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Oklahoma Sooners fullback Steve Owens was the archetype of the All-American football player and a casting director’s dreams. Handsome and rugged with a polite Oklahoma accent, he grew up a mile from his boyhood idol, Mickey Mantle.
By the time he completed his senior year at Oklahoma in 1969, the 6-2, 215-pound Sooners fullback had set several scoring records and won the Heisman Trophy in a landslide.
Although some scouts were skeptical about whether he had the speed for the pro game, he was selected by the Detroit Lions in the 1970 draft after dropping to No. 19 in the first round.
By the time he reached the Cranbrook Schools training camp in Bloomfield Hills, Lions tackle Alex Karras had sarcastically dubbed the rookie “Harry Heisman.”
“I saw Owens in the Hula Bowl”, Karras told a reporter. “But I thought something was wrong with my TV. Everything was in slow motion.”
When I interviewed Owens for a Sport Detroit magazine article in 2002, he recalled that first camp.
“I knew my college awards didn’t guarantee success in the pros, so I had to prove myself that first summer,” he said. “Alex gave me fits at first but he became of one my biggest allies. Once your teammates accept you, everything is ok.”
Owens was known as a workhorse and was known for his durability having never missed a college game. In three years at Oklahoma, 1967-1969, he scored 56 touchdowns, an NCAA record for a three-year player and had a string of 17 straight 100-yard games, at the time, an NCAA record. In his 30 games he rushed for 4,041 yards.
Unfortunately, Owens would have a short five-year pro career due to injuries, all with the Lions from 1970-1974, although he did become the franchise’s first back to rush for 1,000 yards.
In the last game of an impressive exhibition season in his rookie season, Owens suffered a separated shoulder that sidelined him for the first half of the year.
After he returned in mid-November Owens posted his breakout game in a crucial Monday Night Football game in Los Angeles on December 14th, 1970 when he gained 66 yards and scored two touchdowns including the game winner with under two minutes left in the game as Detroit defeated the Rams 28-23.
After the game Karras: “The kid is the toughest runner, I’ve seen since Alan Ameche. You’ve got no trouble figuring out where Owens’ heart is. It’s on this shirt every time he carries the ball.”
The victory was the fourth of five consecutive season ending wins that propelled the Lions into the 1970 playoffs with a 10-4 record for their first playoff appearance since the 1957 championship. They would lose to Dallas in a baseball like score of 5-0.
“It was very frustrating,” Owens told me. “I thought we were the NFL’s best that year.”
The following year, a healthy Owens was an All-Pro selection after becoming the first Lion in history to gain more than 1,000 yards rushing in a season. He also added a team high 32 receptions to his 1,035 yards.
However, despite his personal success that year, it was overshadowed when his roommate, end Chuck Hughes died of a heart attack during a game against the Bears at Tiger Stadium.
“I had never experienced losing someone close,” he told me. “Chuck was a great friend. After his death, our team just never got itself back together. For me, it was life-altering, and I think of him often.” The Lions went on to lose three of their last four games and finished with a 7-6-1 record.
Owens production fell off after his great 1971 season and he was never the same player after suffering various injuries.
His last game was on Thanksgiving Day 1974 as the last Lions game played at Tiger Stadium in a loss to the Bengals before moving to Pontiac the following season.
Owens was completing a first quarter 27-yard scamper when just as he was about to cross the goal line at the first base side end zone, a running back’s worst nightmare occurred.
“I was going to dive in but when I went up my cleat stuck in the turf and a Bronco hit me from the left side. My foot was implanted and when he hit it just tore everything up in my left knee. Downed at the one, the Lions were unable to score any points. After the game my wife Barbara said, ‘Steve, at least you could have scored’” he said with a laugh. “It was frustrating because as it turns out, we didn’t get any points from that run.”
Teammate Lem Barney remembered it well.
“Steve Owens was our Bronco Nagurski, our workhorse. It was a deflating and somber mood when he went down.”
Ironically, the longest run of his five-year career was also his last. Following surgery, the next morning and after two years of rigorous rehab Owens retired in August of 1976 at training camp and returned to Oklahoma where he is served as the CEO of his insurance and financial services companies and for a short time was the Athletic Director at Oklahoma.
For his five-year, injury riddled pro career, Owens rushed for 20 touchdowns and caught two more while amassing 2,451 rushing yards, but 1035 of them were in 1971.
“I left a big part of me at Tiger Stadium. I really enjoyed playing there,” Owens recalled. “The Detroit fans were always so great to me and I loved playing for Joe Schmidt. I also had such great teammates.”
Fond memories of training camps at Cranbrook, his teammates, and the fans at Tiger Stadium remain with the former fullback who is still a diehard Lions booster.
In his final remarks to me Owens said: “In the draft, I was hoping to be picked by Dallas or K.C. because they were closer to home. But if I had to do it all over again, I would want to be a Lion. Everyone was so great to me. I just wish I could have played longer.”
Matt
Great article,