Chad Owens Sr. (born April 3, 1982) is a former professional

Canadian football Canadian football () is a team sport, sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's sco ...

wide receiver and

kick returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another positio ...

. He was most recently a member of the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Tim Hortons Fiel ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL). He was drafted by the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

in the sixth round of the

2005 NFL Draft The 2005 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The NFL draft, draft was held April 23–24, 2005 NFL seaso ...

. Owens played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. He spent six seasons playing for the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

, and has also been a member of the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

and

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 1 ...

Early years

Owens attended Roosevelt High School in Honolulu,

, and he was a three-sport letter-winner and star in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, and

Track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

. In football, as a senior, he was an all— OIA white division selection, and an All-State honourable mention. As a sophomore, he garnered first-team All-OIA Red Division honours, and All-State honourable-mention accolades. He was also a basketball star and as a senior, he led his team to the OIA state

championship. He has three children: Chad Jr., Areana, and Sierra-Lynn with his wife, Rena Owens. They’ve been together for 25 years, married for 15 years.

College career

Owens became a bigger star after joining the

University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

football team as a wide receiver, punt returner and

. He became the featured receiver in

June Jones June Sheldon Jones III (born February 19, 1953) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the Offensive Coordinator of the Seattle Sea Dragons. Jones was the head football coach at the University of Hawaii at Manoa from 19 ...

Run & Shoot The run and shoot offense (also known as Run N' Shoot) is an offensive system for American football which emphasizes receiver motion and on-the-fly adjustments of receivers' routes in response to different defenses. It was conceived by former ...

Offence, and became the number one receiver for

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Timmy Chang Timothy Kealii'okaaina Awa Chang (born October 9, 1981) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is currently the head coach of the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. During his playing career at Hawaii, he set several major college footba ...

. Owens was instrumental on the Warriors teams that won both the

Hawaii Bowl The Hawaiʻi Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played in the Honolulu, Hawaii area since 2002. The game was originally held at Aloha Stadium in Halawa, Hawaii, a suburb of Honolulu, before moving to the Clarence T. C. Ching Athle ...

in 2003 and 2004 by beating the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

and the

University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a Public university#United States, public List of research universities in the United States, research university in Birmingham, Alabama. Developed from an academic extension center established i ...

. * Hawaii's All-time Career Yardage Leader With 5,461 All-purpose Yards * Gained 3,031 receiving yards (6th in school history) and 29 touchdowns (5th) in 44 games, * Awarded the

Mosi Tatupu Award Mosi or MOSI may refer to: * Mosi (given name) * Mosi (surname) * Molybdenum silicide (MoSi2), an important material in the semiconductor industry * MOSI protocol, an extension of the basic MSI cache coherency protocol * MOSI, Master Out Slave I ...

for best Special Teams Player in 2004

College statistics

Professional career

Jacksonville Jaguars

Owens was cut by the

after his NFL debut against the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

where he muffed three punts. He was re-signed to the Jaguars'

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

a few days later. Playing with the Jaguars in his first pre-season game of the 2006 season, Owens caught a 62-yard pass and scored his first NFL touchdown.

Colorado Crush

Owens signed with agent Richard "Bruno" Burnoski and signed a contract with the

Colorado Crush The Colorado Crush were an arena football team based in Denver, Colorado. They began play as a 2003 Arena Football League expansion team. The Crush played in the Central Division of the American Conference until the Arena Football League suspen ...

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

. Owens got off to a fast start with the Crush, generating over 1600 combined yards (receiving and returns) but tore his ACL, ending his season after nine games.

Montreal Alouettes

On July 14, 2009, Owens signed a practice roster agreement with the

. He was released on October 1. He was re-signed to the practice roster on October 8 and was considered a part of the

97th Grey Cup The 97th Grey Cup was played on November 29, 2009, at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta, and decided the Canadian Football League (CFL) champion for the 2009 season. The Montreal Alouettes came from behind to defeat the Saskatchewan Roughrider ...

Championship team for participating in a game during the regular season.

Toronto Argonauts

On June 24, 2010, the

acquired Owens from the Alouettes in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2011 CFL Draft. On November 25, 2010, Owens was named the most outstanding special teams player in the

for the 2010 season. Owens was a unanimous selection after leading the CFL in punt, kickoff, missed field goal returns and all-purpose yards and finishing tied for the league lead in return touchdowns (four). He became just the fifth player in league history to have over 1,000 punt and kick return yards in a season. On November 1, 2012, in the final regular-season game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Owens set the all-time record for

all-purpose yards All-purpose yards or all-purpose yardage is a gridiron football statistical measure. It is virtually the same as the statistic that some football leagues refer to as combined net yards. In the game of football, progress is measured by advancing t ...

in a single season, surpassing

Pinball Clemons Michael Lutrell "Pinball" Clemons (born January 15, 1965) is an American-Canadian sports executive and former running back and return specialist who serves as general manager for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He i ...

' 1997 total of 3,840 yards. Owens did so with a 29-yard kickoff return halfway through the 2nd quarter. He finished the season with 3863 all-purpose yards, setting not only a CFL record, but also a

professional football In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larg ...

record as well. In his third full season in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Owens became the first player in professional football to record at least 3,000 combined yards in back-to-back seasons. On November 22, 2012, Owens won the CFL Most Outstanding Player Award finishing ahead of

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-old ...

running back

Jon Cornish Jon Cornish (born November 5, 1984) is a former Canadian football running back who played nine seasons with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was drafted 13th overall in the 2006 CFL Draft after playing college fo ...

in voting conducted by the Football Reporters of Canada as well as the eight CFL head coaches. On November 25, 2012, Owens and the Argonauts finished the 2012 season with the 100th Grey Cup Championship. Owens was rated the best player in the league on the TSN Top 50 players of

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

. On June 8, 2013, the Argos and Owens agreed to a two-year contract extension. The deal was rumoured to make Owens the highest-paid non-quarterback in the CFL. The Argonauts did not re-sign Owens at the conclusion of the 2015 CFL season, rendering Owens a free agent.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

On February 11, 2016, Owens agreed to a one-year contract with the

as a free agent. Subsequently, it was announced on October 4, after playing 12 games with the Tiger-Cats, that Owens would miss the remainder of the 2016 CFL season due to a broken foot he sustained in a game against the

. He would subsequently re-enter Free Agency after only a season with the organization.

Saskatchewan Roughriders

On February 15, 2017, Owens agreed to a two-year deal with the

. It was announced, on June 21, 2017, that Owens was placed on the six-game injured list due to an apparent foot injury he likely sustained while with the Tiger-Cats. Owens made his Roughriders debut on October 20, 2017 in a winning effort against the

recording five receptions with seventy eight yards. Despite his strong performance at the end of the 2017 Saskatchewan Roughriders campaign, he was part of final roster cuts for the Riders on June 9, 2018. His age and performance relative to younger players are believed to be contributing factors affecting the decision to cut ties with the player.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats (II)

Owens returned to the

when he signed a practice roster deal on September 11, 2018. He was released on October 1, 2018 without having played in a game.

Career statistics

NFL stats

AFL stats

CFL stats

MMA career

In the off-season following the

2012 CFL season The 2012 CFL season was the 59th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 55th season for the Canadian Football League. The pre-season began on June 13, 2012, and the regular season started on June 29, 2012. Rogers Centre ...

, Owens decided to pursue MMA as a form of off-season training. Then Argos GM

Jim Barker James Barker (born August 25, 1956) is a senior advisor for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Barker has been the general manager of the Calgary Stampeders from 2005-07, and the Argonauts from 2011-2016. He was also th ...

openly expressed his displeasure with Owens's fighting in MMA, and was quoted as saying, "I think he's making a bad decision, our organization thinks he's making a bad decision". On April 6, 2013, Owens defeated Junya Tevaga by unanimous decision in an amateur bout. The organization that oversaw the fight was Destiny MMA.

Personal life

In January 2015, Owens moved from Hawaii to Canada full-time; but has now relocated back to his home of Oahu (Honolulu),Hawai'i

References

External links

Toronto Argonauts profile page

NFL profileArenaFan.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Owens, Chad 1982 births Living people American emigrants to Canada American football return specialists American football wide receivers American players of Canadian football Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Player Award winners Canadian football return specialists Canadian football wide receivers Colorado Crush players Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football players Jacksonville Jaguars players Montreal Alouettes players Players of American football from Honolulu Players of Canadian football from Honolulu President Theodore Roosevelt High School alumni Saskatchewan Roughriders players Sportspeople from Mississauga Toronto Argonauts players