Race

1

Mornin'.

Mornin'. Anybody

see my shirt?

Mama, you seen my shirt?

It's where you put it last.

- Anyone?

- No.

I got your shirt right here.

Hand it over.

Here you go.

Cut it out, Quincy.

It's my only shirt.

Come on now.

What's the matter?

You too fancy for us now, college boy?

what's that supposed to mean?

I've always paid my way.

You know I send what I can.

Bye, Mama.

Mama, what are you doing?

First boy of mine to go to college

is gonna look respectable.

You like it?

Ma, we can't afford this.

Try it on.

Mama, it's Ohio State.

It's not Sunday school.

Shh!

Thought I was gonna lose

you at five years old.

Now look at you.

I knew when I cut that lump out of you,

you were born for great things.

Yeah.

God spared you for a reason.

There.

You look handsome.

A man has to present

an image to the world.

You remember that,

James Cleveland Owens.

Yes, Mama. Thank you.

Thank you, Mama.

Bye, Laverne.

Is Dad coming downstairs today?

I hope so.

He knows you're leaving.

So long, Pa.

Things are gonna

turn around, Pa.

You'll see.

That's Ohio State's Ken Seitz in the dust.

It's Charlie Parsons

and Foy Draper

from the University

of Southern California.

And another poor

showing for Ohio State.

Good race.

Hey, there's the coach.

Hey.

Larry.

What's up, Dean?

How many is that now?

A**hole.

Sorry, Coach.

This time I really thought I had 'em beat.

Yeah, well,

that's probably why you didn't, then.

That makes it three straight losses

for Larry Snyder and Ohio State.

After two years

without a national win,

you've gotta wonder

if the Buckeyes made a mistake

bringing Snyder back to coach

at his old alma mater.

He was a hell of

an athlete in his time,

but that doesn't

make you a great coach.

If I was Larry Snyder right now,

I'd be worried

about keeping my job.

Here's a man who's no

stranger to winning,

USC coach, Dean Cromwell.

With four Olympic gold

medalists to his credit,

it's no wonder they call him

"the maker of champions."

Thanks for making the time,

Mr. Cromwell.

- It's a pleasure.

- Call me Dean...

No. Please,

switch it back on.

Why? So we can

watch you sit around

all afternoon feeling

sorry for yourself?

How do you know

what I have scheduled?

I know the schedule.

Fresh blood.

Hi. How are y'all doing?

I'm Dave.

Fine weather we're having, isn't it?

Dave!

Y'all so sophisticated.

Dave, would you quit bothering

every girl you see?

I'm not bothering them none.

They never met a college man before.

They're impressed.

Yeah, well,

you ain't a college man yet.

All right, so,

come on. Let's go.

All right, give me 10 minutes.

Take a cold shower or something.

Can you grab that comb for me in the back?

Gloria. Gloria.

Come here, sweetie.

Give me a moment.

Come to Daddy.

I'm working, Jesse.

You can't come here when I'm working.

You just try and keep me away.

See, that's the kind of talk got

us in trouble to begin with.

Really?

Get out of here, you big dope.

Go on, get.

Money's gonna be a little

tight from now on.

Till then,

take this.

I'll send more as

soon as I find work.

You should put some

aside for the wedding.

Are you finally gonna marry me,

Jesse Owens?

Gotta do it right.

Hi. How you doing?

See that,

that way that colored pushed me?

Hi.

How you doing?

Put a Negro in a suit...

Hurry up, shorty!

I wanna get there

before we graduate.

Whoo-hoo!

Good games...

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Now, where do you

boys think you're going?

Just using the showers.

Not until we're through,

you're not.

You n*ggers can wait your turn.

Yeah. Can you

believe they let these

jiggaboos share

our locker room now?

Let's get outta here.

They won't ever play football.

Dave.

No, sir.

OSU, what?

OSU, what?

Kick that cracker's

ass is what I should do.

Sounds like a great idea.

Get us thrown outta here

before our bags are unpacked.

Dave, this is our shot.

All right?

Don't blow it.

Hey, Owens.

Coach wants to see you.

Now. Let's go!

Let's go!

What am I supposed to do,

kiss his ass after I wipe it for him?

No, sir.

Look, you just

smile and play nice.

Run every last one of these

peckerwoods off their feet.

Hey.

Sorry.

That's some outfit.

What's this,

a pickaninny parade?

Slow down, boy!

Well, look at this.

Peggy, who do we have here?

Coach Snyder, I'm Jesse Owens.

Nice jacket.

Think I had the same one

back in Sunday school.

Coming in, or what?

Shut the door.

You can sit down.

Charlie Riley says you can run.

Yes, sir.

Well, says you're a natural,

best he's ever seen.

Well, I guess.

Me personally,

I don't trust naturals,

'cause they think

they don't have to work.

I will say,

you can run.

And, boy, boy, you can jump.

What I wanna know is,

can you win?

And what I mean by

that is, can you work?

You know, your mama might've

taught you how to dress right,

but she sure as hell didn't teach

you anything about manners.

You should look a man in the

eye when he's speaking to you.

Can you work?

I was picking 100 pounds of

cotton a day at six years old.

You ever pick cotton?

The way it cuts you when you,

when you get it off the boll?

Yes, sir, I can work.

Coach Riley's a smart man.

But I was watching you out there today,

I'll tell you this.

Your start's no good,

your rhythm's off and your posture's lousy.

But we can fix all that.

That's easy.

But if you wanna win, it takes more

than a pair of legs, all right?

You win up here.

And that's the part I don't know about

you yet. I don't know if you got that.

I ran 100 yards last year

in Chicago in 9.4.

I mean, it's the same as Wykoff.

It's a world record.

Records don't mean sh*t!

You know what matters?

Medals.

Some kid come out of nowhere,

snatch your record from you like that.

But a gold medal?

That's yours for life.

Is that you?

It's the US Olympic team,

Paris games, '24.

Go ahead, take a look.

That's me on the right,

next to Charley Paddock.

You, you went to Paris in

'24 with Charley Paddock?

No.

Well, why not?

You wanna win a gold medal?

Well, sure.

You wanna do it in Berlin?

Well, I mean,

unless you were planning on waiting.

You know, I...

I heard they don't care much

for colored folk over there.

Well, they don't care for

'em much here in Columbus either.

Is that gonna be a problem?

No, sir.

I just came here to run.

Well, then,

for the next 28 months,

you're either in a classroom

or you're on that track,

every hour, every day.

And I don't care about your grades.

I really don't.

And I don't care if your buddies

have a keg they need help with.

And I certainly don't care

if you got a girl at home

rolling down her silk stockings

with that look in her eye.

You belong to me.

Do we have an understanding?

Yes, sir.

Good.

All right, well, go home and get some rest.

9:
00 a.m. tomorrow,

we'll see how good you really are.

Jesse.

Why'd you come here?

I mean, after the noise

you made in Chicago,

hell, you could've

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