Bennie Owen

College coach infobox
Name = Bennie Owen


Caption =
DateOfBirth = birth date|1875|7|24|mf=y
Birthplace = Chicago, Illinois
DateOfDeath = February 26 1970
Sport = Football
Basketball
College =
Title =
CurrentRecord =
OverallRecord = 155-60-19 (Football)cite web | title=Bennie Owen: Member Biography | work=College Football Hall of Fame | url=http://collegefootball.org/famersearch.php?id=10070 | accessdate=2006-06-26 ]
113-49 (Basketball)
Awards =
Championships = 3 Conference Championships
"(1915, 1918, 1920)"
CFbDWID = 1800
Player = Trigger
Years = ?-1899
Team = University of Kansas
Position = Quarterback
Coach = Trigger
CoachYears = 1905-1926
1908-1921
1902-1904
1900
CoachTeams = University of Oklahoma (Football)
University of Oklahoma (Basketball)
Bethany College
Washburn College
FootballHOF = 1951
CollegeHOFID = 10070

Benjamin Gilbert Owen (July 24 1875—February 26 1970) was an American head coach for the University of Oklahoma Sooners football team from 1905-1926.

Overview

Owen was born in Chicago in 1874. His family moved to St. Louis, Missouri when he was twelve. After he finished school, his family again moved, this time to Arkansas City, Kansas. Owen then served as an apprentice to a local doctor for three years. He then enrolled in the University of Kansas in 1897 to pursue his medical studies and he soon discovered his knack for football.cite book |last=Levy |first=David |authorlink= |title=The University of Oklahoma: A History |series=Volume I, 1890-1917 |year=2005 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |location=Norman, Oklahoma |isbn=0-8061-3703-7 ]

Owen was the star quarterback for Fielding Yost's undefeated 1899 Kansas Jayhawks team. Upon graduating, he took his first head coaching job at Washburn College. Following a one year stint there, he spent another one year as Yost's assistant at the University of Michigan. While at Michigan, he helped Yost develop the famous point-a-minutes team built around the great Willie Heston.cite news | first=Charles F. | last=Long | pages= | title=With Optimism For the Morrow: A History of The University of Oklahoma | date=September 1965 | publisher=Sooner Magazine | url=http://digital.libraries.ou.edu/sooner/issue_info.asp?issueID=478 ] He got his first exposure to the Oklahoma team while head coach at Bethany College in Kansas. His Bethany Swedes met and defeated two Sooner teams in 1903 and 1904.

Owen took over the Sooners football team in 1905, succeeding one-year coach Fred Ewing. He stepped in and immediately turned the fledgling team around, giving Oklahoma its very first win over the southern-rival Texas Longhorns. Owen was loved by the players as he regularly would involve himself in scrimmages when he felt his players were lagging. Owen's first two years at Oklahoma were spent back and forth between Norman and Arkansas City. Due to a reduced financial budget, Owen only remained on campus during the football season. In 1907, Owen lost his right arm in a hunting accident.

Early in the Brooks administration, Owen was fired by the Oklahoma legislature. They believed his salary of $3,500 was far too great for an athletics coach. They would then use the loss of his arm as an excuse for dismissal. It was recommended he be terminated and shortly thereafter, he was. However, when President Brooks heard of this news, he quickly got the decision rescinded. Owens did not learn of his "dismissal" until a week after his "re-hiring."cite news|first=Harold |last=Keith |author= |url=http://digital.libraries.ou.edu/sooner/articles/p7-11_1949v21n6_OCR.pdf |title=Dr. Stratton D. Brooks, 1869-1949 |work= |publisher=Sooner Magazine |pages=7-11 |page= |date=February 1949 |accessdate=2006-06-30 ]

Early in Owen's tenure as head coach, funding for athletic teams were very much an issue. Due to costs involved in travel, Owen's team would regularly go out on long, grueling road trips. For example, in 1905 his Sooners played three games in five days and again in 1909 when they played three games in six days.cite news | first=Harold | last=Keith | pages=12-13, 54 | title=Football Ups and Downs | date=September 1942 | publisher=Sooner Magazine | url=http://digital.libraries.ou.edu/sooner/articles/p12-13,54_1942v15n1_OCR.pdf ] Owen is also known for introducing the forward pass to football in the southwest United States. This allowed his team to quickly score against lesser opponents. In 1911, his team defeated local Kingfisher College 104-0. It is largely because of Bennie Owen the Oklahoma Sooners are ranked #1 in points scored. In 1,099 games, the Sooners have scored 28,756 points with over 5,000 of those being contributed to Owen (including two games with over 150 points each and three game in 1915 with a combined score 258-0). [cite web | title=Bennie Owen Records by Year | work=College Football Data Warehouse | url=http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/coaching/alltime_coach_year_by_year.php?coachid=1800 | accessdate=2006-06-26 ] In addition to his immortality as a football coach, Owen also spent 13 seasons as the Oklahoma men's basketball head coach. In those 13 years, he won nearly 70% of his games, had two undefeated seasons and only two losing seasons. [cite news | first=Paul | last=Galloway | pages=11-13 | title=Want a Winning Basketball Team? | date=November 1967 | publisher=Sooner Magazine | url=http://digital.libraries.ou.edu/sooner/articles/p10-13_1967v40n2_OCR.pdf ]

While the name of the Oklahoma football stadium is the Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, it was originally named Boyd Field (during Owen's tenure) and later moved and renamed Owen Field. The playing surface itself still retains the name Owen Field and many still refer to the stadium as Owen Field. Owen was a charter member of the College Football Hall of Fame, elected in 1951. He died February 26, 1970, in Houston, TX at age 94.

Notes

Persondata
NAME=Owen, Bennie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Owen, Benjamin Gilbert
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Football player and coach; Basketball coach
DATE OF BIRTH=July 24 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH=Chicago, Illinois
DATE OF DEATH=February 26 1970
PLACE OF DEATH=Houston, Texas