(Image by Luca Dugaro on Unsplash)
With the Olympics approaching, this is perhaps one of the greatest stories of all times. It involves two athletes who competed in the 1936 Olympics held in Berlin, Germany.
One was American, and one was German.
Jesse Owens was born James Cleveland “J.C.” Owens in Huntsville, Alabama. His family moved to Cleveland when he was only nine years old.
His southern accent was so strong that his teacher misunderstood when she asked him his name, thinking he said “Jesse” when, in fact, he said, “J.C.” For the rest of his life, he was known as Jesse Owens.
Carl (sometimes spelled Karl) Ludwig “Luz” Long was born in Leipzig, Germany. He was a tall, lanky, blue-eyed blonde. He finished college, graduated law school, and practiced law in Hamburg, Germany. And he held the European long jump record in 1936.
Jesse Owens, a black man and grandson of slaves, would go on to win four Olympic gold medals in the 1936 Olympics, defying Adolf Hitler’s theory of the Aryan master race. After each gold medal, neither Hitler nor U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt congratulated him.
One of the events Owen participated in was the long jump. This is where he first met Luz Long.
Owens had fouled on his first two attempts at the long jump and had only one more attempt remaining. Owens knelt on the ground, praying. Seeing Owens in such a humble position, Long pulled him aside and shared a technique with Owens before his third attempt.
Long told him to draw a line in the sand a few inches before the take-off point and instructed him to gauge his jump off this line. Long assured Owens that he had enough talent to make up for the inch or two he would give up due to the line.
Owens went on to win the gold medal in that event, and Long took second. Long was the first one to congratulate Owens, and the two paraded around the Berlin stadium arm in arm much to the chagrin and anger of Hitler.
But this was only the beginning of their story. A powerful friendship was born at the Olympics, with Long cheering Owens on in other events. Owens was quoted as saying:
“It took a lot of courage for him to befriend me in front of Hitler…You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn't be a plating for the twenty-four karat friendship that I felt for Luz Long at that moment.”
— Jesse Owens (infobae.com)
After the Olympics, the two exchanged letters regularly. World War II began, and Long became part of Hitler’s German Wehrmacht.
In 1942, Long wrote his last letter to Owens. He was stationed in North Africa at the time, but was preparing to depart for the front in Sicily. Below is part of the letter he wrote to his dear friend.
I am here, Jesse, where it seems there is only the dry sand and the wet blood. I do not fear so much for myself, my friend Jesse. I fear for my woman who is home and my young son, Karl, who has never really known his father.
My heart tells me, if I be honest with you, that this is the last letter I shall ever write. If it is so, I ask you something. It is a something so very important to me. It is you go to Germany when this war is done, someday find my Karl, and tell him about his father. Tell him, Jesse, what times were like when we were not separated by war. I am saying — tell him how things can be between men on this earth.
That hour in Berlin when I first spoke to you, when you had your knee upon the ground, I knew that you were in prayer. Then I know not how I know. Now I do. I know it is never by chance that we come together. I come to you that hour in 1936 for purpose more than der Berliner Olympiade.
And you, I believe, will read this letter, while it should not be possible to reach you ever, for purpose more even than our friendship. I believe this shall come about because I think now that God will make it come about. This is what I have to tell you, Jesse.
I think I might believe in God.
And I pray to him that, even while it should not be possible for this to reach you ever, these words I write will still be read by you.— Luz Long (infobae.com)
Long died on July 17, 1942, after being wounded in Sicily during an Allied invasion. He was 30 years old.
Owens did receive the letter and eventually learned Long had died in Sicily. But he resolved to honor the request Long made of him.
In 1951, Owens set out to find Long’s son. He returned to Germany and searched until he found Karl, telling him all about his father, their friendship, and the goodness of the man the son never knew.
Karl and Jesse, too, became fast friends who corresponded regularly over the years. In fact, when Karl got married, Owens served as his best man.
Owens, a lifelong smoker, died in 1980 of lung cancer. He was 66 years old. But the friendship between the two families has continued to this day.
Owens and Long would be proud! May this Olympics bring peace and friendship even amid competition.
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