One of essentially the most consequential Olympic medals ever awarded is at the public sale block — the silver medal captured in 1936 via Germany’s Luz Long, the lengthy jumper who walked arm in arm throughout the stadium with Jesse Owens to have a good time their triumphs whilst Adolf Hitler watched from the stands.
Long’s circle of relatives has determined to public sale the medal and different collectibles from the German jumper’s profession. Long used to be killed in World War II in 1943.
The public sale space promoting the medal has classified Long’s assortment “The Beacon of Hope.”
“The story of Jesse Owens never seems to end,” stated Long’s granddaughter, Julia Kellner-Long, in a telephone interview from her space in Munich. “My grandfather has always been inspirational and influential in the way I choose to see the world, and this is something I think the world outside needs. Now more than ever. It gives us hope.”
Long cemented himself in Olympic lore all over the Berlin Games when he used to be the primary to congratulate Owens on his triumph within the lengthy bounce. Later they walked across the stadium in combination and posed for photos.
There’s additionally the tale Owens informed of Long drawing near him after he fouled on his first two makes an attempt within the initial spherical. With just one extra attempt to make the overall, Owens stated Long advised he take off a foot in entrance of the board, to guarantee he wouldn’t foul on his remaining take a look at. Owens took that recommendation and went directly to win the identify — one among 4 he captured in Berlin — with a then-Olympic file bounce of 8.06 meters (26 toes, 5 1/2 inches).
Owens used to be Black, and his stirring good fortune at the ones Olympics used to be stated to have pissed off Hitler via puncturing the Nazi fantasy of Aryan racial superiority.
The camaraderie between Owens and Long, and the connection that ensued between the boys and their households, are continuously held up because the high instance of what the Olympics are meant to be about — a calm coming in combination of other people from other nations and cultures who set their variations apart within the spirit of pageant.
“It took a lot of courage for him to befriend me,” Owens stated, years later. “You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn’t be a plating on the 24-karat friendship I felt for Luz Long at that moment. Hitler must have gone crazy watching us embrace.”
The determination to promote got here in a while after Luz’s son (and Julia’s father), Kai, died at age 80. Kellner-Long stated the good duty of keeping her grandfather’s memorabilia will have to be handed onto a person, or museum, that has the time and assets to take action. The circle of relatives additionally sought after to make use of the sale to re-light the tale of Long and Owens.
“Even 86 years later, shining a beacon of hope is an important and realistic value, especially in a time of increasing racism, increasing exclusion and hatred,” Kellner-Long stated.
The public sale space began the bidding for Long’s medal at $50,000, and estimated the price at someplace between $500,000 and $1 million. The bidding runs via Oct. 15. The price of Olympic medals at the open marketplace varies broadly. One of Owens’ 4 gold medals from 1936 fetched $1.46 million. Bill Russell’s gold medal from the 1956 Olympics lately bought for $587,500.
David Kohler of SCP Auctions, which is carrying out the sale, stated the medal is ready Long, but additionally “the story of the courageousness and the athlete and what he did there.”
Long didn’t are living lengthy sufficient to look his legacy play out. He used to be killed in 1943 within the fight of St. Pietro at the Italian island of Sardinia. Shortly sooner than that, he wrote a letter to Owens, one he predicted could be “the last letter I shall ever write.”
In it, Long requested Owens to visit Germany after the struggle and in finding his son.
“Tell him, Jesse, what times were like when we were not separated by war,” Long wrote. “I am saying — tell him how things can be between men on this earth.”
Owens and Kai Long met a number of instances through the years, together with at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium in 1966. Owens later used to be a perfect guy at Kai’s wedding ceremony.
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Our Beacon of Hope: The Luz Long Collection Auction is NOW OPEN! The sale is headlined via one of the traditionally important Olympic medals, Long’s silver medal received competing towards Jesse Owens on the 1936 Berlin Olympics 🥈#thehobby #whodoyoucollect #olympics #jesseowens %.twitter.com/EUrEGZbt4U
— SCP Auctions (@SCPAuctions) October 5, 2022