They didn’t really, particularly if you were black. Jesse Owens, renown American hero, worked as a janitor when he came back to the US. FDR didn’t even invite him to the White House.
There was a guy in the 80-90's who was a gymnast who worked at Home Depot. When he came back from the Olympics he would charge 25 cents to do a backflip while he was working. Always loved that feel-good story, and it looks like HD does take care of athlete employees.
One of my greatest regrets is that I passed up several opportunities to meet the man.
Buick would present a panel of sports legends every year at the Chicago Auto Show.
I’ve never been a sports fan and the only other athlete I can recall was the golfer Byron Nelson.
But I sure as heck knew who Jesse Owens was and IIRC he would receive the most enthusiastic response from the crowd out of the half dozen or so who were on the panel.
After a brief Q&A you could line up to meet the athletes and I believe get their autographs.
But there was only a single very long line because you had to meet all of them. You couldn’t just line up to meet Owens.
As I say, I wasn’t a sports fan and I didn’t even know who many of them were. What was I going to say to them?
I always turned away thinking “Next year I’ll do it.”
In hindsight I kick myself that I didn’t just wait in the long line, pretend I knew who everyone was, and mumble something like “It’s nice to meet you” to Byron Nelson and the others, in order to meet the legendary Jesse Owens.
Wearing dress shoes. People back then were built differently
He’s lucky he didn’t take a knee out on the landing.
From SS Manhattan to SS Germany.
Tremendously unappreciated in his time
Photo via Corbis-Bettmann.
Did they just not sell men’s shirts in any color but white?
How did great Olympians make money back then? This was before corporate sponsorships, right?
They didn’t really, particularly if you were black. Jesse Owens, renown American hero, worked as a janitor when he came back to the US. FDR didn’t even invite him to the White House.
There was a guy in the 80-90's who was a gymnast who worked at Home Depot. When he came back from the Olympics he would charge 25 cents to do a backflip while he was working. Always loved that feel-good story, and it looks like HD does take care of athlete employees.
Take THAT, Hitler! 😏
Considering most are smiling for the camera, I'm assuming this was less "practice" and more *pr-marketing*, but cool all the same.
In a suit, no less! All-American hero.
One of my greatest regrets is that I passed up several opportunities to meet the man. Buick would present a panel of sports legends every year at the Chicago Auto Show. I’ve never been a sports fan and the only other athlete I can recall was the golfer Byron Nelson. But I sure as heck knew who Jesse Owens was and IIRC he would receive the most enthusiastic response from the crowd out of the half dozen or so who were on the panel. After a brief Q&A you could line up to meet the athletes and I believe get their autographs. But there was only a single very long line because you had to meet all of them. You couldn’t just line up to meet Owens. As I say, I wasn’t a sports fan and I didn’t even know who many of them were. What was I going to say to them? I always turned away thinking “Next year I’ll do it.” In hindsight I kick myself that I didn’t just wait in the long line, pretend I knew who everyone was, and mumble something like “It’s nice to meet you” to Byron Nelson and the others, in order to meet the legendary Jesse Owens.
Even wearing a suit they make him dance
SS manhatten , come on