Usain Bolt Earns Jesse Owens International Athlete Trophy

By ELLIOTT DENMAN

(11-Mar) -- There had been "a pause," they explained.  It was an expression of understandable inexactitude that brought smiles to all in the full house that was the grand ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel Monday night.

This "pause" was 11 years, from the 23rd edition of the International Athletic Association, Inc.'s Jesse 
Owens International Athlete Trophy banquet at the Waldorf, in 2003, to the new and oh-so-fortunately re-
energized 24th edition, on this second Monday of the third month of 2014.

Those first 23 had been masterpieces, choreographed by Mr. Herbert P. Douglas Jr. into celebrations of 
Olympic sport, and honoring such celebrity-Olympians as speed skating's Eric Heiden (the first winner in 
1981), track and field's Sebastian Coe (1982), diving's Greg Louganis (1987), cycling's Greg LeMond (1991), 
gymnastics' Vitaly Scherbo (1993) and swimming's Ian Thorpe (2002.)

(Even the editions that later saw winners Ben Johnson, Marion Jones and Lance Armstrong "disqualified" for 
drug-related offenses, seemed masterful at the time.)

But the maestro, the famed 1948 Olympic long jump bronze medalist, already 80 years old in 2002, couldn't 
keep on keeping on forever. Searching for a team of younger guys he could pass the baton to, he ran into 
nothing but a series of false starts.

And that's why this gala, always a feature of the Big Apple's athletic slate, would languish for over a 
decade. But, the very good news, finally-but-happily revealed, was that the younger generation had actually 
stood up, allowing Herb Douglas to at last sit back and relax.

A team led by Wesley E. Smith, the former Penn football player now chairman of the International Athletic 
Association, got it all done and put on a first-class performance at the Waldorf.

The banquet's origins dated back to the day Jesse Owens told Herb Douglas of the slight he felt when, after 
all his four-gold medal, Hitler-defying, American-inspiring deeds at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, he still 
wasn't considered good enough to win the James E. Sullivan Award as America's amateur athlete of the year.  
Not until Olympic 800-meter champion Mal Whitfield won it in 1954 did it go to an African-American athlete.   

From this slight was created the fire inside Herb Douglas to make amends, to create an even more lustrous 
award, where ancient bigotries would at last be set aside and the most notable achievers of the sports world 
be properly recognized. 

Thus, the first of these galas in 1981.

"Our father's legacy is as inspirational today as his record-setting achievements were in his time," wrote 
the three Owens daughters - Marlene Owens Rankin, Beverly Owens Prather and Gloria Owens Hemphill. "He was as much the champion on the playground in the poorest neighborhoods as he was on the oval of the 

Olympic Games. His extraordinary accomplishments include receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the 
Congressional Gold Medal. He is the only Olympian to ever receive both honors, which recognized his historic 
athletic achievements and personal commitment to building a better society."  

Their dad left us on March 31, 1980.

A theme throughout: "If you can dream it, you can do it."

The co-masters of ceremonies: famed TV interviewer and producer Roy Firestone, and noted CNN anchor (and 
proud Mal daughter) Fredericka Whitfield.   

Jim Clerkin, president and CEO of sponsoring Moet Hennessy USA, put it this way:  "Now, more than ever our 
young people need a role model like Jesse Owens."

Thus, the IAA is committed to helping individuals reach their fullest potential by "supporting scholarships 
through the Jesse Owens Foundation and the University of Pittsburgh (Herb Douglas' alma mater), and in 
creating unique opportunities to learn from distinguished athletes on how to embrace the character-building 
qualities of sports with a commitment to honest and clean competition."

And so, before the first dishes were served, Olympic gold medalists Dr. Charley Jenkins and Charles "Chip" 
Jenkins Jr. delivered a seminar - on life and the lessons of sports - for Metropolitan area high schoolers 
and collegians.  

Next, following, the citrus quinoa salad with lemon scented prawns, followed by the main dish of tournedo of beef, accompanied by sweet potato latkes and haricots verts, all with appropriate libations, it was time to get on with the real business of the night.  

And the winner of the Jesse Owens International Athlete Trophy, as "the 2013 most outstanding athlete in the world" was....none other than Usain St. Leo Bolt, the pride of Trelawney, and all of Jamaica, and the whole 
sports world, really.

Maximizing his natural gifts, Usain has earned six Olympic gold medals, eight World Championships gold 
medals, and lowered the world records in three of Jesse Owens' favorite events to these astonishing 
performances - 9.58 in the 100 meters, 19.19 in the 200, and 36.84 (with the help of three Jamaica running-
mates) in the 4x100 relay.

The only Owens event/ Douglas event he eschews is the long jump.

Bolt, training at home for the 2014 season, "appeared" and spoke to his Waldorf audience only on the big 
video display board.

But his proud parents, Wellesley and Jennifer Bolt, had flown up from Jamaica to represent their celebrated 
son.

"I enjoyed every bit of it," Mr. Bolt said of the festivities. "It was a great event, the organization was 
very-very good."

Back home, Mr. Bolt is a small business owner, operating a grocery store in rural Trelawney.

Cricket was the name of the major game for most of those local Trelawney lads but Usain Bolt - the "lightning bolt man himself" has surely changed much of that culture.

Just as the man the young Herb Douglas most wanted to emulate was Jesse Owens, the man young Jamaicans now 
most want to emulate is Usain Bolt.

And so, following desert of Waldorf "red velvet" cake, and a sip of Hennessy "privilege toast," the bottom 
lines remained pretty clear.

Usain Bolt will mark his 28th birthday on the 21st of August.  He'll be a virtual senior citizen of 30 by 
the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. 

Herb Douglas Jr., still going strong, still loaded with abundant energy, still dreaming big dreams, marked his 92nd birthday the day before the Waldorf festivities. 

He said his Monday "goodnights" with a very wide smile, knowing there will no further "pauses" in the 
staging of his year's biggest event.