Two of Jesse Owens’ four 1936 Berlin Olympic gold medals will be auctioned in August, according to Heritage Auctions.
Owens won four gold medals at the Berlin Games, triumphing in the face of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany by taking the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and long jump.
Owens gifted one gold medal to entertainer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, according to “Mr. Bojangles: The Biography of Bill Robinson.”
That medal was auctioned for in 2013 for $1,466,574, the highest price ever for a piece of Olympic memorabilia.
Owens used his three other Olympic golds as payment for a Pittsburgh hotel stay in the mid-1950s, according to “Intelligent Collector,” a magazine affiliated with Heritage Auctions, which is housing the August auction with Owens’ medals.
“Jesse didn’t have the financial means to pay for his stay at Mr. Harry Bailey’s hotel,” said Albert DeVito, son of a local handyman who ended up with the two gold medals being auctioned, according to the magazine. “So he gave his medals to Harry as his payment for expenses incurred.”
DeVito’s father was later gifted the three gold medals by the hotel owner Bailey for previously lending him money. DeVito’s father kept two and gave back to Bailey one gold medal whose whereabouts are unknown, according to the magazine.
DeVito thought to sell the remaining two gold medals after seeing the 2013 auction.
“It wasn’t until that first gold medal sold that we even thought, ‘Oh, my goodness. These things are worth something!’” DeVito said, according to the magazine.
It’s unknown which of the gold medals corresponds to which Olympic event, as they are not specified on the medals.
Before Owens’ death in 1980, the sprinter reportedly said he had lost the four gold medals. The German government replaced them, and they now rest at Ohio State, Owens’ alma mater.
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