The Spiraling Chains: Kowalski - Bellan Family Trees
  • Home
  • Licciardi
    • Licciardi Family Photos
    • DeRigo
  • Bellan
    • Beljan Family in Croatia
    • Benicki >
      • Zagar
  • Bodziony
    • Bodziony - Poland
    • Golonka >
      • Bawołek
    • Krupa >
      • Kołodziej
  • Kowalski
  • The Spiraling Chains

Jesse Owens and...My Grandpa

3/2/2013

6 Comments

 
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.
Picture
Picture
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:
Picture
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. 
6 Comments
Celia Lewis link
3/2/2013 01:17:48 pm

Cool!! Very cool!! In fact - outstanding!!
And may I say, good looking Grandpa!

Reply
Jana Last link
3/3/2013 08:10:29 am

Wow! That's really cool!

Reply
Jana Last link
3/8/2013 04:28:14 am

I just want to let you know that this blog post is listed in today's Fab Finds post at http://janasgenealogyandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2013/03/follow-fridayfab-finds-for-march-8-2013.html

Have a great weekend!

Reply
Devon Lee link
3/8/2013 05:23:50 am

What a really great story. You never know, your grandfather might have been a school friend or admired him. It's enough that he wanted the signature. So although you can't assume best bud status, you can assume that your grandfather liked Jessie enough to have him sign his yearbook.

Reply
Devon Lee link
3/8/2013 05:24:03 am

Reply
Jazmin Bailey
5/4/2022 12:24:30 pm

Hi! My name is Jazmin Bailey. I'm an anchor/reporter with Fox 8 News. Your blog post on your grandfather's East Technical High yearbook was really interesting. I read somewhere in the article that you have a copy of your grandfather's commencement program. Do you know the date? I'm potentially working on a story and thought that could be a good tie-in.

Although I also must ask, are you saying that Jesse Owens wasn't present at graduation? If you have any answers, please let me know.

Jazmin

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Emily Kowalski Schroeder

    Emily Kowalski Schroeder

    Archives

    April 2017
    March 2017
    August 2016
    July 2016
    August 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012


    Categories

    All
    Anniversaries
    Antoni
    Aubry
    Bellan
    Bernard
    Bernhold
    Birthdays
    Birth Records
    Blogging
    Bodziony
    Braun
    Brunswick
    Bulcher
    Catholic
    Cemeteries
    Census Schedules
    Civil War
    Conferences And Talks
    Cousins
    Death Certificates
    Decorating
    Dna
    Drees
    Editorials
    First Communion
    France
    Funeral Cards
    Galicia
    Germany
    Golonka
    Grilliot
    Heirlooms
    Holidays
    Homes
    Hut
    Immigration
    Italy
    Janning
    Kahlig
    Knob
    Kowalski
    Krupa
    Licciardi
    Magottaux/Magoto
    Mapping
    Marriage
    Military
    Obituaries
    Occupations
    Organization
    Parazzini
    Poland
    Research
    Rolfes
    Schools
    Schroeder
    Ship Manifests
    Sports
    Surnames
    Tips
    Travel
    Tumbusch
    Voisinet
    Watercutter
    Weather
    Weddings
    Wellerding
    Wilkens
    Wills
    Wimmers
    World War II
    World War II
    Yearbooks


Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.