CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Rhodes and East Tech track and field teams got some new gear just in time for Tuesday’s city track championships.
The Cleveland area company DistrictWON obtained permission from Jesse Owens’ family and the Jesse Owens Trust to provide new customized uniforms to the two Cleveland Metropolitan School District schools.
“I thought it was fake for a second,” Rhodes head track coach Julian Jackson-Ross said. “They said they would love to donate jerseys in honor of Jesse Owens. As a track coach and somebody who loves track and knows exactly who that man is, it’s amazing.”
Jackson-Ross said he and a group from DistrictWon put their heads together over lunch to come up with the design. DistrictWon CEO Peter Fitzpatrick explained that his company was proud to seize this opportunity to educate a younger generation about an American icon who also happens to be a CMSD product.
“We like to find ways to help out the schools, obviously the student athletes,” Fitzpatrick said. “We really thought Cleveland doing something to honor a person who -- I think many people in Cleveland don’t even realize Jesse Owens has such a history here -- we thought it would be a good thing for the schools and students and coaches and so forth.”
Rhodes and East Tech were chosen because Owens attended East Tech in the late 1920s and early 1930s, but was only allowed to practice at Rhodes due to segregation.
“As a former East Tech track athlete, he was my idol,” East tech athletic director and track and field coach Leroy Carter said. “As a track coach, I tell his life story to student athletes to instill pride and overcome obstacles in both track and life. By wearing his logo, it will provide self-efficacy and continue his legacy.”
A sprint and long jump specialist, Owens first bolted onto the national stage when he tied the world record with a 9.4-second 100-yard dash; and set two national high school records with a 20.7 in the 220-yard dash and a 24-foot, 11.75-inch long jump while attending East Tech.
At the 1935 Big Ten Championships, Owens set three world records and tied another in under an hour. This feat was celebrated at the time as “the greatest 45 minutes ever in sport.” The following year, at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, he won an unprecedented four gold medals, in defiance of the ideology of Adolf Hitler, who was in attendance.
President Gerald R. Ford gave Owens the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award bestowed upon a civilian, in 1976.
“It’s one of the most special honors I’ve had in coaching and I’ve been doing this for a while now,” Jackson-Ross said. “We had a little ceremony before we came here to put on the jerseys and show these kids, they just saw them today. They know they have to run for greatness like Jesse Owens would. I just told them to run great and be great, and they did.”
DistrictWON, the same company that launched senatelive.com earlier this year to stream and showcase CMSD athletics, works in partnership with high schools primarily through athletics. Its mission is to create meaningful brand connections deep into communities via marketing partnerships with high schools, with everything driven by a true purpose.
There has been a push to educate CMSD students about the rich history of many of its schools, especially in sports. Fitzpatrick said he believes the jerseys and Jesse Owens, are great topics to begin that education.
“We work with the district directly, but this is an independent effort that obviously ties into everything they’re trying to do,” Fitzpatrick said. “This is something that was a direct effort between DistrictWon, the district itself, and the two schools involved.”
While there is not currently a plan to expand the jerseys to the rest of the district, Fitzpatrick said DistrictWon has talked to the Owens family and family trust about including other schools. The next big initiative from the company will be to get current CMSD students to be commentators on SenateLive during football and basketball games.
“SenateLive is in its first year, and we expect it to grow exponentially next year and the year after,” Fitzpatrick said. “Beyond that, the whole idea is to get a number of the students actually doing the broadcasting. It’s a great tool for learning and all the job experience, as well as introducing students to the world of media and broadcasting.”
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