Oklahoma Journeys
Week of November 25, 2007
Steve Owens, Heisman Winner
The afternoon of November 25th, 1969, OU Running Back Steve Owens received a phone call that changed his life. The caller from the Downtown Athletic Club in New York City told Owens that he had won the Heisman Trophy. You’ll hear his comments on winning the trophy on Oklahoma Journeys from the Oklahoma Historical Society.
In college football there are many awards presented to players…offensive and defensive linemen, backs, best kicker, best punter…but one award stands out among the many…the Heisman Trophy. Until recent years, the winner was notified by a phone call weeks before the actually dinner at the Downtown Athletic Club in New York City. The first Oklahoman to win the Heisman was Cleveland, Oklahoma’s Billy Vessels in 1952, who guided Bud Wilkinson’s team to their first of seven national championships. On the afternoon of November 25th, 1969, the phone call came to Steve Owens informing him that he was the 1969 winner of that famed trophy. The next morning he was interviewed on national radio…
“…Well, needless to say, the greatest moment of my life, you know. You know, really, when the season started I…I didn’t know exactly…I just came to play football, you know, and for the team to win, and…and then people say well you have a chance, so I was…just felt fortunate to even be a candidate for the Heisman Trophy much less winnin’ the thing, so…it’s just…you know, I’m still not over the shock of it yet, but it’s just the greatest feeling I’ve ever had.”
The 1969 team, coached by Chuck Fairbanks, had been decimated by graduation the previous spring. This was a young team, and Steve Owens was the workhorse. He carried the ball 358 times in the 1969 season for 1,523 yards, scoring 23 touchdowns. He set a number of records for OU that are still not broken today: 393 rushes in a season, 958 for a career.
That morning in late November 1969 Steve Owens gave credit where credit was due…
“I had a very, very outstanding offensive line, and of course a very outstanding fullback in Mike Harper. He probably led the way on about 90 percent of my runs, and when you have guys like this it makes it a lot easier, and you know yourself, if you don’t have an outstanding line and don’t have guys blocking for you, I don’t care who you are, you’re not going to go anywhere. Right now I haven’t got over the shock of it yet, and I think of all the many great, great players that have won the award. It’s pretty hard to put myself with that group of people, and like you said, life goes on. It’s something no one can take away from me. Now I know what all the other winners have gone through. It’s just the greatest feeling I’ve ever had.”
Some of his NCAA rushing records were broken by a player for another team from Oklahoma. Oklahoma State Tailback Barry Sanders who won the Heisman trophy in 1988.
But it was this week of 1969 that the running back from Miami, Oklahoma, made history winning the Heisman trophy.
You can learn more about the importance of athletics in Oklahoma’s history by visiting the Oklahoma History Center, at NE 23rd just east of the state capitol in Oklahoma City. You’ll see an exhibit on Oklahoma’s Heisman Trophy winners, and an interactive showing video of OU football coach Bud Wilkinson and Oklahoma State Basketball Coach Henry Iba. Oklahoma Journeys is a production of the Oklahoma Historical Society, dedicated to collecting, preserving and sharing our state’s past. I’m Michael Dean.