Isiah Hudson Owens (January 8, 1920 – June 14, 1980) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

player. Owens was born in

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it ...

, in 1920. He moved to

Gary, Indiana Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city has been historically dominated by major industrial activity and is home to U.S. Steel's Gary Works, the largest steel mill complex in North America. Gary is located along the sou ...

, as a boy and attended Theodore Roosevelt High School in that city. Owens enrolled at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

in 1940, but his college career was interrupted by four years of service in the Air Corps during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. After the war, Owens returned to the University of Illinois where he became one of the school's first African-American football stars. He played for the

Illinois Fighting Illini football The Illinois Fighting Illini football program represents the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) level. The Fighting Illini are a founding member of ...

team in 1941, 1946, and 1947. Illinois coach

Ray Eliot Raymond Eliot "Butch" Nusspickel (June 13, 1905 – February 24, 1980) was an American football and baseball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Illinois College from 1934 to 1936 and at th ...

called him one of "the greatest ends in Illinois football history." He received numerous honors during his playing career at Illinois, including the following: * In 1946, he was selected by the

United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20t ...

(UP) as a first-team player on the 1946 All-Big Nine Conference football team. * He was selected by his teammates as the most valuable player on the

1947 Illinois Fighting Illini football team The 1947 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was an American football team that represented the University of Illinois during the 1947 Big Nine Conference football season. In their sixth year under head coach Ray Eliot, the Illini compile ...

. * He was selected by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

(AP), UP, and

International News Service The International News Service (INS) was a U.S.-based news agency (newswire) founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909.

(INS) as a first-team end on the

1947 All-Big Nine Conference football team The 1947 All-Big Nine Conference football team consists of American football players selected to the All-Big Nine Conference teams selected by the Associated Press (AP), United Press (UP) and the International News Service (INS) for the 1947 Big N ...

. * Owens also received second-team honors from the AP, INS, and

Newspaper Enterprise Association The Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) is an editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1902. The oldest syndicate still in operation, the NEA was originally a secondary news ...

on the

1947 College Football All-America Team It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...

. Owens graduated from Illinois in June 1948 as an honor student with a degree in art and design. In June 1948, Owens signed to play for the

Chicago Rockets The Chicago Rockets were an American football team that played in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) from 1946 to 1949. During the 1949 season, the team was known as the Chicago Hornets. Unlike the Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers, a ...

of the All-America Football Conference. Owens appeared in eight games as a

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is ...

for the Rockets in 1948. He was released in late October 1948. He died in June 1980 at the age of 60.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Owens, Ike 1920 births 1980 deaths American football defensive ends American football ends Chicago Rockets players Illinois Fighting Illini football players United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Players of American football from Columbus, Georgia Players of American football from Gary, Indiana African-American players of American football 20th-century African-American sportspeople