Mon 9/25
At the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics, Black Cleveland track & field athlete Jesse Owens ran and jumped his way to four gold medals, blowing away Hitler’s plan to use the games to demonstrate Aryan superiority. Owens brought back four oak saplings, one for each medal, one of which was planted Rhodes High School, one of the schools he attended here.
An offspring of that oak has been planted at the Rockefeller Park lagoon on MLK Drive. But there more! Over the past months, a full-scale Jesse Owens Olympic Oak Plaza has grown up around it, marking out the length of his runs and jumps with a wall decorated with tiles by Cleveland ceramic artist Angelica Pogo with quotes from community members about their dreams and battles. DERU Landscape Architecture designed the setting.
On Monday morning September 25, the plaza was officially dedicated with members of the Owens family attending, including his granddaughters Donna and Dawn, who flew in from Chicago. Area officials including county executive Chris Ronayne, Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin and city councilor Stephanie Howse, and second grade class from Marian Seltzer elementary School fidgeted.
View the PHOTOSTREAM here.
