Edwyn Robert "Bob" Owen (June 8, 1936 – October 5, 2007) was an American star hockey player at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and played on the 1960 U.S. hockey team that won an

Olympic gold medal Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He later battled

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...

Ice hockey

Owen grew up in

St. Louis Park, Minnesota St. Louis Park is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 50,010 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a first-ring suburb immediately west of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Min ...

, and attended Harvard University, where he was a defenseman on three Ivy League championship teams. In 1957, he won Harvard’s Angier Trophy for the player who made the greatest improvement. He graduated from Harvard in 1958. At his induction into the Harvard Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 1982, he was described as a “hard-hitting player who could move an opponent from in front of the net.” He was on the

1960 Winter Olympics The 1960 Winter Olympics (officially the VIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Squaw Valley 1960) were a winter multi-sport event held from February 18 to 28, 1960, at the Squaw Valley Resort (now known as Palisades Tahoe) in Squaw Vall ...

hockey team with several of his Harvard teammates, including Bill Cleary and

Bob Cleary Robert Barry Cleary (April 21, 1936 – September 16, 2015) was an American ice hockey player. Cleary was a member of the American 1960 Winter Olympics team that won the gold medal, teaming up as he did at Harvard with his brother Bill Cleary ...

, winning the gold by beating Canada, Soviets and Czechoslovakia. It was the nation’s first gold medal in men’s hockey.

Mental breakdown

He visited Communist countries with the U.S. national hockey team in 1959 and worked on classified projects at balloon company, Raven Industries in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, beginning in 1960. He later described these times to his friends as specifically troubling and paranoia-inducing. Owen had a breakdown in 1963 in San Francisco. In the late 1960s, he moved to Topeka, Kansas where he committed himself to the

Menninger Clinic The Menninger Foundation was founded in 1919 by the Menninger family in Topeka, Kansas. The Menninger Foundation, known locally as Menninger's, consists of a clinic, a sanatorium, and a school of psychiatry, all of which bear the Menninger name. ...

for treatment for

. He would be released from the in-patient facility three years later, but never moved more than four miles from the hospital.

Community involvement

In 1973, he began teaching at Washburn University School of Business. Owen became a local hero in Topeka hockey, so much so that the adult hockey league in that city named its championship cup after him (the Owen Cup). He also helped to construct numerous veterans monuments in the Topeka area.

Death

On October 5, 2007 a white Lincoln Continental was found burning in a field in Topeka, Kansas. A body was found inside, severely burned. A week later it was determined to be the remains of Edwyn Owen. The Kansas state Fire Marshall's Office determined that the car's heated catalytic converter set fire to the dense dry grass around the vehicle. Only later was Owen's increasingly bizarre behavior reported. He hung up abruptly on the phone with old friends, left rambling telephone messages and claimed he was a character in a fictional children's book.

Sources

*Carlson, James "Body ID'd as Olympian's" ''The Topeka Capital-Journal'' 9 Oct. 2007 A1 *Carlson, James "Part 1: The Bob Owen Story" "The Topeka Capital-Journal'' 2 July 2008 A1 *Carlson, James "Obsessed, Owen's Mind Falters" ''The Topeka Capital-Journal'' 3 July 2008 A1 *Carlson, James "Owen Looks for Help at Menninger" ''The Topeka Capital-Journal'' 4 July 2008 A1 *Carlson, James "Vets, Hockey Offer Owen an Outlet" ''The Topeka Capital-Journal'' 5 July 2008 A1 *Carlson, James "Owen's Life, Death, a Puzzle, an Enigma" ''The Topeka Capital-Journal'' 6 July 2008 A2 {{DEFAULTSORT:Owen, Edwyn 1936 births 2007 deaths Accidental deaths in Kansas American men's ice hockey defensemen Deaths from fire in the United States Harvard Crimson men's ice hockey players Ice hockey players from Minnesota Ice hockey players at the 1960 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1960 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in ice hockey People from St. Louis Park, Minnesota