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Bennie Owen

Benjamin Gilbert Owen (July 24, 1875 – February 26, 1970) was an American football player and coach of football, basketball, and baseball. He served as the head football coach at Washburn College, now Washburn University, in 1900, at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas, from 1902 to 1904, and at the University of Oklahoma from 1905 to 1926, compiling a career college football record of 155–60–19. Owen was also the head basketball coach at Oklahoma from 1908 to 1921, tallying a mark of 113–49, and the head baseball coach at the school from 1906 to 1922, amassing a record of 142–102–4. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1951.

Bennie Owen
Biographical details
Born(1875-07-24)July 24, 1875
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
DiedFebruary 26, 1970(1970-02-26) (aged 94)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Playing career
Football
1897–1899Kansas
Position(s)Quarterback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Football
1900Washburn
1901Michigan (assistant)
1902–1904Bethany (KS)
1905–1926Oklahoma
Basketball
1908–1921Oklahoma
Baseball
1906–1922Oklahoma
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
1907–1934Oklahoma
Head coaching record
Overall155–60–19 (football)
113–49 (basketball)
142–102–4 (baseball)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
2 SWC (1915, 1918)
1 MVIAA (1920)
College Football Hall of Fame
Inducted in 1951 (profile)

Early life and playing career

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Owen was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1875 and his family moved to St. Louis, Missouri when he was 12. After he finished school, his family again moved, this time to Arkansas City, Kansas. There Owen 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.[1]

Owen played football at Kansas under two excellent, but contrasting coaches. Wylie G. Woodruff, an All American player from the University of Pennsylvania came to Kansas to coach football in the fall of 1897. Owen got a part-time job working as a medical assistant for Woodruff and it was Woodruff who encouraged Owen to try out for the Kansas football team. Owen played under Woodruff for two seasons. Woodruff specialized in a tough, hard-hitting style of football Woodruff's message to his players was "hurdle the wounded, step on the dead." Woodruff was released at the end of the 1898 season and Kansas hired Fielding H. Yost from the University of Nebraska. Unlike, Woodruff, Yost's style of football was based on innovation, speed, and cunning. Owen was the star quarterback for Yost's undefeated 1899 team.

Coaching career

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Upon graduating from Kansas, Owen took his first head coaching job at Washburn College. Following a one-year stint there, he spent the 1901 season as Yost's assistant at the University of Michigan. While at Michigan, he helped Yost develop the famous "Point-a-Minute" teams built around halfback Willie Heston.[2]

Owen got his first exposure to the Oklahoma football team while head coach at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas. His Bethany Swedes met and defeated two Sooner teams in 1903 and 1904.[3] In the following offseason, the Western University of Pennsylvania looked to have Owen become the head coach of the Panthers. However, athletic director Vernon Louis Parrington hired Owen.[4]

Owen took over the Oklahoma 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 rival Texas Longhorns. Owen was loved by the players as he regularly would involve himself in scrimmages when he felt his players were lagging.[2] 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 Stratton D. Brooks's tenure as president of the University of Oklahoma, Owen was fired by the state legislature. They believed his salary of $3,500 (equivalent to $105,414 in 2023) was far too great for an athletics coach and used the loss of his arm as an excuse for dismissal. They recommended he be terminated and shortly thereafter, he was. However, when 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."[5]

 
Owen's undefeated team of 1915.

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 teams would regularly go out on long, grueling road trips. In 1905, his Sooners played three games in five days and in 1909 they played three games in six days.[6] Owen is also known for introducing the forward pass to football in the Southwestern United States.[6] This allowed his team to quickly score against lesser opponents. In 1911, his team defeated Kingfisher College, 104–0. Largely because of their accomplishments during Owen's era as head coach, the Oklahoma Sooners have scored the most points of any team in college football history. In 1,154 games through the 2009 season, the Sooners have scored 30,897 points with over 5,000 of those being contributed by Owen's teams. Owen's Sooners twice scored over 150 points in a game and won three games in 1915 by a combined score of 258–0. Owen's overall record at Oklahoma was 122–54–16. Along with Bud Wilkinson, Barry Switzer and Bob Stoops, he is one of four coaches to win over 100 games at Oklahoma. No other college football program has had more than three coaches accomplish the feat.[7]

In addition to coaching football, 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.[8]

In 1910, Owen became an initiated member of the Delta Epsilon chapter of Sigma Nu at the University of Oklahoma.[9] Owen had been living in the Sigma Nu chapter house's basement at 526 South University Boulevard during this time.[9] Because he was taking several classes at the university, he was eligible to become an initiated member at the request of several of his players that had become members themselves.[9] Owen would go onto be very active with Sigma Nu for many years, notably helping found the Epsilon Epsilon chapter of Sigma Nu at Oklahoma State University in 1920.[10]

Honors and death

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While the name of the Oklahoma football stadium is the Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, they originally played at Boyd Field during Owen's tenure and later moved and renamed Owen Field in his honor. The playing surface itself still retains the name Owen Field and many still refer to the stadium as a whole as such. Owen was a charter member of the College Football Hall of Fame, elected in 1951.[11] He died February 26, 1970, in Houston, Texas, at age 94.

Head coaching record

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Football

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Year Team Overall Conference Standing
Washburn Ichabods (Independent) (1900)
1900 Washburn 6–2
Washburn: 6–2
Bethany Terrible Swedes (Independent) (1902–1904)
1902 Bethany 8–1–1
1903 Bethany 7–1–1
1904 Bethany 7–0
Bethany: 22–2–2
Oklahoma Sooners (Independent) (1905–1913)
1905 Oklahoma 7–2
1906 Oklahoma 5–2–2
1907 Oklahoma 4–4
1908 Oklahoma 8–1–1
1909 Oklahoma 6–4
1910 Oklahoma 4–2–1
1911 Oklahoma 8–0
1912 Oklahoma 5–4
1913 Oklahoma 6–2
Oklahoma Sooners (Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference) (1914)
1914 Oklahoma 9–1–1
Oklahoma Sooners (Southwest Conference) (1915–1919)
1915 Oklahoma 10–0 3–0 1st
1916 Oklahoma 6–5 2–1 T–3rd
1917 Oklahoma 6–4–1 1–1–1 T–3rd
1918 Oklahoma 6–0 2–0 T–1st
1919 Oklahoma 5–2–3 2–1
Oklahoma Sooners (Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association) (1920–1926)
1920 Oklahoma 6–0–1 4–0–1 1st
1921 Oklahoma 5–3 2–3 T–7th
1922 Oklahoma 2–3–3 1–2–2 5th
1923 Oklahoma 3–5 2–4 6th
1924 Oklahoma 2–5–1 2–3–1 6th
1925 Oklahoma 4–3–1 3–3–1 T–5th
1926 Oklahoma 5–2–1 3–2–1 5th
Oklahoma: 122–54–16 27–20–7
Total: 150–58–18
      National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth

Men's basketball

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Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Oklahoma Sooners (Independent) (1908–1919)
1908–09 Oklahoma 3–3
1909–10 Oklahoma 8–0
1910–11 Oklahoma 1–5
1911–12 Oklahoma 7–2
1912–13 Oklahoma 8–0
1913–14 Oklahoma 7–1
1914–15 Oklahoma 7–5
1915–16 Oklahoma 19–7
1916–17 Oklahoma 13–8
1917–18 Oklahoma 11–1
1918–19 Oklahoma 12–0
Oklahoma (Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association) (1919–1921)
1919–20 Oklahoma 9–7 3–7 5th
1920–21 Oklahoma 8–10 5–9 7th
Oklahoma: 113–49 (.698) 8–16 (.333)
Total: 113–49 (.698)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

Baseball

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Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Oklahoma Sooners (Independent) (1906–1922)
1906 Oklahoma 10–6
1907 Oklahoma 12–5
1909 Oklahoma 13–4
1910 Oklahoma 11–9
1911 Oklahoma 11–6
1912 Oklahoma 6–6–1
1913 Oklahoma 11–6
1914 Oklahoma 12–7–1
1915 Oklahoma 17–4
1916 Oklahoma 7–9
1918 Oklahoma 10–6
1919 Oklahoma 6–7
1920 Oklahoma 5–8–1
1921 Oklahoma 6–9–1
1922 Oklahoma 5–10
Oklahoma: 142–102–4 (.581)
Total: 142–102–4 (.581)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

References

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  1. ^ Levy, David (2005). The University of Oklahoma: A History. Volume I, 1890-1917. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-3703-7.
  2. ^ a b Long, Charles F. (September 1965). "With Optimism For the Morrow: A History of The University of Oklahoma". Sooner Magazine.
  3. ^ College Football Data Warehouse Archived May 22, 2010, at the Wayback Machine University of Oklahoma football records, 1900-1904
  4. ^ Clark, J. Brent (August 13, 2001). "Owen Started it All Athletics Pioneer Left His Mark on OU Football". The Oklahoman. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
  5. ^ Keith, Harold (February 1949). "Dr. Stratton D. Brooks, 1869-1949" (PDF). Sooner Magazine. pp. 7–11. Retrieved July 30, 2006.
  6. ^ a b Keith, Harold (September 1942). "Football Ups and Downs" (PDF). Sooner Magazine. pp. 12–13, 54.
  7. ^ "Bennie Owen Records by Year". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on February 15, 2010. Retrieved July 26, 2006.
  8. ^ Galloway, Paul (November 1967). "Want a Winning Basketball Team?" (PDF). Sooner Magazine. pp. 11–13.
  9. ^ a b c King, Gary (2015). Oklahoma's Bennie Owen: Man for All Seasons. Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing. pp. 92 & 93. ISBN 978-1626199491.
  10. ^ "Sigma Nu - Epsilon Epsilon - Chapter History". www.osusigmanu.com. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
  11. ^ "Bennie Owen: Member Biography". College Football Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on June 10, 2011. Retrieved July 26, 2006.
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