Fantastic vintage fountain pen signature, "Jesse Owens, 100 & 200 meter, broad jump, U.S.A.," on a white "Olympisches Dorf [Olympic Village]" postcard, with a "Berlin Olympisches" postmark on the reverse, dated July 30, 1936. Additionally includes two great original vintage glossy candid 2.5 x 3.75 snapshot photos of Owens: one shows him in his "USA" sweatsuit, and the other shows him preparing to race a common citizen as police look on—and, graciously, giving him a head start. Includes an additional candid photo of one of Owens's African-American teammates signing autographs. In overall very good to fine condition, with a vertical fold to the signed postcard.
Owens autographs specifically dated to the Berlin 1936 Summer Olympics are scarce and highly sought-after. This is a particularly interesting example, as he lists the three events in which he planned to participate, representing his first three gold medals: Owens won the 100-meter dash on August 3rd, the long jump on August 4th, and the 200-meter sprint on August 5th. His historic fourth gold medal came unexpectedly: on August 9th, head coach Lawson Robertson replaced Jewish-American sprinters Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller with Owens and Ralph Metcalfe in the 4 × 100-meter sprint relay. Owens led the team in the first leg, and they ultimately won with a world record time of 39.8 seconds.
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