Don Owens (1966) - Southern Miss M-Club Hall of Fame

Don Owens

Induction:
1966

There has probably never been a better tackle at the University of Southern Mississippi than Don Owens. At 6-6 and 248 pounds, he was a giant for that era of college football, but it was his knowledge of the game, his speed and quickness and leadership qualities that really earned him a spot among the nation's elite players during his era.
       Playing for Coach Pie Vann from 1953 through 1956, Owens was a part of some of the best teams in school history and the big man out of St. Louis, Missouri was certain one of the reasons those teams were so good.
       Offensively he was one of the keys that made the Southern attack so sensational. Defenses knew exactly where the Southerners wanted to run the football, but owens nevertheless would help open gigantic holes that allowed the team's runners to take off untouched down the field. When the Southerners elected to pass, Owens made sure that the quarterbacks had plenty of time to throw, very few times in his career did the opposition record a sack over him.
       Defensively few in Southern Miss history have been able to dominate the opposing teams offenses the way Owens did. Teams would try to run away from him, yet he had the speed and quickness to catch up and still make the play. He was able to use his great size and strength to bowl over the opposition and was among the team leaders in tackles and tackles for losses. It was also not unusual to see Owens bat down passes at the line of scrimmage, finding another way to stop the opposition.
       Football must have seemed easy to Owens. Prior to coming to Southern Miss he had served in the United States Marines during the Korean Conflict and earned a Purple Heart.
       Owens opened his collegiate career in 1953 and immediately moved into the starting lineup on a team that went 9-2 and advanced to play Texas-El Paso in the Sun Bowl. Following that 1953 season Owens attracted all sorts of attention and was named prior to the 1954 campaign to the sophomore All-America team.
       He continued to grow and to improve during the 1954 season, although the team posted only a 6-4 record.
       In 1955 he helped the Southerners finish 9-1 on the year as the team won its final seven games of the year. Five times that season the team scored over 30 points, while the defense shutout five opponents and held two others to six points.
       Owens would end his career at Southern Miss in 1956 as the team posted a 7-2-1 record, missing a perfect season by just nine points. He finished that year being named to the Helms Foundation's All-America team and playing in the Senior Bowl All-Star game.
       He was drafted in the third round of the NFL draft in 1957 by the Pittsburgh Steelers and played professionally from 1957 to 1963 with the Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles and St. Louis Cardinals.