Steve Owen

Steve Owen is one of football's toughest players, a legend known as one of the greatest defensive coaches of all time. His 23 year run with the New York Giants was one of the most successful associations in professional football.

Owen was all-around athlete at Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma and attended Aline High School where only basketball was offered, so he had never played football before. Then Phillips' coach Johnny Maulbetsch, former Michigan backfield star, introduced him to the game.

Owen was all-conference each year at Phillips before graduating in 1921. He joined the Kansas City Cowboys in 1924, winning All-NFL honors as a rookie. He was sold to the New York Giants in 1926 for $500.

As captain of the 1927 Giants, the All-NFL tackle led a championship team that held the opposition to a record low 20 points in 13 games. Owen became the head coach of the Giants in 1931. Owen and the Mara family, which owned the Giants, never signed a contract and he coached 23 years on just a handshake. Owen retired to the sidelines in 1933.

He always believed in basic, fundamental football. A defensive genius, he created many defensive innovations based on the opposition's offense. He developed the "umbrella" defense to successfully shut down the pass oriented Browns. The formation became the basis for the modern-day "Zone" defense. Owen came up with many other coaching innovations including the A-Formation and the two platoon system.

Owen was also one of the first coaches to exploit the field goal as a scoring weapon. He stepped down as the Giants' head coach in 1953. His victories rank him ninth on the all-time NFL victory chart and his total record of 153-108-17 included eight division titles won or shared and NFL championships in 1934 and 1938.

Born on April 21, 1898, in Cleo Springs, Oklahoma, he was inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame in 1966. Owen died in 1964.