Mel Tyrae Owens (born December 7, 1958) is a former

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 with ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

. He 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 ...

at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

from 1977 to 1980. He was selected by the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

in the first round (ninth overall pick) of the

1981 NFL Draft The 1981 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 draft was held April 28–29, 1981, at the New York She ...

. He played nine seasons as a

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL), all with the Rams. He compiled 26.5

quarterback sacks In gridiron football, a sack occurs when the quarterback (or another offensive player acting as a passer) is tackled behind the line of scrimmage before throwing a forward pass, when the quarterback is tackled behind the line of scrimmage in the ...

Early years

Owens was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, Michigan, in 1958. He attended DeKalb High School in

DeKalb, Illinois DeKalb ( ) is a city in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. The population was 43,862 according to the 2010 census, up from 39,018 at the 2000 census. The city is named after decorated Franconian- French war hero Johann de Kalb, who died ...

University of Michigan

Owens enrolled at the

in 1976. He played college football for

Bo Schembechler Glenn Edward "Bo" Schembechler Jr. ( ; April 1, 1929 – November 17, 2006) was an American football player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Miami University from 1963 to 1968 and at the University of ...

Michigan Wolverines football The Michigan Wolverines football team represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins in college football history. The team is known for its ...

teams from 1977 to 1980. As a redshirt freshman and sophomore, he started a total of three games for the

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

and 1978 Michigan Wolverines football teams. He was injured in 1978 versus Notre Dame. Owens emerged as a starter in all 12 games for the 1979 Michigan Wolverines football team. That year, he had 42

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking u ...

and 26 assists.(Owens' statistics can be retrieved by typing "owens" into the space provided for the player's last name.) As a senior, Owens started 11 of 12 games at outside linebacker for the 1980 Michigan Wolverines football team that compiled a 10-2 record, finished #4 in the AP and UPI polls, and outscored opponents 322 to 129. During the 1980 season, Owens tallied 52 tackles, 37 assists, and an interception. He was selected as a first-team All-

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

player in 1980. Owens concluded his collegiate career with 125 tackles, 79 assists, and three interceptions. He played in the

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

and 1981 Rose Bowls and the 1979 Gator Bowl while at Michigan. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in political science.1990

Media Guide

Los Angeles Rams

The

selected Owens with the ninth overall pick in the

. After a brief holdout, Owens in late July 1981 signed a series of three one-year contracts with the Rams. His reported time in the 40-yard dash was 4.65, and his bench press was 390 pounds. He played mostly on special teams in 1981 and 1982. He made his first start against the

Los Angeles Raiders The Los Angeles Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 before relocating back to Oakland, California, where the team played from its inaugural 1960 season to the 1981 season and then agai ...

in the second-to-last game of the

1982 NFL season The 1982 NFL season was the 63rd regular season of the National Football League. A 57-day-long players' strike reduced the 1982 season from a 16-game schedule per team to an abbreviated nine game schedule. Because of the shortened season, th ...

in which he recorded 10 tackles before leaving the game with a knee injury. The injury caused him to miss the last two weeks of the season. Owens became a full-time starter in 1983, when the Rams switched to a 3-4 defense. That season, he was fifth on the Rams defense with 83 tackles. He also had four sacks. In 1984, he was third in tackles with 79 and 3.5 sacks and an interception along with three fumbles recovered and a forced fumble. The following season, 1985, he was sixth in tackles with 68 (five for a loss) and also contributed nine sacks, third on the team. In 1986, Owens was an honorable mention All-Pro 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. newspa ...

as the Rams defense ranked in the NFL's top five for the second consecutive season. In the third week of the 1986 season, Owens was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week by the NFL. Owens started every non-strike game from 1983 through 1987. In 1988, he suffered an ankle injury that limited him to seven games (four starts). In 1989, he was switched to inside linebacker, after spending his entire NFL career at strong outside linebacker. He played all 16 games with 10 starts. Owens totaled 453 tackles with 26.5 sacks in his Ram career with four interceptions.

Personal and post-football career

Owens was involved in several business ventures in Los Angeles, including a line of clothing called "Evolution Wear". He also operated a nationwide restaurant reservation hotline in the 1980s called 1-800-LETS-EAT. He traveled to Egypt in the 1984 off-season. In 1987, he ran with the bulls in

Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...

, Spain, in the 1987 off-season and also competed in the 1987 Los Angeles Marathon. Following his time as an NFL player, Owens obtained a Series 7 License and worked as a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch. He later attended

University of California, Hastings College of the Law The University of California, Hastings College of the Law (UC Hastings) is a Public university, public Law school in the United States, law school in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1878 by Serranus Clinton Hastings, UC Hastings was the ...

and was admitted to the California bar in 2003. In 2006, he became a founding partner of Namanny, Byrne & Owens in

Laguna Hills, California Laguna Hills (; ''Laguna'', Spanish for "Lagoon") is a city in south Orange County, California, United States. Its name refers to its proximity to Laguna Canyon and the much older Laguna Beach. Other newer cities nearby—Laguna Niguel and Lagun ...

. He specializes in workers' compensation, sports law, sports injuries and disability benefits.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Owens, Mel 1958 births Living people People from DeKalb, Illinois American football linebackers Michigan Wolverines football players Los Angeles Rams players University of California, Hastings College of the Law alumni Players of American football from Illinois Players of American football from Detroit