Jim Owens

{{Short description|American football player and coach, college athletics administrator (1927–2009)}}

{{for multi|the baseball player|Jim Owens (baseball)|the former CEO|James W. Owens|the television producer|Jim Owens Entertainment}}

{{Infobox NFL biography

| name = Jim Owens

| image = Jim Owens.jpg

| caption = Owens from 1960 UW yearbook

| number = 59

| position = End
Defensive end

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1927|3|6|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2009|6|6|1927|3|6}}

| death_place = Bigfork, Montana, U.S.

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 3

| weight_lb = 205

| high_school = Classen
(Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)

| college = Oklahoma

| draftyear = 1951

| draftround = 23

| draftpick = 271

| pastteams =

Baltimore Colts ({{NFL Year|1950}})

| pastcoaching =

Kentucky (1951-1953)
Assistant
Texas A&M (1954-1956)
Assistant
Washington (1957-1974)
Head coach

| pastadmin =

Washington (1960-1969)

| highlights =

National champion (1960)
3× AAWU champion (1959, 1960, 1963)
UPI Pacific Coast Coach of the Year (1959, 1960)
First-team All-American (1949)
2× First-team All-Big Seven (1948, 1949)

| statlabel1 = Receptions

| statvalue1 = 19

| statlabel2 = Receiving yards

| statvalue2 = 188

| statlabel3 = Return yards

| statvalue3 = 29

| pfr = OwenJi20

| regular_record = {{Winning percentage|99|82|6|record=y}}

| playoff_record = Bowl games: {{Winning percentage|2|1|0|record=y}}

| CollegeHOF = 1694

}}

James Donald Owens (March 6, 1927 – June 6, 2009) was an American football player and coach. He played one year in the National Football League (NFL) as an end for the Baltimore Colts. His career in coaching was longer-lived, as he held the position of head coach at the University of Washington from 1957 to 1974, compiling a record of {{winning percentage|99|82|6|record=y}} in 18 seasons.

Biography

=Playing career=

File:Owens-Jim-1950.jpg in an August 1950 preseason NFL game.]]

Owens played college football at the University of Oklahoma from 1946 to 1949, under head coach Bud Wilkinson, where he was a teammate of Darrell Royal, who, coincidentally, was the Huskies' head coach in 1956, then took the same post at Texas, allowing Owens to come to Seattle.{{cite news |author= |title=Former Washington football coach Jim Owens dies at 82 |url=https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/pac10/2009-06-06-washington-owens-obit_N.htm |work=USA Today |agency=Associated Press |date=June 6, 2009 |access-date=June 23, 2017 }} He played a year of pro football in 1950 for the Baltimore Colts, a one-win squad worthy of mention as among the worst teams in NFL history.The 1950 Colts gave up an NFL record 462 points in 12 games, the most of any team of the 1950s, including 70-point shellackings by the Rams both in the regular season and pre-season.

=Coaching career=

After his brief foray in professional football came to an end, Owens served as a college assistant coach for six years under Bear Bryant at the University of Kentucky and at Texas A&M University.{{cite news|url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/collegesports/2009308687_webjimowens06.html |title=Jim Owens, coaching legend of UW football, dies at 82 |work=Seattle Times |first=Bud |last=Withers |date=June 6, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611214109/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/collegesports/2009308687_webjimowens06.html |archive-date=June 11, 2009 }} According to legend, after the 1956 season, when the Washington Huskies were looking for a head coach, Bryant indicated to reporters that Owens "will make a great coach for somebody some day."{{cite news|url=http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/columnists/mcgrath/story/559355.html|title=Sarkisian has 'it' factor UW needs}}{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

In 1959 and 1960, he led Washington to back-to-back ten-win seasons and consecutive Rose Bowl wins. He was awarded the UPI Pacific Coast Coach of the Year for 1959{{cite news |title=Six Mustangs Earn Coast Mention: First-Team Spots Monopolized by USC, Washington |newspaper=San Luis Obispo County Telegram-Tribune |date=November 30, 1959 |page=8 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99650984/six-mustangs-earn-coast-mention/}} and 1960.{{cite news |title=UPI Selects: Campbell Chosen Lineman of Year |newspaper=Spokane Daily Chronicle |date=November 22, 1960 |page=30 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99679575/upi-all-coast/}} He also coached the Huskies to the 1964 Rose Bowl. Owens concurrently served as the athletic director at Washington from 1960 to 1969. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1982.

Owens' 1960 team was awarded the national championship by the Helms Athletic Foundation after defeating Minnesota in the 1961 Rose Bowl. The Golden Gophers had already been awarded the AP, UPI, and NFF national championships at the end of the regular season, as was customary at the time.

Owens resigned as head coach of the Huskies following the 1974 season at the end of his last contract, a three-year deal at $33,000 per year.{{cite news |author= |title=Huskies' Owens quits |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SJdfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RDEMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1892,7105376 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=Lewiston, Idaho |agency=Associated Press |date=November 27, 1974 |page=B1 |access-date=June 23, 2017 |via=Google News }} His later years at Washington were marred by accusations of racism and the backlash that resulted from his actions and attitudes towards black players.{{cite news |url=https://www.si.com/vault/1969/09/01/610543/shave-off-that-thing |magazine=Sports Illustrated |last=Underwood |first=John |title=Shave off that thing!|date=September 1, 1969 |page=20}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=i3BYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JvgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7084%2C4220927 |work=Spokane Daily Chronicle |location=(Washington) |agency=AP, UPI |title=UW blacks stay home |date=October 31, 1969 |page=17}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JGpYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LvgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7498%2C3116089 |work=Spokane Daily Chronicle |location=(Washington) |agency=AP, UPI |title=Tension easing at UW |date=November 12, 1969 |page=35}}{{cite web |url=http://www.historylink.org/File/5745 |title=Carver Gayton reflects on the Jim Owens statue at Husky Stadium, University of Washington |last=Gayton |first=Carver |date=September 19, 2004 |publisher=HistoryLink|agency=(essay 5745) |access-date=June 23, 2017 }}{{cite web |url=https://historylink.org/File/3645 |title=Huskies coach Jim Owens suspends four African American football players on October 30, 1969 |publisher=HistoryLink |agency=(essay 3645) |last=Wilma |first=David |date=November 27, 2001 |access-date=August 25, 2019}} He was succeeded as head coach by Don James, the head coach at Kent State, who also led the Huskies for eighteen seasons. Owens later apologized for his actions as part of his acknowledgements as a statue of him was erected at Washington in 2003.{{cite news |last=Iwasaki |first=John |date=October 24, 2003 |title=A controversial statue creates dissent, healing |url=https://www.seattlepi.com/sports/article/a-controversial-statue-creates-dissent-healing-1127965.php |work=The Seattle Times |access-date=October 19, 2024 }}

Owens died at age 82 in 2009 at his home in Bigfork, Montana.{{cite news |author= |title=Jim Owens, former Washington football coach, dies at 82 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/09/sports/ncaafootball/09owens.html |work=New York Times |agency=Associated Press |date=June 8, 2009 |access-date=June 23, 2017 }}

Head coaching record

{{CFB Yearly Record Start | type = coach | team = | conf = | bowl = | poll = both }}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead

| name = Washington Huskies

| conf = Pacific Coast Conference

| startyear = 1957

| endyear = 1958

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1957

Jim&nbsp;Owens

Biography

=Playing career=

=Coaching career=

Head coaching record

References

External links

Jim Owens