RIP Jim Owens
by kirkd on Jun 6, 2009 12:23 PM PDT
15 comments
Just reported by Bob Condotta that former Husky coach Jim Owens has passed away. RIP coach, and thank you for your enduring contributions to Husky football - you are a Husky legend. You helped turn the balance of power in the Rose Bowl away from the Big 10 and back to the West Coast with your dominating Husky teams from 1959-60 and established a long tradition to tough, physical Husky football and re-established the UW as a West Coast power.
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True Husky Legend
Up until the late 90’s we’ve really been spoilled with coaches that are truly loyal to the UW. It’s hard to believe we only had two head coaches between 1957 and 1992. Hopefully they will honor him at one of the games this season.
"Bow Down to Washington"
"Kick the tires and light the fires!"
1978 Rose Bowl
I remember JO holding court at the 1978 Rose Bowl in the ballroom of the Bonaventure Hotel in LA. He had a number of players he recruitied on that team and he just lit up the room with his smile and personality.
I was born in 1958 so Owens was always larger than life to me.
I am really going to miss the “Big Fella”
A sad note
Such a complex story, one can’t begin to condense it into this forum.
I hope that we can all learn from his life and times.
Whoa
I’m not certain from the remarks below if mine above were misinterpreted, so let me clarify that they were entirely respectful.
Coach Owens’ saga was in many ways the history of an era in America, and many of the lessons therein transcend any generational differences. If you were there, you know; if you weren’t, it’s worth your study.
For now let’s just say, the man was a winner.
My comment
was a “in general” commentary on the younger generation and their judgemental ways, nothing against what you wrote.
To me, JO and DJ defined what was the heyday of Husky football although JO wasn’t able to adapt to the changing social climate he was still a great coach in his context.
Complex story
A very complex story that is sometimes unfairly judged with the eye of a revisionist if you are refering to 1969.
If you weren’t an adult in 1960’s there is no way you can fairly judge or compare the culture that existed back then.
I think it is best that today we remember the best of the man.
In my opinion there was a lot wore best than worst.
I agree with you John
it is best today to remember the best of the man.
I graduated from Garfield High School in 1959 in the same class as Charles Mitchell and an other excellent football player who went to the UW, Billy Hilliard. Charles was not a victim of stacking, but maybe Bill was, I don’t know… you’d have to ask them. I was involved in sit- ins and marches for racial equality. I am a white guy. I remember at one time in the late ’50s or early ’60s coaches and players at a major university in the South claiming to be “the number one white team in the nation.” It made me sick.
It is true that those of you who were not adults in those days have no idea what it was like. And it is sad that it took us so long to get where we are today; but I am glad we are there and I am proud of it. There is still much work to be done.
RIP Big Jim. I will never forget those first three Rose Bowl games.
Olddog
I’m Garfield HS 1963 . Even Swede Lindquist/ John Boitano were accused of stacking late in the 60s. It was an ugly time. I have always felt very fortunate for my Garfield HS experience, when I attended school was 30% asian (myself), 30% african american and 40% white with that 40 % split fairly evenly economically.
I loved those JO teams for their toughness. My favorite examples, Bill Douglas limping out of RB with a broken leg, and Charlie Browning staggering off field after colliding with Mel Renfro of the Ducks at Multnomah, Renfro being carted off on a stretcher. Damn they were tough.
Stacking
Stacking whether intentional or unintentional was a common practice at all schools not just Washington in the 50’s and 60’s. Oregon for example had the worst reputation for doing sort of thing during that period of time.
To place the blame squarely on Owen’s shoulders is unfair since that is the way the boosters, school administration, and the UW Board of Regents wanted it back then. Everyone has there bosses and if we want to keep our jobs we usually follow orders. Anyway Washington was not alone in the practice and was far from being the worst. Owens kept it as fair as he could back then. The majority of Black players who played under him tend to agree.
USC and UCLA stopped doing it in the mid 1960’s and it shows in their records during that point in time. I am not really sure if the practice was still going on at UW in 1969 but the perception was there.
Younger guys have to remember that it wasn’t until 1970 that black athletes were allowed to play in the SEC.
One guy who came along at the wrong time in the late 1950’s was Luther Carr Sr.. He was one of the most talented athletes to ever set foot on the UW campus. He was definitely a victim of stacking. If you ask him he will tell you that going to UW was the greatest thing that ever happened to him. He accepted the stacking since that just how things were back then. His only regret is he graduated a year before the 1960 Rose Bowl.
I will be doing an interview with his son Luther Jr who is coaching at Idaho once we get closer to the season. Maybe those are one of things we can talk about if he is open to it.
by John Berkowitz on Jun 7, 2009 11:09 AM PDT up reply actions
RIP J.O.
The reason I am a UW fan. I loved his teams, tough. Platoon football was part of his demise. The insensitivity to minorities are more a refection of the times. I remember when Harry Belafonte held Petula Clarks arm on national TV, and the outrage it generated. We have come a long way, but lets not go back and revise the history and culture of the times to suit our modern mores. FYIW, Sen Magnuson and then Cal Governor Earl Warren urged and Pres Roosevelt ordered the roundup and internment of Japanese Americans. Let the times go rest.
I am very sad that Coach Jim Owens has passed. We should be honoring his memory, not dredging up ugly revisionist history.
toughness exemplified
My cousin said a friend of his, who played at SC during Owen’s time, said that the SC coaches told the players that they haven’t played in a football game until they’ve played Washington. That it will be, year after year, the toughest opponent they will ever play.
The best compliment, I’d say.
From the Seattle PI Blog
Owens impacted a lot of people in a positive fashion in his time at Washington from 1957-74 and it would be wrong to judge him only by difficulties from a situation that wasn’t always as black and white as people want to make them.
Judging people
for actions done 30 or 40 years ago by today’s standard is a real problem. IMHO, but it’s done all the time unfortunately. The 50’s and 60’s had different standards than what exists today, it wasn’t until the late 60’s/early 70’s that things started to change for minorities.
He was a good man who unfortunately was slow to embrace or anticipate the change that was happening in the country between 1962 to 1969. As I said in an earlier post above he wasn’t alone at UW in doing that but he was solely held responsible.
I always wonder what Washington would have become if they had been more proactive concerning race during that time period. If UW had been a leader history would have been much different for the coach and the program.
Art Thiel wrote his take on Owens today in the PI.
Afterward, Owens said: "It was a painful time, especially for the black athletes. Some of the decisions I made, I felt would be best for the team. It was never my intent to single out black athletes in any way.
“Looking back, I wish I had done some things differently. I mean this from the bottom of my heart.”
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