Benjamin Gilbert Owen - 1875-1970

Hey OU Fan-

I'm finally going to be at the stadium my Great Grandfather built!! I have goose bumps! The statue is coming up, so here is the recent Bio from my cousin Ann! There is a reason why my father had a coffee mug with "GentleBen" on the front!

Here is Great Grandfather Bennie Owen's Bio
Benjamin Gilbert Owen
1875-1970

The man who established the University of Oklahoma as a winning football program was no stranger to victory when he arrived in Norman in 1905. Owen quarterbacked the Kansas Jayhawks to an all-victorious season in 1899, served as an assistant on Fielding Yost’s all-victorious 1901 national champions at Michigan, and, as head coach of the Bethany (Kan.) “Terrible Swedes,” inflicted 12-10 and 36-9 defeats on Oklahoma in 1903 and 1904.

A soft-spoken but ferocious competitor, Owen immediately turned the Sooners into a force, compiling a 7-2 record in his first season. Six of those victories were shutouts, including a 2-0 conquest of Texas which was OU’s first against the Longhorns in eight tries.

Owen, whose overall coaching record is 155-60-19, emphasized innovation, speed, conditioning and sportsmanship in compiling a 122-54-16 record in 22 seasons at OU. His Sooners were unbeaten in 1911, 1915, 1918, and 1920.

Owen’s insightful adoption of new tactics included a “spinner” play and running plays off a direct snap from center in the days before the forward pass. When rules-makers opened up the passing game in 1912, Owen embraced it. His inexperienced 1914 team passed its way 9-1-1 record, and a major-college leading 435 points and 25 touchdown passes. At OU, Owen’s teams outscored the opposition 5,031-1,470, laying the foundation which has made Oklahoma the highest-scoring football program of all time.

Despite losing his right arm in a hunting accident in 1907, Owen coached basketball until 1921. He went 113-49 in 13 seasons on the hardwood to become the only Sooner coach to achieve 100 victories in each sport.

As athletic director, Owen in 1922 began a fund-raising campaign to build a football stadium and student union. His Sooners won the first game ever played on what would become Owen Field, 62-7 over Washington University of St. Louis in 1923. Owen also pushed through the construction of the field house just north of Owen Field, a baseball stadium, tennis courts, a swim arena, and OU’s first golf course.

A charter member of the College Football Hall of Fame who was inducted into the Oklahoma Athletic Hall of Fame in 20??, Bennie Owen is remembered by those who knew him as a creative pioneer who relished challenges, but most of all as a true gentleman.