge thrill.
He describes Owens as very personable: ‘In the movie it looks like he scowls a lot but when we saw him he was all smiles, very jovial and would talk to you about anything but especially track and field.
Kyle says he was really impressed with the movie: ‘It was a real story when I was growing up as a youngster…everyone talked about Jesse Owens and what he did in Germany so it was nice to reminisce about those days in the 1936 Games.’
He says some stuff was missing though such as his life after Berlin, and while it was very good, his life after was quite interesting as well, as he bounced back from ups and downs and did very well in the end and was a real success story both in athletics and in life.
He adds, Owens was robbed in a sense because both games after 1936 were cancelled due to the war so he didn’t have a chance to repeat and an athlete like him could have competed in 2-3 games.
‘Race’ is in theatres now.
