This is an authentic piece of the Jesse Owens Track that used to encircle the football field at Ohio Stadium starting in 1923. It was removed in roughly 1999 during the 1998-2001 Renovation and Preservation project. The piece measures 1.5" x 2" and is enclosed an acrylic block with an Ohio State logo and description printed on the block.

Jesse Owens arrived in Columbus in the fall of 1933 as a student and aspiring athlete at Ohio State. Focusing on his job, studies, and training, Owens worked hard with OSU's Track and Field coach, Larry Snyder.  Snyder helped improve Owen's starts out of the block as well as teaching him to move his legs in mid-air to improve his distance in the long jump. Affectionately known as the "Buckeye Bullet", Owens won a record eight individual NCAA championships, four each in 1935 and 1936. At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, Owens gained international fame by winning gold medals in the 100 meters, long jump, 200 meters, and 4 × 100-meter relay. He was the most successful athlete at the Games and was credited with "single-handedly crushing Hitler's myth of Aryan supremacy."  Although he never academically graduated from Ohio State, the school awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Athletic Arts degree “for his unparalleled skill and ability” as an athlete and for “his personification of sportsmanship ideals” in 1972. He was inducted into Ohio State's inaugural Varsity O Hall of Fame Class in 1977. Three years later, at the age of 66, Owens passed away from lung cancer.