There are many reasons why I fly Southwest! But this video made me remember why I like the Southwest Airlines Flight Attendants' personalities. Let's face it, if you've ever been on a Southwest Airlines flight you will know it's entertaining! BOOMER SOONER!!!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Oklahoma in National Championship Race - AccuScore
Great blog post from Zach Rosenfield, he gives a good perspective on what Oklahoma fans need to focus on moving forward:
Oklahoma in National Championship Race
Oklahoma in National Championship Race
Monday, September 21, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Bennie Owen: OU’s Man for All Seasons
By: Gary King
Before Bob and Barry, even before Bud, there was Bennie… Bennie Owen, and he might have been the best of them all. He was certainly the most innovative.
Beauty pawed the dirt, tossed her head back and flared her nostrils. “Easy girl,” Bennie said. “The gun will sound in just a minute and then we’re gonna race.”
It was almost noon on Saturday, September 16, 1893. Bennie Owen and his black mare, Beauty, were waiting at the south border of Kansas for the start of the Cherokee Strip Land Run. It was the largest land run in American History. The United States government was offering 40,000 parcels of free land in what is now northern Oklahoma. The Cherokee Strip contained more than 6 ½ million acres. It was larger than the states of Delaware, Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. Any United States citizen (male or female) who was at least 21 years old and had not previously benefited from the Homestead Act was eligible to stake a claim. Native Americans, whose ancestors had hunted on this land for at least 10,000 years were not considered U. S. citizens and were not allowed to race.
By nightfall every acre had been claimed. The intrepid settlers built sod huts and tried to farm the dry land but conditions were so unforgiving that only 25% of those who filed claims were able to survive for six months in order to satisfy the residency requirement and receive their official deeds.
Bennie’s family lived in Arkansas City, Kansas which was only three miles from the northern starting point for the land run. On the day of the race it was estimated that 100,000 people were in town. Three days later only 5,000 remained. For months Bennie had watched them come. Some came on horseback. Others came in wagons with their families. Others came on foot. It was a time of great hope and high adventure.
Bennie had ridden Beauty deep into Oklahoma Territory many times chasing coyotes and jackrabbits. He knew the area well. He was one of 50,000 who lined up on the northern border of the Cherokee Strip that day and there were at least that many on the southern boundary. A few shameless mercenaries at the starting line were charging a nickel for a drink of water and many were willing to pay it to choke down the dust; dust so thick, by one participant’s account, that he could not see more than three feet in front of his face.
Bennie was only seventeen years old and therefore ineligible to file a claim but he was not about to miss this adventure. When the shotgun blast sounded, he and Beauty raced among the leaders for four miles before he reluctantly pulled up and turned for home.
It was not yet time for him to live in this untamed land. Twelve years later he would move into the very heart of this windswept prairie and he would play an important role in shaping the history of the young state and the destiny of the new university in Norman.
Bennie Owen made such an impact on Oklahoma that the most valuable and best known acre of land in the state now bears his name. This acre is, of course, Owen Field, the turf on which the University of Oklahoma football games are played. He was afforded this honor because…Benjamin Gilbert Owen was a coach. He is best remembered as the mentor of the University of Oklahoma’s football team from 1905 through 1926 but he also coached basketball at OU from 1909 to 1921 and baseball from 1906 until 1922. Truly he was a man for all seasons.
On October 16, 1907 Bennie Owen lost his right arm in a hunting accident. He was soon back at work and doing everything a man with two arms could do…and more. He hunted and fished. He shuffled, dealt, held and played cards with one hand. He drove his old stick-shift Buick all over Norman with reckless abandon. He even tied his own shoelaces. His good friend Phillip Kendall observed. “Bennie didn’t know he only had one arm. I think he made himself forget it and he made you forget it too. He was the most complete and well rounded person I’ve ever known.”
During the first ten years Owen coached at Oklahoma there were many rules changes in football. Owen used these new rules as an opportunity to add to his offensive arsenal. J. Brent Clark wrote in Sooner Century: One Hundred Glorious Years of Oklahoma Football, “Nowhere in America was there a more skilled or creative mind than Bennie Owen of Oklahoma.” He split his ends out, unbalanced his line, ran the “tackle-around” play. The “tackle-eligible” pass is one of the oldest plays in football but Bennie’s tackles didn’t just catch passes they also threw them. He developed the “long punt” formation which was an early prototype of the single-wing, and he was the first OU coach to have a spring practice.
Bud Wilkinson, in the 1950s, ran the “fast break,” reeling off plays as fast as he could and in 2008 Bob Stoops installed the “no huddle” offense. Owen ran both fifty years before Bud and a hundred years before Bob. Charley Orr, a 117 lb. quarterback who won his letter in 1912, said, In those days we didn’t hold any conferences (huddles) behind the line of scrimmage after each play. We called signals and we called ‘um fast. I’ve called many a signal flat on my back thirty yards from the ball.”
However, Owen is probably best remembered for the innovations he made in the passing game. It might surprise some fans who remember OU football before Bob Stoops, back in the days of Wilkinson and Switzer who disdained the pass, to learn that Bennie Owen’s teams were throwing the ball 30-35 times a game before WWI. Forrest “Spot” Geyer, the first Sooner to be picked as an All-American consistently threw for over 200 yards a game between 1913 and 1915. Geyer could easily heave the ball 55 yards in the air even though the ball they were using in those days more closely resembled a pumpkin than the streamlined missile quarterbacks hurl today.
In a 1914 game OU scored five passing TDs. That same year Al Lindsey, a halfback for Kansas who would later become a coach at OU said, “Oklahoma bewildered us with forward passes.” The venerable Harold Keith wrote in Oklahoma Kickoff, “Oklahoma appears to have been the first team in America to go in consistently for mass production of aerial play and to prove that the forward pass could be a major unit of the offense in every game on the schedule with the forward passing yardage usually surpassing the running yardage.”
Owen’s twenty-two year tenure is the longest of any coach in OU history. He won 122 games, lost 54 and tied 16. If these numbers don’t seem all that spectacular in comparison to some of the coaches who followed him, it must be remembered that his players were walk-ons – all of them. He did not recruit players and he gave out no scholarships. He thought the reason for going to college was to get an education and that football was an extracurricular activity. “All we got out of football was the fun,” Sabe Hott, a tackle for Owen from 1910-’13, said. “It was sport and that’s why we played. If Bennie had offered me board, room and tuition I wouldn’t have played for him.”
Owen had three all-victorious seasons, 1911, ’15, and ’18, and his 1920 team was undefeated with one tie. Even though he would never have tried to embarrass an opponent by running up the score, his teams scored more than 100 points nine times and more than eighty on four other occasions. Such lopsided victories were unavoidable since his starters had to play almost the whole game because he seldom had more than fifteen men on a squad.
Bennie Owen was always noted for his fine sportsmanship in a time when sportsmanship was not exactly commonplace. Dewey “Snorter” Luster, Captain of Owen’s unbeaten 1920 team and later OU’s head coach said, “Bennie was a sportsman in every sense of the word, a true sportsman. He knew how to win and lose like a gentleman.” Ivan Grove an outstanding quarterback for Henry Kendall College (which later became the University of Tulsa) in 1917, recalled, “Oklahoma absolutely had the cleanest team of all the teams we ever played.”
In this regard Oklahoma teams clearly reflected the personality and values of their coach. No one led a “cleaner” life than Bennie Owen. He did not drink, smoke, chew or use profanity. His favorite expression was “Gee Cly!” but if he was really upset he might shout out “murder, murder, murder!” Page Belcher, a guard for Owen in 1918, said, “Bennie was clean as a pin himself and wouldn’t let us swear, either in practice or in a game. If some player sang out in disgust, ‘Hell I dropped it!’ Bennie would stop practice in a flash and call the whole squad in. ‘We don’t use that kind of language around here,’ he’d tell everybody. ‘You’re men now and men don’t talk that way.’”
When Owen stepped down as head football coach in 1926, OU President Dr. William Bennett Bizzell, said, “For more than twenty years, Bennie Owen has stood for good sportsmanship and high ideals. No man identified with athletic activities in this country has contributed more than he has to the wholesomeness of athletics.”
But Owen was much more than a coach. He was also a visionary and a builder. As Director of Athletics from 1907-1934 and later as Intramural Director from ’34 until his retirement in 1950 at the age of 75, he was the driving force which produced Owen Field, the Fieldhouse, the men’s swimming pool, the baseball field and bleachers, the concrete tennis courts, the nine-hole golf course, and the intramural playing fields.
Bennie Owen died on February 26, 1970 at the age of ninety-four. Upon hearing of his death University of Oklahoma President Emeritus, George Lynn Cross said, “His contributions to the university athletic program can never be measured. He was a legend in his own time and the name of Bennie Owen will always be synonymous with OU football.”
Let’s hope so.
Before Bob and Barry, even before Bud, there was Bennie… Bennie Owen, and he might have been the best of them all. He was certainly the most innovative.
Beauty pawed the dirt, tossed her head back and flared her nostrils. “Easy girl,” Bennie said. “The gun will sound in just a minute and then we’re gonna race.”
It was almost noon on Saturday, September 16, 1893. Bennie Owen and his black mare, Beauty, were waiting at the south border of Kansas for the start of the Cherokee Strip Land Run. It was the largest land run in American History. The United States government was offering 40,000 parcels of free land in what is now northern Oklahoma. The Cherokee Strip contained more than 6 ½ million acres. It was larger than the states of Delaware, Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. Any United States citizen (male or female) who was at least 21 years old and had not previously benefited from the Homestead Act was eligible to stake a claim. Native Americans, whose ancestors had hunted on this land for at least 10,000 years were not considered U. S. citizens and were not allowed to race.By nightfall every acre had been claimed. The intrepid settlers built sod huts and tried to farm the dry land but conditions were so unforgiving that only 25% of those who filed claims were able to survive for six months in order to satisfy the residency requirement and receive their official deeds.
Bennie’s family lived in Arkansas City, Kansas which was only three miles from the northern starting point for the land run. On the day of the race it was estimated that 100,000 people were in town. Three days later only 5,000 remained. For months Bennie had watched them come. Some came on horseback. Others came in wagons with their families. Others came on foot. It was a time of great hope and high adventure.Bennie had ridden Beauty deep into Oklahoma Territory many times chasing coyotes and jackrabbits. He knew the area well. He was one of 50,000 who lined up on the northern border of the Cherokee Strip that day and there were at least that many on the southern boundary. A few shameless mercenaries at the starting line were charging a nickel for a drink of water and many were willing to pay it to choke down the dust; dust so thick, by one participant’s account, that he could not see more than three feet in front of his face.
Bennie was only seventeen years old and therefore ineligible to file a claim but he was not about to miss this adventure. When the shotgun blast sounded, he and Beauty raced among the leaders for four miles before he reluctantly pulled up and turned for home.
It was not yet time for him to live in this untamed land. Twelve years later he would move into the very heart of this windswept prairie and he would play an important role in shaping the history of the young state and the destiny of the new university in Norman.
Bennie Owen made such an impact on Oklahoma that the most valuable and best known acre of land in the state now bears his name. This acre is, of course, Owen Field, the turf on which the University of Oklahoma football games are played. He was afforded this honor because…Benjamin Gilbert Owen was a coach. He is best remembered as the mentor of the University of Oklahoma’s football team from 1905 through 1926 but he also coached basketball at OU from 1909 to 1921 and baseball from 1906 until 1922. Truly he was a man for all seasons.
On October 16, 1907 Bennie Owen lost his right arm in a hunting accident. He was soon back at work and doing everything a man with two arms could do…and more. He hunted and fished. He shuffled, dealt, held and played cards with one hand. He drove his old stick-shift Buick all over Norman with reckless abandon. He even tied his own shoelaces. His good friend Phillip Kendall observed. “Bennie didn’t know he only had one arm. I think he made himself forget it and he made you forget it too. He was the most complete and well rounded person I’ve ever known.”
During the first ten years Owen coached at Oklahoma there were many rules changes in football. Owen used these new rules as an opportunity to add to his offensive arsenal. J. Brent Clark wrote in Sooner Century: One Hundred Glorious Years of Oklahoma Football, “Nowhere in America was there a more skilled or creative mind than Bennie Owen of Oklahoma.” He split his ends out, unbalanced his line, ran the “tackle-around” play. The “tackle-eligible” pass is one of the oldest plays in football but Bennie’s tackles didn’t just catch passes they also threw them. He developed the “long punt” formation which was an early prototype of the single-wing, and he was the first OU coach to have a spring practice.
Bud Wilkinson, in the 1950s, ran the “fast break,” reeling off plays as fast as he could and in 2008 Bob Stoops installed the “no huddle” offense. Owen ran both fifty years before Bud and a hundred years before Bob. Charley Orr, a 117 lb. quarterback who won his letter in 1912, said, In those days we didn’t hold any conferences (huddles) behind the line of scrimmage after each play. We called signals and we called ‘um fast. I’ve called many a signal flat on my back thirty yards from the ball.”
However, Owen is probably best remembered for the innovations he made in the passing game. It might surprise some fans who remember OU football before Bob Stoops, back in the days of Wilkinson and Switzer who disdained the pass, to learn that Bennie Owen’s teams were throwing the ball 30-35 times a game before WWI. Forrest “Spot” Geyer, the first Sooner to be picked as an All-American consistently threw for over 200 yards a game between 1913 and 1915. Geyer could easily heave the ball 55 yards in the air even though the ball they were using in those days more closely resembled a pumpkin than the streamlined missile quarterbacks hurl today.
In a 1914 game OU scored five passing TDs. That same year Al Lindsey, a halfback for Kansas who would later become a coach at OU said, “Oklahoma bewildered us with forward passes.” The venerable Harold Keith wrote in Oklahoma Kickoff, “Oklahoma appears to have been the first team in America to go in consistently for mass production of aerial play and to prove that the forward pass could be a major unit of the offense in every game on the schedule with the forward passing yardage usually surpassing the running yardage.”
Owen’s twenty-two year tenure is the longest of any coach in OU history. He won 122 games, lost 54 and tied 16. If these numbers don’t seem all that spectacular in comparison to some of the coaches who followed him, it must be remembered that his players were walk-ons – all of them. He did not recruit players and he gave out no scholarships. He thought the reason for going to college was to get an education and that football was an extracurricular activity. “All we got out of football was the fun,” Sabe Hott, a tackle for Owen from 1910-’13, said. “It was sport and that’s why we played. If Bennie had offered me board, room and tuition I wouldn’t have played for him.”
Owen had three all-victorious seasons, 1911, ’15, and ’18, and his 1920 team was undefeated with one tie. Even though he would never have tried to embarrass an opponent by running up the score, his teams scored more than 100 points nine times and more than eighty on four other occasions. Such lopsided victories were unavoidable since his starters had to play almost the whole game because he seldom had more than fifteen men on a squad.
Bennie Owen was always noted for his fine sportsmanship in a time when sportsmanship was not exactly commonplace. Dewey “Snorter” Luster, Captain of Owen’s unbeaten 1920 team and later OU’s head coach said, “Bennie was a sportsman in every sense of the word, a true sportsman. He knew how to win and lose like a gentleman.” Ivan Grove an outstanding quarterback for Henry Kendall College (which later became the University of Tulsa) in 1917, recalled, “Oklahoma absolutely had the cleanest team of all the teams we ever played.”
In this regard Oklahoma teams clearly reflected the personality and values of their coach. No one led a “cleaner” life than Bennie Owen. He did not drink, smoke, chew or use profanity. His favorite expression was “Gee Cly!” but if he was really upset he might shout out “murder, murder, murder!” Page Belcher, a guard for Owen in 1918, said, “Bennie was clean as a pin himself and wouldn’t let us swear, either in practice or in a game. If some player sang out in disgust, ‘Hell I dropped it!’ Bennie would stop practice in a flash and call the whole squad in. ‘We don’t use that kind of language around here,’ he’d tell everybody. ‘You’re men now and men don’t talk that way.’”
When Owen stepped down as head football coach in 1926, OU President Dr. William Bennett Bizzell, said, “For more than twenty years, Bennie Owen has stood for good sportsmanship and high ideals. No man identified with athletic activities in this country has contributed more than he has to the wholesomeness of athletics.”
But Owen was much more than a coach. He was also a visionary and a builder. As Director of Athletics from 1907-1934 and later as Intramural Director from ’34 until his retirement in 1950 at the age of 75, he was the driving force which produced Owen Field, the Fieldhouse, the men’s swimming pool, the baseball field and bleachers, the concrete tennis courts, the nine-hole golf course, and the intramural playing fields.
Bennie Owen died on February 26, 1970 at the age of ninety-four. Upon hearing of his death University of Oklahoma President Emeritus, George Lynn Cross said, “His contributions to the university athletic program can never be measured. He was a legend in his own time and the name of Bennie Owen will always be synonymous with OU football.”
Let’s hope so.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Bennie Owen: 1st Down and 10 A Man’s Story On and Off the Field
This summer I was fortunate enough to be introduced to a school paper that my second cousin Michael Reid wrote in his sixth grade class. I was so touched by his work that he deserves a spot on this blog. Enjoy!
1st Down and 10 A Man’s Story On and Off the Field
By:
Michael Reid
Author’s Page and Introduction
Peopling the nation – a project that has been looming over my head ever since walking through the exhibits in the library as a sixth grader. Now it is my turn to construct this challenging, yet
insanely rewarding project that has been a tradition of Jackson Middle School’s eighth graders for a long time.
I first heard about this project while eavesdropping on my mom and my older brother, who is now a senior in high school, talking about his project while I was outside the office door in my house. I immediately thought, “Oh boy.” But actually doing it now I have come to respect the qualities this project has and the information I have attained from it.
My project is on my great-great-grandfather, Benjamin Gilbert Owen, who was the sixth coach of the Oklahoma Sooner football team, as well as the athletic director, basketball coach, and the organizer of many on-campus memorials that are still there to this day. He has been a role model for many college students, as well as coaches.
I am honored to have this great opportunity to do this report on this incredible man because he has displayed so much leadership and has opened up so many doors for students on and off the field. He led by example and cared for so many others – especially the game of football. Thank you Bennie Owen for loving life and living it to the fullest – you are truly a hero. - Michael Reid
1st Down and 10 A Man’s Story On and Off the Field
“KA-BOOM!” The shotgun discharged sending dozens of metal pellets into the right arm of Bennie Owen. Who knew this peaceful day of hunting could turn into a sour afternoon with just one shot of a gun?
It was three days before the season’s first football game, on October 16, and Bennie Owen was quail hunting with his bird dogs. He was with his buddy John Barbour, south of Adkins Ford near where I - 35 South Canadian River Bridge exists today.[1] After a successful day of hunting, both men loaded up their shotguns for the ride home to Norman, Oklahoma in John’s horse drawn wagon. Sadly, the dog’s feet were full of burrs and caused them extreme pain, resulting in one of the dogs to start falling out of the side of the wagon. Bennie quickly reached for the dog but he bumped his gun causing it to fall down and discharge a heap of pellets into his right arm. In extreme pain, Bennie rushed to the hospital as fast as he could. Upon arrival, Bennie went to the back of the hospital because he didn’t want anyone to see him in this dreadful state.[2] Unfortunately, the ER doctor could not restore circulation, which lead to an amputation below the shoulder of his right arm.[3] His bedside visitors found him more worried about the upcoming game than his own arm. In a matter of days he was out coaching on the gridiron, and within a few weeks he was bird hunting again with one arm. He found great entertainment when wearing a long sleeve shirt by tying the right arm up and start whacking players with it who were slacking.[4] It just goes to show you how life consists not in holding good cards, but by playing those cards you hold well.
Bennie has always been a man to play his cards well ever since he was born on July 24th 1875 in Chicago, Illinois. He was the second of seven children from his father, George H. Owen, who was an emigrant from England, and his mother, Olivia Ann Ring, who was from New York. [5]
Growing up, Bennie lived for the game of baseball - all he thought about was baseball. Luckily for him, when he was twelve years old he moved to St. Louis which ironically hosted one of the nations best baseball teams – the St. Louis Browns. He delighted in seeing the Brown’s manager, Charlie Comiskey; take charge of his players in dealing out thrashings to the best teams in the country. Bennie would rarely ever miss a game.[6] This competition was that of a burning torch in Bennie’s sole - which would never be extinguished.
In 1891, Bennie graduated from St. Louis Clay High School. Soon after graduation, he accompanied his parents and siblings on another move to Sumner County, Kansas, which is about 12 miles west of Arkansas City, not far from the border of Oklahoma Territory. Bennie was immediately put to work on the family wheat farm working long hours on hot days. He somehow found time to attend classes at Hendershot Academy and apprentice to an old country doctor.[7] This small town is where Bennie first experienced the game of football. He was intrigued with the qualities the game had to offer; especially the ability to tackle someone as hard as you could to the ground.[8]
Since this sport was a matter of a few decades old, not many people knew what it was or even how to play it. In fact, football was invented in the early 19th century when a soccer player got
frustrated with having to maneuver the ball with his feet, so he picked it up and started running with it. From this simple act, the game of “Rugby” was born. Rugby found its way to America by the mid 1800s. The first organized match between two teams for this sport was between Harvard University and Yale University in New Brunswick, New York. Since both teams opted for an “egg-shaped” ball instead of a spherical ball, the name was changed from “Rugby” to “Football.” In the early days, each team was allowed twenty five players to be on the playing field for each team, by 1873 this number was reduced to twenty, in 1876 it was reduced again to fifteen, and in 1880 to the present day number of eleven. [10]
Walter Camp, who is considered by some historians to be the “father of football,” convinced the IFA (International Franchise Association) to change a series of rules to very similar of what they are today. Although there have been many rule changes in the history of football, the concept of kicking off at the beginning of each half, the establishment of the line of scrimmage, and the size of the playing field have stayed the same. [11]
Bennie grew fond of the game very fast, and soon enough, was invited to play on the Sumner County football team, led by Arthur St. Leger Mosse (the town’s iceman). [12]
When Bennie wasn’t working on the farm, doctoring, or playing football, he worked at the local Y.M.C.A as the wrestling and boxing instructor.[13] Bennie learned very quickly that it was more important to have small, agile, and fast athletes, rather then big, strong, and slow athletes.[14] Bennie very much fancied his jobs, but still had a major subject on his mind – college.
In the fall of 1897, Bennie enrolled at the University of Kansas. He was aiming to learn something about pharmacy and Latin, because these subjects would enable him to pursue his life long dream of having a medical career.
Although Bennie weighed a mere 126 pounds at this time, he was drawn to the football fields where he would broaden his understanding of the game over the next two years. Over the coarse of his three years at Kansas, he played quarterback for the offense although all his desires were to play defense.[15]
In the fall of 1899, Fielding “Hurry Up” Yost came to Kansas from Nebraska to become the new head football coach. Owen played quarterback for Yost on the undefeated 1899 University of Kansas Jayhawks football team. Fielding Yost was one of college football’s foremost early-day innovators. [16]
Unfortunately, in 1900 Bennie went to Paris, France to visit the Paris Expo, and spent all of his money, which restricted him from further pursuing his life-long dream of becoming a doctor.[17]
Luckily for him though, soon after he was offered a job as head football coach at Topeka’s Washburn College. Here, he coached and played quarterback for his team which won six of eight games. He coached at Washburn for one year.[18]
In 1901, Bennie was offered a coaching position at Michigan to be assistant coach under Fielding Yost. Owen graciously accepted and was once again reunited with his old coach and good friend. While at Michigan, Owen heard that Bethany College of Lindsborg, Kansas was looking for a head coach and so Bennie being the heart-driven person that he is, he pursued the position and was named the 1902-1904 head football coach. During his three-year time at Bethany, Owen freely experimented with different concepts of the game becoming one of the nation’s leading coaches in that aspect. He was also recognized for his leading sportsmanship on and off the field. His three-year record at Bethany was 22-2-2.[19]
Owen was a coach who had a reputation for clean tactics – no profanity, kneeing, fouling, slugging or dirty play by his players. He never shouted, never cussed, nor ever abused a player. Owen’s philosophy insisted that men on the first string would have to work to stay there – no loafing, no late shows to practice and no violating orders.[20]
“They would have to report on time, keep training rules and continue to show up better than the second-string men,” he said. This reputation earned Owen respect around the nation as one of the finest coaching prospects.
After declining in offer to coach at Pittsburgh, in 1905 Owen was offered the head coach job at Oklahoma where he accepted a $900 – three-month check and would start his long stretch of
accomplishments and achievements. Although he did spend his first two years driving back and forth between Norman, Oklahoma (location of university) and Arkansas City (home) because of severe financial budget cuts the university was facing, that didn’t slow him down.[21] Sometimes there would be students in his back seat because he bordered the less fortunate students who could not afford lodging or schooling. He even had to take an “IOU” as part of his salary in 1905.[22]
An example of one of his accomplishments is that he is well known for introducing the “forward pass” to the southern region of America. The “forward pass” usually known quite simply as a “pass,” is when an offensive player (usually the quarterback) throws the football downfield to a receiver of the same team in the direction of the opponents’ end line (end zone).[23] This critical aspect of the game is what allowed Owen to defeat much bigger, stronger, and faster teams that heavily outweighed Oklahoma in talent. He is also credited for introducing the “cross buck formation.” The cross buck consisted of many “boot leg” plays for the backfield running backs. The term “boot leg” is also known as a “sweep” or “trap.” This formation was accomplished with speed as Owen used smaller and faster players in an age of big, brutal men. [24]
Bennie was head football coach at the University of Oklahoma for 22 years, as well as men’s head basketball coach for 13 years, and in 1907 he was named the University’s athletic director for what would be a term of 27 years.[25]
The Sooner football team was undefeated in 1911, 1915, 1918, and 1920 under their courageous leader – Bennie Owen. Three of his Sooner teams won conference championships including the Southwest Conference in 1915 and 1918, as well as the Missouri Valley Conference in 1920. Oklahoma scored over 100 points in a game eight times, and 50 or more points thirty-one times during Owen’s tenure. [26]
For 22 years as a head football coach at the University, his combined record is 155 wins, 60 losses, and 19 ties (155-60-19). For 13 years as a head basketball coach, his combined record is 113 wins and 49 losses (113-49).[27] A few school record achievements were: most games coached – 192, and most years coached – 22.[28] Along with Bud Wilkinson, Barry Switzer and Bob Stoops, he is one of four coaches to win over 100 games at the University of Oklahoma. No other college has more than three coaches who have accomplished such a feat.[29] In 1951, Bennie was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame. There have been 1,099 total Oklahoma University games with 28,756 points being scored. Bennie has been credited for over 5,000 of them, and when there have been 22 coaches in school history – you do the math.[30]
But sometimes he just needed to get away from all the pressure of coaching and he just needed to relax. When times like these came, he would often go out and clean up his garden – he loved gardening. But what about when his garden was all clean? Simple – he’d load up a shotgun, get his bird dogs, and try to shoot down a few quail. What happened when he ran out of bullets and couldn’t make it to town?
Easy – he’d pick up his fly rod and go try to hook a few trout. Here is a funny story about the time he lost his fly rods:
It was during off-season while Bennie and his friend, who was a pilot, decided to go fishing with the Governor of Colorado, something they had previously been invited to do. So they loaded up their fly rods and flew to Denver from Oklahoma with no problems. They arrived, fished for a while, and soon it got to be time to start heading home. So they packed up their things and took off just realizing moments later how they forgot their fly rods on top of the wings, which had slid off during take off and now lay in the unknown - lost. When his wife found out, she banned him from purchasing another fly rod. What does Bennie do? He goes out, buys a rod, but now has to sneak it around his wife’s back whenever he goes fishing. I bet he’ll make sure to have his rod in eye site at all times now while traveling.
On May 22nd 1912, Bennie married a lovely woman of the name Nina Bessent. They had three beautiful daughters – Jane, Dorothy Ann, and Ruth. Jane, the oldest daughter, married one of the bordered students, Dee Haynes. They went on to have six children, one of which is my grandpa Joe (poppy Joe), who unfortunately past away last year of cancer. Poppy Joe had three marvelous daughters, Connie, Christy, and Jenny. Christy is my step mom, which makes me proudly say, “Bennie Owen is my great-great-grandfather.” [31]
Retirement (noun) – “the state of being retired from one's business or occupation.”[32] Retirement is a word that a lot of people cannot come to coincide with. Not of fear, but of the realization of being retired. Being retired does not mean to completing seclude yourself from activities, but to simply take a breather and realize that you have earned this genuine relaxation.
When Bennie Owen retired after the 1926 season, he was simply just warming up. He went on to orchestrate the fund raising and building of a new stadium, field house, swimming pool, baseball field, tennis courts, and a nine-hole university golf course. The new 30,000-seat stadium was named Memorial Stadium to honor Oklahomans who died in World War I. The stadium still stands today at the corner of Lindsey and Jenkins Streets. The playing surface, where a great tradition has preponderated for nearly all of the 20th Century, was named for him – Owen Field. [33]
Sadly, on February 26, 1970, Benjamin Gilbert Owen was announced dead at the age of 94.[34] As Arthur Rubinstein so profoundly said, “Love life and life will love you back. Love people and they will love you back.” I feel there is no greater example of a person to fit that quote, than my great-great-grandfather.
Bennie Owen, as you lay in the heavens above gleaming down on us with your bright heart and your courageous sole, I want to once again thank you for teaching us lessons through your humbling actions, and caring for so many others. You have conquered the unimaginable, tackled the impossible, and brought hope to the implausible. Although you have departed from earth, you are and will always be remembered as a person with perpetual love. God bless you, and rest in peace.
1. J. Brent Clark, Sooner Century (Kansas City, Coal Valley Quality Sports Publication), 1995
2. Christy Reid/Jim Haynes, “Interview of family members.” Feb. 17th 2009
3. J. Brent Clark, Sooner Century
4. Christy Reid/Jim Haynes interview
5. Christy Reid/Jim Haynes interview
6. J. Brent Clark, Sooner Century
7. Ray Dozier, Oklahoma Football Encyclopedia (Sports Publishing LLC, 2006) p.14
8. Christy Reid/Jim Haynes interview
9. World Book, Inc. “Football, “The World Book Encyclopedia, (2004) F, vol.22
10.Rule Changes.
12.Ray Dozier, Oklahoma Football Encyclopedia
13.J. Brent Clark, Sooner Century
14.Christy Reid/Jim Haynes interview
15.J. Brent Clark, Sooner Century
16.Ray Dozier, Oklahoma Football Encyclopedia
17.Christy Reid/Jim Haynes interview
18.J. Brent Clark, Sooner Century
19.Ray Dozier, Oklahoma Football Encyclopedia
20.J. Brent Clark, Sooner Century
21.Ray Dozier, Oklahoma Football Encyclopedia
22.Christy Reid/Jim Haynes interview
23.Forward Pass. Wikipedia. 19th December 2008.
24.Ray Dozier, Oklahoma Football Encyclopedia
25.Owen, Bennie. “Bennie Owen.” Nation Master. 6th June, 2006.
26.Ray Dozier, Oklahoma Football Encyclopedia
27.Owen, Bennie. “Bennie Owen.” Wikipedia. 17th November, 2008.
28.Sooner Football. Type40, Web design.
29.Owen, Bennie. Wikipedia
30.Sooner Football. Type40, Web design.
31.Christy Reid/Jim Haynes interview
32.Retirement. Dictionary.com
33.Ray Dozier, Sooner Football Encyclopedia
34.J. Brent Clark, Sooner Century
1st Down and 10 A Man’s Story On and Off the Field
By:
Michael Reid
Author’s Page and Introduction
Peopling the nation – a project that has been looming over my head ever since walking through the exhibits in the library as a sixth grader. Now it is my turn to construct this challenging, yet
insanely rewarding project that has been a tradition of Jackson Middle School’s eighth graders for a long time.
I first heard about this project while eavesdropping on my mom and my older brother, who is now a senior in high school, talking about his project while I was outside the office door in my house. I immediately thought, “Oh boy.” But actually doing it now I have come to respect the qualities this project has and the information I have attained from it.
My project is on my great-great-grandfather, Benjamin Gilbert Owen, who was the sixth coach of the Oklahoma Sooner football team, as well as the athletic director, basketball coach, and the organizer of many on-campus memorials that are still there to this day. He has been a role model for many college students, as well as coaches.
I am honored to have this great opportunity to do this report on this incredible man because he has displayed so much leadership and has opened up so many doors for students on and off the field. He led by example and cared for so many others – especially the game of football. Thank you Bennie Owen for loving life and living it to the fullest – you are truly a hero. - Michael Reid
1st Down and 10 A Man’s Story On and Off the Field
“KA-BOOM!” The shotgun discharged sending dozens of metal pellets into the right arm of Bennie Owen. Who knew this peaceful day of hunting could turn into a sour afternoon with just one shot of a gun?
It was three days before the season’s first football game, on October 16, and Bennie Owen was quail hunting with his bird dogs. He was with his buddy John Barbour, south of Adkins Ford near where I - 35 South Canadian River Bridge exists today.[1] After a successful day of hunting, both men loaded up their shotguns for the ride home to Norman, Oklahoma in John’s horse drawn wagon. Sadly, the dog’s feet were full of burrs and caused them extreme pain, resulting in one of the dogs to start falling out of the side of the wagon. Bennie quickly reached for the dog but he bumped his gun causing it to fall down and discharge a heap of pellets into his right arm. In extreme pain, Bennie rushed to the hospital as fast as he could. Upon arrival, Bennie went to the back of the hospital because he didn’t want anyone to see him in this dreadful state.[2] Unfortunately, the ER doctor could not restore circulation, which lead to an amputation below the shoulder of his right arm.[3] His bedside visitors found him more worried about the upcoming game than his own arm. In a matter of days he was out coaching on the gridiron, and within a few weeks he was bird hunting again with one arm. He found great entertainment when wearing a long sleeve shirt by tying the right arm up and start whacking players with it who were slacking.[4] It just goes to show you how life consists not in holding good cards, but by playing those cards you hold well.
Bennie has always been a man to play his cards well ever since he was born on July 24th 1875 in Chicago, Illinois. He was the second of seven children from his father, George H. Owen, who was an emigrant from England, and his mother, Olivia Ann Ring, who was from New York. [5]
Growing up, Bennie lived for the game of baseball - all he thought about was baseball. Luckily for him, when he was twelve years old he moved to St. Louis which ironically hosted one of the nations best baseball teams – the St. Louis Browns. He delighted in seeing the Brown’s manager, Charlie Comiskey; take charge of his players in dealing out thrashings to the best teams in the country. Bennie would rarely ever miss a game.[6] This competition was that of a burning torch in Bennie’s sole - which would never be extinguished.
In 1891, Bennie graduated from St. Louis Clay High School. Soon after graduation, he accompanied his parents and siblings on another move to Sumner County, Kansas, which is about 12 miles west of Arkansas City, not far from the border of Oklahoma Territory. Bennie was immediately put to work on the family wheat farm working long hours on hot days. He somehow found time to attend classes at Hendershot Academy and apprentice to an old country doctor.[7] This small town is where Bennie first experienced the game of football. He was intrigued with the qualities the game had to offer; especially the ability to tackle someone as hard as you could to the ground.[8]
Since this sport was a matter of a few decades old, not many people knew what it was or even how to play it. In fact, football was invented in the early 19th century when a soccer player got
frustrated with having to maneuver the ball with his feet, so he picked it up and started running with it. From this simple act, the game of “Rugby” was born. Rugby found its way to America by the mid 1800s. The first organized match between two teams for this sport was between Harvard University and Yale University in New Brunswick, New York. Since both teams opted for an “egg-shaped” ball instead of a spherical ball, the name was changed from “Rugby” to “Football.” In the early days, each team was allowed twenty five players to be on the playing field for each team, by 1873 this number was reduced to twenty, in 1876 it was reduced again to fifteen, and in 1880 to the present day number of eleven. [10]
Walter Camp, who is considered by some historians to be the “father of football,” convinced the IFA (International Franchise Association) to change a series of rules to very similar of what they are today. Although there have been many rule changes in the history of football, the concept of kicking off at the beginning of each half, the establishment of the line of scrimmage, and the size of the playing field have stayed the same. [11]
Bennie grew fond of the game very fast, and soon enough, was invited to play on the Sumner County football team, led by Arthur St. Leger Mosse (the town’s iceman). [12]
When Bennie wasn’t working on the farm, doctoring, or playing football, he worked at the local Y.M.C.A as the wrestling and boxing instructor.[13] Bennie learned very quickly that it was more important to have small, agile, and fast athletes, rather then big, strong, and slow athletes.[14] Bennie very much fancied his jobs, but still had a major subject on his mind – college.
In the fall of 1897, Bennie enrolled at the University of Kansas. He was aiming to learn something about pharmacy and Latin, because these subjects would enable him to pursue his life long dream of having a medical career.
Although Bennie weighed a mere 126 pounds at this time, he was drawn to the football fields where he would broaden his understanding of the game over the next two years. Over the coarse of his three years at Kansas, he played quarterback for the offense although all his desires were to play defense.[15]
In the fall of 1899, Fielding “Hurry Up” Yost came to Kansas from Nebraska to become the new head football coach. Owen played quarterback for Yost on the undefeated 1899 University of Kansas Jayhawks football team. Fielding Yost was one of college football’s foremost early-day innovators. [16]
Unfortunately, in 1900 Bennie went to Paris, France to visit the Paris Expo, and spent all of his money, which restricted him from further pursuing his life-long dream of becoming a doctor.[17]
Luckily for him though, soon after he was offered a job as head football coach at Topeka’s Washburn College. Here, he coached and played quarterback for his team which won six of eight games. He coached at Washburn for one year.[18]
In 1901, Bennie was offered a coaching position at Michigan to be assistant coach under Fielding Yost. Owen graciously accepted and was once again reunited with his old coach and good friend. While at Michigan, Owen heard that Bethany College of Lindsborg, Kansas was looking for a head coach and so Bennie being the heart-driven person that he is, he pursued the position and was named the 1902-1904 head football coach. During his three-year time at Bethany, Owen freely experimented with different concepts of the game becoming one of the nation’s leading coaches in that aspect. He was also recognized for his leading sportsmanship on and off the field. His three-year record at Bethany was 22-2-2.[19]
Owen was a coach who had a reputation for clean tactics – no profanity, kneeing, fouling, slugging or dirty play by his players. He never shouted, never cussed, nor ever abused a player. Owen’s philosophy insisted that men on the first string would have to work to stay there – no loafing, no late shows to practice and no violating orders.[20]
“They would have to report on time, keep training rules and continue to show up better than the second-string men,” he said. This reputation earned Owen respect around the nation as one of the finest coaching prospects.
After declining in offer to coach at Pittsburgh, in 1905 Owen was offered the head coach job at Oklahoma where he accepted a $900 – three-month check and would start his long stretch of
accomplishments and achievements. Although he did spend his first two years driving back and forth between Norman, Oklahoma (location of university) and Arkansas City (home) because of severe financial budget cuts the university was facing, that didn’t slow him down.[21] Sometimes there would be students in his back seat because he bordered the less fortunate students who could not afford lodging or schooling. He even had to take an “IOU” as part of his salary in 1905.[22]
An example of one of his accomplishments is that he is well known for introducing the “forward pass” to the southern region of America. The “forward pass” usually known quite simply as a “pass,” is when an offensive player (usually the quarterback) throws the football downfield to a receiver of the same team in the direction of the opponents’ end line (end zone).[23] This critical aspect of the game is what allowed Owen to defeat much bigger, stronger, and faster teams that heavily outweighed Oklahoma in talent. He is also credited for introducing the “cross buck formation.” The cross buck consisted of many “boot leg” plays for the backfield running backs. The term “boot leg” is also known as a “sweep” or “trap.” This formation was accomplished with speed as Owen used smaller and faster players in an age of big, brutal men. [24]
Bennie was head football coach at the University of Oklahoma for 22 years, as well as men’s head basketball coach for 13 years, and in 1907 he was named the University’s athletic director for what would be a term of 27 years.[25]
The Sooner football team was undefeated in 1911, 1915, 1918, and 1920 under their courageous leader – Bennie Owen. Three of his Sooner teams won conference championships including the Southwest Conference in 1915 and 1918, as well as the Missouri Valley Conference in 1920. Oklahoma scored over 100 points in a game eight times, and 50 or more points thirty-one times during Owen’s tenure. [26]
For 22 years as a head football coach at the University, his combined record is 155 wins, 60 losses, and 19 ties (155-60-19). For 13 years as a head basketball coach, his combined record is 113 wins and 49 losses (113-49).[27] A few school record achievements were: most games coached – 192, and most years coached – 22.[28] Along with Bud Wilkinson, Barry Switzer and Bob Stoops, he is one of four coaches to win over 100 games at the University of Oklahoma. No other college has more than three coaches who have accomplished such a feat.[29] In 1951, Bennie was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame. There have been 1,099 total Oklahoma University games with 28,756 points being scored. Bennie has been credited for over 5,000 of them, and when there have been 22 coaches in school history – you do the math.[30]
But sometimes he just needed to get away from all the pressure of coaching and he just needed to relax. When times like these came, he would often go out and clean up his garden – he loved gardening. But what about when his garden was all clean? Simple – he’d load up a shotgun, get his bird dogs, and try to shoot down a few quail. What happened when he ran out of bullets and couldn’t make it to town?
Easy – he’d pick up his fly rod and go try to hook a few trout. Here is a funny story about the time he lost his fly rods:
It was during off-season while Bennie and his friend, who was a pilot, decided to go fishing with the Governor of Colorado, something they had previously been invited to do. So they loaded up their fly rods and flew to Denver from Oklahoma with no problems. They arrived, fished for a while, and soon it got to be time to start heading home. So they packed up their things and took off just realizing moments later how they forgot their fly rods on top of the wings, which had slid off during take off and now lay in the unknown - lost. When his wife found out, she banned him from purchasing another fly rod. What does Bennie do? He goes out, buys a rod, but now has to sneak it around his wife’s back whenever he goes fishing. I bet he’ll make sure to have his rod in eye site at all times now while traveling.
On May 22nd 1912, Bennie married a lovely woman of the name Nina Bessent. They had three beautiful daughters – Jane, Dorothy Ann, and Ruth. Jane, the oldest daughter, married one of the bordered students, Dee Haynes. They went on to have six children, one of which is my grandpa Joe (poppy Joe), who unfortunately past away last year of cancer. Poppy Joe had three marvelous daughters, Connie, Christy, and Jenny. Christy is my step mom, which makes me proudly say, “Bennie Owen is my great-great-grandfather.” [31]
Retirement (noun) – “the state of being retired from one's business or occupation.”[32] Retirement is a word that a lot of people cannot come to coincide with. Not of fear, but of the realization of being retired. Being retired does not mean to completing seclude yourself from activities, but to simply take a breather and realize that you have earned this genuine relaxation.
When Bennie Owen retired after the 1926 season, he was simply just warming up. He went on to orchestrate the fund raising and building of a new stadium, field house, swimming pool, baseball field, tennis courts, and a nine-hole university golf course. The new 30,000-seat stadium was named Memorial Stadium to honor Oklahomans who died in World War I. The stadium still stands today at the corner of Lindsey and Jenkins Streets. The playing surface, where a great tradition has preponderated for nearly all of the 20th Century, was named for him – Owen Field. [33]
Sadly, on February 26, 1970, Benjamin Gilbert Owen was announced dead at the age of 94.[34] As Arthur Rubinstein so profoundly said, “Love life and life will love you back. Love people and they will love you back.” I feel there is no greater example of a person to fit that quote, than my great-great-grandfather.
Bennie Owen, as you lay in the heavens above gleaming down on us with your bright heart and your courageous sole, I want to once again thank you for teaching us lessons through your humbling actions, and caring for so many others. You have conquered the unimaginable, tackled the impossible, and brought hope to the implausible. Although you have departed from earth, you are and will always be remembered as a person with perpetual love. God bless you, and rest in peace.
1. J. Brent Clark, Sooner Century (Kansas City, Coal Valley Quality Sports Publication), 1995
2. Christy Reid/Jim Haynes, “Interview of family members.” Feb. 17th 2009
3. J. Brent Clark, Sooner Century
4. Christy Reid/Jim Haynes interview
5. Christy Reid/Jim Haynes interview
6. J. Brent Clark, Sooner Century
7. Ray Dozier, Oklahoma Football Encyclopedia (Sports Publishing LLC, 2006) p.14
8. Christy Reid/Jim Haynes interview
9. World Book, Inc. “Football, “The World Book Encyclopedia, (2004) F, vol.22
10.Rule Changes.
12.Ray Dozier, Oklahoma Football Encyclopedia
13.J. Brent Clark, Sooner Century
14.Christy Reid/Jim Haynes interview
15.J. Brent Clark, Sooner Century
16.Ray Dozier, Oklahoma Football Encyclopedia
17.Christy Reid/Jim Haynes interview
18.J. Brent Clark, Sooner Century
19.Ray Dozier, Oklahoma Football Encyclopedia
20.J. Brent Clark, Sooner Century
21.Ray Dozier, Oklahoma Football Encyclopedia
22.Christy Reid/Jim Haynes interview
23.Forward Pass. Wikipedia. 19th December 2008.
24.Ray Dozier, Oklahoma Football Encyclopedia
25.Owen, Bennie. “Bennie Owen.” Nation Master. 6th June, 2006.
26.Ray Dozier, Oklahoma Football Encyclopedia
27.Owen, Bennie. “Bennie Owen.” Wikipedia. 17th November, 2008.
28.Sooner Football. Type40, Web design.
29.Owen, Bennie. Wikipedia
30.Sooner Football. Type40, Web design.
31.Christy Reid/Jim Haynes interview
32.Retirement. Dictionary.com
33.Ray Dozier, Sooner Football Encyclopedia
34.J. Brent Clark, Sooner Century
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
