October, 1936
THE
SPHINX
Page 19
FEATURE SECTION .11 pita's 1936 Olympian Triad By WM. H. GRAY, JR. Winning world renown in a blaze of immortal glory, son? of Alpha Phi Alpha commandeered the sports spotlight in the recent 193G Olympiad. J. C. "Jesse" Owens, by achieving an Olympic grandslam, with tho most brilliant individual performances ever recorded in the annals of sports, led the Alpha Triad of Brothers, Owens, Metcalfe, and Albritton, a t the 11th Olympics. Heralded by millions, nations, kings, dictators, governors, and dignitaries of both continents, Owens and his Alpha cavalcade paced an unusually fine group of Negro stars, who exemplified the zenith of sportsmanship and reflected credit on a nation and Negro college fraternities in general. Unusual was the fact that in registering his Olympic conquests a t the Berlin games in August, Owens broke the records of another brother of Alpha, Eddie Tolan, whose 100 meter dash mark fell before the onslaught of the mighty Buckeye Comet. Brother Dave Albritton, a product of Cleveland and Ohio State, displayed great stamina in tying for second behind Cornelius Johnson's record breaking 6 ft. 7 1516 in. high jump, and then capturing the jump off with Finland's Kotkas, Japan's Yada, and United States' Thurber, to win the second place medal. The veteran of two Olympiads, Brother Ralph Metcalfe, was the pre-Olympic choice for premiere honors in the sprints. No lesser authorities than Grantland Rice, Alan Gould, Damon Runyan, and his own coach, Conrad M. Jennings of Marquette, voiced this sentiment; while Lary Snyder, Owens' famed coach, expressed dubiosity over his protege's possibilities against the overdue Metcalfe. Notwithstanding this, Metcalfe, whose defeat by Tolan in 1930 came in for much questioning in athletic circles, ran second again, being content with pressing Owens to the limit in the 100. Metcalfe, with that characteristic Alpha will to be first of all, got the hoped for "another chance" in the 400 meter relay and contributed his bit with Wykoff, Draper, and Brother Owens towards smashing the world's record, and winning his first Olympic Gold Medal. "Greater Love Hath No Man." It was the relay race that furnished the opportunity for Owens to display his unselfish spirit and his regard for his brother and friend Metcalfe. Following the 400 meter conquest Lawson Robertson, Coach of the American forces delegated Owens to ascend the stand and receive the Laural Wreath of Olympic Victory. Owens instead pushed Metcalfe to the fore, affording a true paraphrase of the statement: "Greater love hath no man . . . " Surely this was the great Alpha spirit. To say that Owens, who held the world's news spotlight exemplified through his spirit and character the ideals of other Alpha men in his circle would be a fair assertation. Not once did any of the group falter in the face of subtle race predjudice as they exploded the Nordic supremacy myth. Owens' own 10:02 time in a 100 meter heat was invalidated on the basis of an aiding wind, yet there was no instrument to scientifically gauge the velocity of "Old Boreas"; again warm-up broad jumps were counted to give him only one actual trial for qualification, yet in spite of these incidents, certainly not because of them, Owens ran and jumped "first of all." Other unsung heroes of the eleventh Olympiad, who
contributed their bit indirectly to these amazing successes included Brothers Eulace Peacock, and Al Threadgill, Temple, Edward Burke, Marquette, Ben Johnson, Columbia, and Santee Brockman, Michigan Normal. OLYMPIC CHART SHOWING FEATS OF OWENS, METCALFE, ALBRITTON EVENT FIRST SECOND THIRD (Winning Per-Owens Metcalfe Osendarp foramnces) 100-M Dash * 10.3 s Holland High Jump ***Johnson 6' 7 15-16" U. S. A.
Albritton
Thurber U. S. A.
Broad Jump **Owens 26' 5 % "
Long Germany
Tajina Japan
200-m dash **• Dwens 20.7 s
Robinson U. S. A.
Osendarp Holland
Italy
Germany
400-m relay ***Metcalfe 39.8s Owens Draper Wykoff
*** New Olympic and World records. •* New Olympic record. *Equals World and Olympic records. VICTORIES OF NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE The victories and achievements of these men obviously go far beyyond the bonds of Alpha Phi Alpha. Their feats have taken on national and inter-national significance. The Jesse Owens' Day in Cleveland set a precedent in America since it marked the first time in history a metropolis has paid spiritual and official homage to a Negro; similarly the Jesse Owens' Day a t the Cleveland Exposition honoring his wife, Mrs. Minnie Ruth Solomon Owens, shows the magnitude of his achievement. Honorable Martin L. Davey, Governor of Ohio, acknowledged his feats with a personal cablegram sent to Owens in Berlin before the games terminated. The high esteem in which these youths are held is typified in editorials from the nation's press. The New York Herald Tribune in an editorial captioned: 'Home Boys Making Good', states, "At Berlin young Mr. Jesse Owens is living up brilliantly to the high expectations of his countrymen and his team mates both Negro and Caucasian, but especially Negro are showering the American colors with their olive crowns." racial religion really stores up an endless amount of emharassment for itself." In a similar vein the Philadelphia Record under the title, "A Practical Lesson for the Nazis", says: "Der Fuehrer can look the other way if he pleases, but he can't prevent the Negro athletes from winning. America is proud to pay them honor." Likewise Alpha Phi Alpha is proud to pay her sons tribute because the radiation of good will and annihilation of the gripping bonds of racial predjudice effected by their amazing display of athletic prowess, certainly writes a laudable epic in the history of an underprivileged people.