Steve Owen (football player)
| Steve Owen | |
|---|---|
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Positions: Offensive Tackle / Guard |
Jersey number (s): 55 |
| born April 21, 1898 in Cleo Springs , Oklahoma | |
| died on May 17, 1964 in Oneida , New York | |
| Career information | |
| Active : 1924 - 1933 | |
| College : Phillips University | |
| Teams | |
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as a player
as a trainer
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| Career statistics | |
| Games | 97 |
| as a starter | 83 |
| Victory rate as a coach (NFL) | 60.2% |
| Stats at pro-football-reference.com | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
|
|
| Pro Football Hall of Fame | |
Stephen Joseph "Steve" Owen (born April 21, 1898 in Cleo Springs , Oklahoma , † May 17, 1964 in Oneida , New York ) Nickname : Stout Steve , was an American football player and coach. He played in the National Football League (NFL), including the New York Giants, and was the team's head coach for 23 years .
Life
Owen was born on an Indian reservation in the Oklahoma Territory . Oklahoma was not a state in the United States at the time. However, it had been part of the territory of the USA since 1890. In 1889 the original Indian land was approved for settlement by the US Congress and Owen's parents then settled in Oklahoma. While his mother worked as a teacher, his father ran agriculture. The young Steve Owen originally wanted to be a jockey , but since he quickly gained height and weight, he was denied this professional goal. His stocky build also earned him his nickname. Owen attended Enid the high school .
Steve Owen died of a brain haemorrhage . Owen is buried in Cleo Springs Cemetery in Cleo Springs.
Career
College career
Owen, who was now 1.89 m tall and weighed 107 kg, attended Phillips University from 1917 . He also played American football there. At the same time he was working on a ranch. In 1918 and 1919, he was voted All-American for his performance in football . In order not to lose his amateur status, which would inevitably have resulted in his exclusion from college sports , he worked under a pseudonym as a professional wrestler. After his military service in the US Army , he worked for a short time as a worker in the oil industry.
Professional career
In 1924 Owen signed a professional contract with the Kansas City Blues . He played on the offensive line, both as a guard and as a tackle. In 1925, the Kansas City Blues, renamed Cowboys, had to stop playing. The team's coach moved to Cleveland with many players . However, Owen played only once for the Cleveland Bulldogs , as the Cowboys for 500 US dollars were given the rights to Owen to the Giants. After his game with the Bulldogs, Owen played briefly with the Hartford Blues , which were not yet part of the NFL in 1925, before he finally joined the Giants.
Owen grew to be a leader on the New York City team . The Giants included the all-pro players Joe Guyon , Pete Henry and Cal Hubbard . In 1927 the Giants won the NFL championship . The Giants team won 11 times. Before the 1931 season, Owen worked as a player-coach for the team. After he had ended his playing career in 1932, he ran again for a game in 1933.
Coaching career
Owen was the Giants' coach for 23 years. The contract between Owen and the Giants was never put in writing. It was based on a simple handshake and tacit consent.
At the same time as Owen's coaching commitment, the Giants were able to tie the future member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Mel Hein to the team. Owen's team was gradually strengthened with other all-star players such as Ed Danowski , Ray Flaherty and Ken Strong . After failing in the final at the Chicago Bears with 23:21 in 1933, the Bears could be defeated in the final with 30:13 the following year. A year later they moved into the final for the third time and were defeated by the Detroit Lions with 26: 7.
In 1938, Owen won his second coaching championship with his team, reinforced by Tuffy Leemans . In the final, the Green Bay Packers were defeated 23:17. By 1953, Owen and his team made it into the final six times. A championship win was no longer granted to Owen.
Due to a bad season in 1953, Owen ended his coaching career after this game year. He first worked as a scout for the Giants. Before he worked as an assistant coach for two college teams. From 1955 he was assistant coach with the Philadelphia Eagles for two years . From 1959 to 1962 he worked in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as head coach. After a coaching station in a short-term existing competitive league of the NFL, he finally ended his coaching career in 1963 in order to work again as a scout with the Giants. Due to his death in 1964, this last phase of his career was not long-lasting.
Steve Owen was considered a conservative coach. Before he tried to score a touchdown with a risky move , he preferred to book the safe field goal on the credit side of his team. Football was a martial art for him in which success had to be fought for through hard physical work. In addition to coaches like Curly Lambeau , Jimmy Conzelman or George Halas , Owen was also considered one of the most innovative coaches in early NFL history. He introduced numerous innovations to the sport of football. Although he was usually used in the offense as a player , he introduced numerous improved defense techniques and tactics. But the Giants' offense also benefited from his new ideas. So he won the championship in 1934 with a number of confusing lateral passes that Ken Strong and quarterback Harry Newman played to each other. In 1950, Tom Landry, a defense player, joined the Giants team. He was already improving the defensive work of the Giants as a player and developed the 4-3 defense, which is still common today, with the help of Owen and brought it into the Giants game.
Steve Owen found his final resting place in Saint Patrick Cemetery in Oneida.
Honors
Owen was voted All-Pro three times . He is a member of the NFL 1920s All-Decade Team and has been a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame since 1966 . Admission to the Hall of Fame was posthumous . Also after his death, he was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 2000 . The Giants have honored him on the New York Giants Ring of Honor since 2010 .
Web links
- Biography of Owen ( Memento from September 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- Owen's coaching stats
- Steve Owen at the New York Giants ( October 27, 2012 memento in the Internet Archive )
- Steve Owen in the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame
- Steve Owen in the Find a Grave database
Individual evidence
- ↑ Steve Owen's grave
- ^ History of the Hartford Blues ( Memento of May 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Annual statistics of the Giants 1927
- ↑ Annual statistics of the Giants 1933
- ↑ Annual statistics of the Giants 1934
- ↑ Annual statistics of the Giants 1935
- ^ Giants franchise statistics
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Owen, Steve |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Owen, Stephen Joseph (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American football player and coach |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 21, 1898 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Cleo Springs , Oklahoma , United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | 17th May 1964 |
| Place of death | Oneida , New York, United States |