“I think it’s only natural to ask the question. If there had been no Jesse Owens, would there have been a Harrison Dillard?” he asked the crowd. “We all have someone to look up to.”

On a chilly Saturday morning in mid-October, dozens of people and local dignitaries gathered outside James Ford Rhodes High School to rededicate an oak tree that Olympian Jesse Owens planted on the campus grounds in 1936.

Owens brought four seedlings back to the United States after he had won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The seedlings were gifts from the Germans, and Owens, an East Tech High School grad, planted one of the seedlings at Rhodes, which is where he trained.

The seedling is now a sturdy oak, the only survivor of the four planted.

“As you can see, in its autumn glory, it is still growing strong and true,” said Patrick Zohn, chief operating officer for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.

Zohn said the oak tree stands as a symbol for what the district hopes to do, grow strong and true students.

During the rededication, Ward 13 Councilman, Kevin J. Kelley, Rhodes principal, Charlene Hilliard and George Cantor, senior planner with the City of Cleveland Planning Commission, also addressed the crowd.

Harrison Dillard, former U.S. Olympian who befriended Owens, was keynote speaker. Dillard arrived on the school grounds in a vintage car.

When he took the lectern, he told the crowd of well-wishers and members of the Rhodes ROTC that he grew up in the same East Side neighborhood as Owens. Dillard added how lucky he was to watch the city’s victory parade as Owens rolled through their neighborhood.

Seeing the celebration for Owens motivated Dillard, who went on to win a total of four gold medals in the 1948 and 1952 Olympics.    

“I think it’s only natural to ask the question. If there had been no Jesse Owens, would there have been a Harrison Dillard?” he asked the crowd. “We all have someone to look up to.”

The day, however, was not about Harrison Dillard. It was about his friend Owens and his Olympic glory. “It gives me great pleasure to be a part of the rededication of this great oak tree,” Dillard said.