May 25: Jesse Owens, Willis Ward and Gerald Ford

Today is the 88th anniversary of one of the greatest days in Ohio State history, Michigan history and American history. And what happened on May 25, 1935, had ripples far beyond that day.

The Big Ten track meet took place on May 25, 1935 - 88 years ago today - at the University of Michigan's Ferry Field track. Ohio State sophomore Jesse Owens set three world records and tied a fourth in the span of 45 minutes, an accomplishment that many people consider to be the greatest single-day performance in sports history. The feat was so great that years later, U-M Athletic Director Don Canham (himself a track man) had a memorial erected to Owens on the Ferry Field track. That's right - there's a memorial to an Ohio State athlete on the Michigan campus.

But when you consider the wider story and what happened later, May 25 is an even more remarkable day in history.

The Big Ten track meet happened in the same school year - and on the same campus - as the 1934 Michigan-Georgia Tech football game, in which Willis Ward was benched because Georgia Tech refused to play against a Black man. It was one of the worst days in college sports history.

So consider that - one of the worst days in college sports history and one of the greatest days in college sports history both took place on the University of Michigan campus just seven months apart, in the same academic school year. Historically speaking, that's remarkable.

Many people forget that on the track, Jesse Owens and Willis Ward were equals. They raced against each other five times in March of 1935 during the indoor track season. Jesse won three times, Willis won twice. Everybody was looking forward to seeing them go head-to-head at the Big Ten outdoor track meet on May 25 in Ann Arbor, but Willis Ward had a slight leg injury and couldn't do the running races that day. He did compete in the high jump, winning it, and in the long jump, finishing second to Jesse Owens.

One of the people in the Ferry Field crowd that day was a graduating senior named Gerald Ford, who had come to watch his good friend Willis Ward compete. He was amazed not just at his friend Willis, but at the speedy guy from Ohio State.

In 1936, following the Berlin Olympics, President Roosevelt invited all the U.S. Olympic athletes to the White House. All the white athletes. Jesse Owens and the other Black athletes were not invited. Owens remained bitter about that until the day he died.

Forty years later, when Gerald Ford was in the White House, he righted that wrong. He invited the 1976 Olympic team to the White House, along with Jesse Owens, and in a surprise ceremony, he presented Jesse with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In his speech, President Ford talked about what he had witnessed on May 25, 1935, at the University of Michigan. And the picture was priceless - a Michigan Wolverine honoring an Ohio State Buckeye.

So on May 25, 2023, let's say a toast to these three great men.

(Pictured here - Eddie Tolan, Willis Ward and Jesse Owens at the 1935 Big Ten track meet in Ann Arbor; President Ford presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Jesse Owens in 1976.)