Jesse Owens

'American Experience: Jesse Owens' Where: KOCE When: 8 p.m. Tuesday Rating: TV-PG-L (may be unsuitable for young children with an advisory for coarse language)

Re "Overkill in the war on pot," Jan. 22 Kudos to Marie Myung-Ok Lee for her outstanding Op-Ed article on the federal government's intransigence on marijuana policy. I'd like to add that as a U.S. Senate candidate from Illinois in 2004, Barack Obama said that the war on drugs had been an "utter failure. " So what has President Obama done about this failure? Escalate the war. Kirk Muse Mesa, Ariz. ALSO: Letters: A 'right' way to volunteer? Letters: Jesse Owens, a hero in Germany Letters: Dodgers TV deal strikes out with fans

Re "Author inspired by Haley," Obituary, Jan 23 Author and magazine editor Hans Massaquoi, the son of a German mother and a Liberian father, believed that he was spared the fate of German Jews because "blacks were so few in number that they were relegated to low-priority status on the Nazi lineup for extermination. " This may be partly true, because blacks in Germany were indeed rare at the time. But to the typical German under Nazi rule, a black man would be considered something akin to viewing a circus attraction, strange but not primarily an "inferior" non-Aryan.

Re "Author inspired by Haley," Obituary, Jan 23 Author and magazine editor Hans Massaquoi, the son of a German mother and a Liberian father, believed that he was spared the fate of German Jews because "blacks were so few in number that they were relegated to low-priority status on the Nazi lineup for extermination. " This may be partly true, because blacks in Germany were indeed rare at the time. But to the typical German under Nazi rule, a black man would be considered something akin to viewing a circus attraction, strange but not primarily an "inferior" non-Aryan.

The Olympics are (almost) back, and it's a good time to sing again the ballad of Jesse Owens, the black American track star who put the lie to Adolf Hitler's master-race malarkey at the 1936 Summer Olympics by winning four gold medals. (It's never not a good time to sing that song, of course.) "Jesse Owens," premiering Tuesday on PBS SoCal as part of the series "American Experience," is the latest work to take up that inspiring tune. Written by Stanley Nelson, directed by Laurens Grant ("Freedom Riders")

Stephanie Brown Trafton, a young woman of commanding physical stature and Olympian achievement, had a sense of the overwhelming this morning as she looked at the austere granite facade of the 1936 Olympic Stadium. "The first thing I thought of was how intimidating and imposing it was, just the rocks with all the columns," said Brown Trafton, the 6-foot-4, 225-pound reigning Olympic discus champion. "I imagined how Jesse felt walking into the stadium in a situation where people definitely weren't rooting for him."

When Florence Griffith Joyner was 15 years old, she received one of her biggest disappointments from Jesse Owens. Today, Griffith Joyner again was linked to the great sprinter and long jumper of the 1930s --and it was one of her most gratifying experiences. Griffith Joyner, who sprinted to three Olympic gold medals and one silver medal in 1988, and broke world records in the women's 100-meter and 200-meter dashes, received the 1989 Jesse Owens International Trophy Award.

The late Jesse Owens, whose performance at the 1936 Olympics put the lie to Adolf Hitler's boasts of racial superiority, picked up a fifth gold medal today for "humanitarian contributions in the race of life." President Bush presented the Congressional Gold Medal to his widow, Ruth Owens, in a ceremony at the White House also attended by three daughters and teammates of the track legend. This Saturday marks the 10th anniversary of Owens' death at age 66.

The Jesse Owens Classic, with 21 of 27 champions back to defend their titles, has drawn the best field in the four-year history of the event, meet officials say. The roster for this year's Owens, scheduled for this afternoon in Ohio Stadium, will include two members of the world record setting 1984 U.S. Olympic 400-meter relay team--Calvin Smith and Sam Graddy. Smith holds the Owens meet record in the 200-meter dash of 20.45 and is the world record-holder in the 100 at 9.93.

The Rams' Robert Cox remembered one of America's most famous athletes as he practiced on the fields outside Olympiastadion Tuesday. Cox, who earned his degree in history at UCLA, was standing knee deep in it. Books are books. This, he knew, was education. Cox's career as an offensive tackle with the Rams, burgeoning as it is, came into proper perspective.

The world is supposed to end Friday. The Mayans predicted it. We think. Of course, rational people don't believe for a moment that the world is ending Friday. But what if it does? If the world ended Friday, the most important thing to figure out would be the following: What is the greatest sports moment in world history? Reporters from around the Tribune Co. answer that question for you. This post will be updated throughout the day with their thoughts. Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel So many choices and so little time.

Thirteen-year-old Stephanie Cota pulled up her sleeve and glanced at the needle. "Is it gonna hurt?" she asked. "You'll feel it, but you look like a strong girl," said Yadira Guerra, a licensed vocational nurse. "Just turn the other way. " When Cota started 7th grade this month, school officials told her she needed a whooping cough vaccine. On Saturday, she and her family came to a free health fair at Jesse Owens park in South Los Angeles to get the immunization. Hundreds of families attended the event, which included the vaccinations, along with vision, hearing and dental screenings.

The Olympic Games offer competitors the chance to bathe in national glory and international acclaim. The victors - indeed, all the athletes who aspire to victory - are celebrated in the Olympic motto of "Citius, Altius, Fortius. " Faster, higher, stronger. Yet celebration and aspiration sometimes share the Olympic spotlight with controversy, with scandal and with athletes who train and compete outside the bounds of Citius, Altius and Fortius. One ranking of the 10 least pure moments in the history of the Summer Games: No. 10 (1912)

'American Experience: Jesse Owens' Where: KOCE When: 8 p.m. Tuesday Rating: TV-PG-L (may be unsuitable for young children with an advisory for coarse language)

The Olympics are (almost) back, and it's a good time to sing again the ballad of Jesse Owens, the black American track star who put the lie to Adolf Hitler's master-race malarkey at the 1936 Summer Olympics by winning four gold medals. (It's never not a good time to sing that song, of course.) "Jesse Owens," premiering Tuesday on PBS SoCal as part of the series "American Experience," is the latest work to take up that inspiring tune. Written by Stanley Nelson, directed by Laurens Grant ("Freedom Riders")

It probably wouldn't have been such a big deal if Ralph Boston had broken anyone else's world record. If he hadn't eclipsed the long-jump mark held by the great Jesse Owens, the last of Owens' world records still on the books, the feat might not have registered quite so loudly. It certainly wouldn't have transcended track and field. But break Owens' record he did — 50 years ago this month, in an extraordinary meet at Mt. San Antonio College — and just like that Ralph Boston was somebody . "It changed my life," he says.

Olympic hero Jesse Owens was the target of a 1956 FBI investigation that included interviews with dozens of people about such personal areas as Owens' sex life and background, and credit checks to determine if he was "a loyal American," a Phoenix newspaper says. The Arizona Republic reported in its Saturday editions that the investigation was ordered personally by then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

Eulace Peacock, whose triumphs included seven victories over Jesse Owens, is dead at age 82. Peacock died Friday in a nursing home, suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Peacock, one of track and field's leading athletes in the 1930s, missed the Berlin Olympics in 1936 because of an injury. Owens won four gold medals in those games. He was regarded as Owens' greatest rival, and in 1935 defeated Owens in seven of 10 meetings.

Dwight Phillips hit bottom at the end of 2008. Injuries killed Phillips' chances to defend his 2004 Olympic title in the long jump. He had invested heavily in the real estate market, and it crashed. He allowed himself to get so out of shape that Loren Seagrave, the man who began to coach Phillips in 2009, told Track & Field News the jumper's problem was, "Fat don't fly." At 31, with two world titles and the Olympic gold, it was apparently over for Phillips as an athlete, maybe time to use his communications degree from Arizona State to help support his wife and 3-year-old son. "They had pretty much written my obituary, and the undertaker had taken out my organs," Phillips said.

Stephanie Brown Trafton, a young woman of commanding physical stature and Olympian achievement, had a sense of the overwhelming this morning as she looked at the austere granite facade of the 1936 Olympic Stadium. "The first thing I thought of was how intimidating and imposing it was, just the rocks with all the columns," said Brown Trafton, the 6-foot-4, 225-pound reigning Olympic discus champion. "I imagined how Jesse felt walking into the stadium in a situation where people definitely weren't rooting for him."