Michael Fisher, President of the Board of Directors, Jesse Owens Foundation (presenting the award after a video about Sri Chinmoy’s work was shown): As you can see, Sri Chinmoy has inspired and touched the lives of many in his quest for global peace and harmony. He has received many awards of recognition, including the Mother Teresa Award from Macedonia, the Pilgrim of Peace Award from Italy and the Gandhi Peace Award. He is also known for his biennial Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run, which is the world’s largest and longest relay for peace, spanning 120 nations across 7 continents. His contributions in the arts promote his message of peace through worldwide free peace concerts in venues such as Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. Since 1970 he has led twice-weekly prayer and meditation sessions at the United Nations Head-quarters. His peace movement has been invaluable to many nations struggling for democracy and the betterment of mankind. Sri Chinmoy literally lifts our spirits. The Jesse Owens Foundation is honoured to award its 2002 Humanitarian Award to Sri Chinmoy.
Sri Chinmoy (accepting the award): My highly esteemed Sister Marlene, highly esteemed Brother Stewart, members of the Jesse Owens family, and distinguished members of the Jesse Owens Foundation, I wish to offer you infinite gratitude from the inmost recesses of my heart for bestowing upon me this signal honour. Jesse Owens was, is and forever shall remain my life’s champion supreme and my heart’s hero supreme for his deathless jumps, his breathless speed and his ceaseless self-offering.
To Jesse Owens, the outer man of indomitable courage, I bow and bow. To Jesse Owens, the inner man of infinite compassion, I bow and bow and bow and bow.
I was a budding 100-metre champion in a spiritual community in Pondicherry, South India. My idol absolute was Jesse Owens. Generation after generation, his Olympian voice will reverberate in the hearts of aspiring athletes throughout the length and breadth of the world.
Jesse Owens is a unique inspiration-sun, beckoning us all to conquer impossibility and leap forward, dive inward and fly upward in the realms of greatness and goodness.
The Jesse Owens Humanitarian Award is a most significant gift in my life. I shall forever and forever treasure this supreme honour, specially because it has been presented to me by his beloved family members.
No hyperbole, Jesse Owens’ name is synonymous with the green Eternity’s Light, the blue Infinity’s Delight and the gold Immortality’s Pride.
Here I wish to quote a few immortal utterances of the immortal Jesse Owens:
“I found God. That does not mean I cannot lose Him.”
“I never tried to cheat anyone in my life, your Honour, except possibly Jesse Owens, so help me God.” God did help him, and he won the case.
“Two unmatchable teammates: my wife of almost 50 years, Ruth, and the Nazi who fought Hitler with me, Luz Long.2 Three unique leaders: my mother, my father and Charles Riley.3 But most and most humbly, the great Referee.”
I am extremely happy and delighted to have with us here Carl Lewis, 9-time Olympic gold medallist. He was, is and shall forever remain a supremely great admirer of the pioneer supreme champion Jesse Owens.4
Once more, I wish to offer gratitude from the very depths of my heart to all the members of the Jesse Owens family and to the members of the Jesse Owens Foundation.
1. Jesse Owens and Sri Chinmoy first met in New York on 4 November 1972 at the Park Lane Hotel in New York City. Their conversation during the three-hour meeting was printed in Sri Chinmoy with His Athlete-Idol: Jesse Owens. New York: Agni Press, 1980.
2. Luz Long was Jesse Owens’ great rival and great friend in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, who shared a technique with Jesse Owens that helped him qualify for the long jump on his last attempt. Long was the first to congratulate Owens when he won the gold medal, with Adolf Hitler watching, which defied Nazi ideology of Aryan (white) superiority.
↩3. Charles Riley, Jesse Owens’ school track coach, discovered, encouraged and developed Owens’ ability to the point where he was setting world records while still in high school, and acted like a second father, his “Irish father.”
↩4. In the 1984 Olympics, Carl Lewis achieved his dream of matching Jesse Owens’ feat at the 1936 Olympics, winning four gold medals in the same events: 100 metre and 200 metre sprints, 4x100 metre relay and long jump.↩
From:Sri Chinmoy,Only One Reality Sri Chinmoy, Agni Press, 2025
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/oor