Which six Oklahoma football greats would you invite to the ideal dinner party?
By Chip Rouse
Bennie Owen
Bennie Owen is one of the more revered names in University of Oklahoma athletics. He had a 22-year run as a head football coach at Oklahoma (1905-1926), the longest-tenured of OU’s 21 head coaches in program history.
Owen also coached the Sooner basketball team for 13 seasons (1908-1921) and served as the school’s baseball coach for 17 years (1906-1922).
Owen was born in Chicago, Illinois, and attended college at the University of Kansas. He won over 100 games coaching three different sports and is one of just four former Sooner football coaches to exceed 100 wins in football. He ranks fourth on the all-time list of OU head coaches with 122 career wins in football.
The playing surface at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium is named Owen Field in his honor.
The former head coach of three sports at the University of Oklahoma played quarterback on the undefeated 1899 Kansas team.
Owen is a charter member of the College Football Hall of Fame, elected in 1951. He died in Houston, Texas, in 1974 at the age of 94.