A statue of former Ohio Gov. William Allen at the U.S. Capitol Building might be replaced by legendary Ohio State alumnus Jesse Owens.
Members of the National Statuary Collection Study Committee met Friday to discuss the placement of the Owens statue. The Ohio General Assembly decided in 2000 to replace the statue of Allen, who opposed President Abraham Lincoln’s emancipation of slaves.
The National Statuary Hall Collection in the U.S. Capitol includes two statues of individuals chosen by each state. The other Ohioan represented is former U.S. President James Garfield.
It is now the job of the study committee to find a replacement that better represents Ohio and the state’s values.
Other famous Ohioans who are being considered are Thomas Edison, Tecumseh, the Wright brothers, politician James Ashley and baseball player William Ellsworth “Dummy” Hoy.
The committee has traveled to five other locations, including Dayton and Cincinnati, to hear presentations.
Its meeting Friday was held on the 11th floor of the William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library.
The purpose of the meeting was for the members of the committee to hear from a panel about the life and accomplishments of Jesse Owens.
The panel consisted of Marlene Owens Rankin, Jesse Owens’ daughter; Rusty Wilson, author of “The Ohio State University at the Olympics;” Stephanie Hightower, chairman and president of USA Track & Field; and Rob Oller, sports columnist for The Columbus Dispatch.
Ohio Sen. Mark Wagoner, R-Ottawa Hills, and Ohio Rep. Tom Letson, D-Warren, headed the committee as chairman and vice chairman, respectively. The other member at the meeting was Ohio Rep. Tyrone Yates, D-Cincinnati.
The meeting began with an opening statement by Gene Smith, OSU director of athletics. The panelists then gave their testimonies as to why Jesse Owens should represent Ohio in Statuary Hall. One popular theme brought up by the panelists was Jesse Owens’ record-setting performance in Ann Arbor, Mich., at the Big Ten Track Championships in 1935. Although there was some debate as to whether it took him 45 minutes or an hour to break three world records and tie another, the panel was in agreement that this was one of his greatest athletic achievements.
“The event was so amazing, even the University of Michigan has a monument to him at their track,” Wilson said.
Of course no discussion of Jesse Owens could go without mentioning his performance at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Owens won four gold medals and crushed Adolf Hitler’s assertions of Aryan racial supremacy.
“Perhaps no story reflects the principles of Mr. Owens more than the 1936 Olympic long jump,” Hightower said.
Owens fouled during his first two attempts and received advice from Luz Long, a blond-haired, blue-eyed German, before qualifying for the final on his third attempt.
Owens’ “legacy of judging others by their deeds and not by the color of their skin still resonates,” Hightower said.
The committee was particularly interested in the testimony of Owens’ daughter, Marlene Owens Rankin. She told the story of how she was named the first black homecoming queen at OSU in 1960.
She recalled her father telling her, “Remember, Marlene, this could only happen in America.”
The closing remarks from each speaker carried the same praise that was present throughout the meeting.
“We cannot forget that Jesse Owens didn’t just win gold, he was the gold standard,” Oller said.
Rep. Letson said the committee expects to conclude its hearings sometime in the middle of 2010, and it will present its decision to the Ohio Assembly. There will then be a vote to determine which individual will be enshrined in the Statuary Hall Collection.
