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Oklahoma football: Mount Rushmore 10 of Sooner GOATS of modern era

By Chip Rouse

KEYSTONE, SOUTH DAKOTA - JULY 02: The busts of U.S. presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln tower over the Black Hills at Mount Rushmore National Monument on July 02, 2020 near Keystone, South Dakota. President Donald Trump is expected to visit the monument and speak before the start of a fireworks display on July 3. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
KEYSTONE, SOUTH DAKOTA - JULY 02: The busts of U.S. presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln tower over the Black Hills at Mount Rushmore National Monument on July 02, 2020 near Keystone, South Dakota. President Donald Trump is expected to visit the monument and speak before the start of a fireworks display on July 3. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) /
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Unknown date; South Bend,IN, USA; FILE PHOTO; Oklahoma Sooners running back Steve Owens (36) in action against the Notre Dame Irish at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Unknown date; South Bend,IN, USA; FILE PHOTO; Oklahoma Sooners running back Steve Owens (36) in action against the Notre Dame Irish at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Sports /

No. 3 — RB Steve Owens

Steve Owens was born in Gore, Oklahoma, but grew up as a youth in Miami, Oklahoma. He is probably the second biggest sports star to come out of that small, far northeastern Oklahoma town next to baseball Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle. Owens is also a Hall of Famer. The former Oklahoma star running back was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1991.

Before that, however, Owens was a bruising ground-gainer for some very pedestrian Sooner football teams by OU’s high standards.

His sophomore season, in 1967, was Chuck Fairbanks first as the Sooners head coach. Owens rushed for a mere 869 yards that season — mere in the sense of what he would later accomplish in his OU career — and 13 touchdowns. OU was more like OU that season, going 10-1 overall and winning the Big 12.

His junior and senior season were a much different story. But while Owens was running around, over and through opposing defenses in those two seasons, the Sooners managed to win a very un-OU like seven and six games, respectively in 1968 and ’69. Owens was the Oklahoma offense in those two seasons, and he proved to be an unstoppable force, rushing for over 1,500 yards both years.

In 1968, Owens set Big Eight records for most rushing yards in a season (1,536) and most net yards in two seasons (1967 and 1968) with 2,344. He also broke O.J. Simpson’s record for most rushing attempts in a season, carrying the ball 357 times.

“Reporters used to ask me all the time, ‘How can you carry the ball 55 times in one game,” Owens said in the book “What It Means to be a Sooner.” “Easy,” ‘I would say.’ “Coach Switzer makes me carry it 100 times a day in practice.”

His senior season, in 1969, Owens gained 1,531 yards on the ground and ran for 23 touchdowns on an Oklahoma that finished fourth in the Big Eight with a 4-3 record. Despite the Sooners’ up-and-down season, Owens was awarded the Heisman Trophy, the third Oklahoma Sooner to win the prestigious individual honor.

Between 1968 and 1969, Owens rushed for 100 or more yards in 17 consecutive games.

Owens was drafted 19th overall by the Detroit Lions in the 1970 NFL Draft. He played five seasons in the NFL, all with the Lions.

From 1996-’98, the Sooner All-American served as the OU athletic director.

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