In 1933, my maternal grandfather, William Joseph Bellan, graduated from Cleveland's East Technical High School. Below, you can see the cover of his yearbook, entitled Junebug, and his senior year photo.
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All right, you say, pretty cool family heirloom. Pretty awesome that my grandpa even graduated when a decent number of boys his age left school early to start working. Then, if you flip to the back of the yearbook, there is an autograph page:
And there, second from the top, right under his sister's signature (which I find amusing), is 'Jesse Owens.' Jesse Owens, who tied the 100-yard dash world record when he was still in high school. Jesse Owens, who won eight individual NCAA championships in track and field, but who still had to live off campus because of his race, and who worked part-time because did NOT receive any sort of scholarships. Jesse Owens, who, in 1936, went on to win four gold Olympic medals in Berlin, in front of Adolf Hitler.
Now, East Tech was and still is a BIG school. My grandfather's commencement program says that, at the time of his graduation, there were 3,800 students and 110 instructors. To my knowledge, Grandpa was not on the track and field team. He may have had a few classes with Jesse, but they probably weren't good friends. (Interestingly, Jesse is not pictured in his senior year yearbook as is my grandfather. Turns out that he was a few credits shy of graduating high school and had to pass some exams to enter Ohio State.)
What I love about this story is the confluence of two typical American family stories of the early 20th century. Grandpa was the son of Croatian immigrants; Jesse (whose real name was James) was the son of poor sharecroppers who left the South as part of the Great Migration. Both sets of parents left their respective homes in search of better lives for their children. And I think it's safe to say that both succeeded.
Now, East Tech was and still is a BIG school. My grandfather's commencement program says that, at the time of his graduation, there were 3,800 students and 110 instructors. To my knowledge, Grandpa was not on the track and field team. He may have had a few classes with Jesse, but they probably weren't good friends. (Interestingly, Jesse is not pictured in his senior year yearbook as is my grandfather. Turns out that he was a few credits shy of graduating high school and had to pass some exams to enter Ohio State.)
What I love about this story is the confluence of two typical American family stories of the early 20th century. Grandpa was the son of Croatian immigrants; Jesse (whose real name was James) was the son of poor sharecroppers who left the South as part of the Great Migration. Both sets of parents left their respective homes in search of better lives for their children. And I think it's safe to say that both succeeded.
