Herb Douglas, an Olympic medalist who was inspired as a youth by Jesse Owens, emulated him as a track and field star and then honored his memory by creating an international sports award in Owens’s name, died on Saturday. He was 101 and believed to be the oldest living Olympic medalist in the United States.
The University of Pittsburgh announced his death but did not say where he died. Douglas was a graduate of the university and had served on its board of trustees.
Douglas was 14 when he met Owens in September 1936, soon after Owens won four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics, shattering, as a Black man, Hitler’s hopes of using the Games as a showcase for Aryan supremacy.