1936 Berlin Games who stole the show by winning four gold medals and dispelling the Nazi claims of Aryan supremacy. In the long jump he received an assist from a German named Carl Ludwig “Luz” Long.
A technical tip from his rival allowed Owens to leap to victory inside a stadium built by Hitler as a celebration of the Third Reich.It started a friendship between Owens and Long so dear that generations later, their families remain close.Their bond transcended race relations, with the two even walking arm-in-arm from the awards ceremony.
There was Owens, the son of an Alabama sharecropper and Long, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed German, celebrating under the ever-looming presence of Hitler.