SIDELINES: Owens and winning, hand-in-hand

Don Cantrell

When aging Orange Coast College football players reflect back

around a half-century ago, they never fail to speak admirably of a

sterling line coach named Johnny Owens.

Although Owens passed away some years ago in the Stockton region, his

heart still held a warm spot for OCC and the Pirates’ campus. In addition

to coaching, he taught in the industrial arts section.

The balding, stocky Owens often featured broad smiles and grins on and

off the field. He was very popular with the players, coaches and faculty.

His biggest gift was head coach Ray Rosso, who always treated Owens

with kindness and the warmest respect.

He knew Rosso had quickly climbed to the top of the junior college

gridiron world after his term as a Navy fighter pilot in World War II. In

1946-47, Rosso joined Chaffey College as head grid coach and led the

school to two fabulous seasons, including a trip to the Junior Rose Bowl

against an Oklahoma team.

Orange Coast was blessed the first two years of 1948-49 across the

forward walls. Owens was pleased to welcome bruising guards like Rod

Gould, Gene Johnson, Edwin Hanson, Bud Graser, Carl Borgeson, Gary

Borgeson, Gary Gray and Leo Chade.

He was also impressed to see the fine talent lined up among the

tackles like Al Muniz, Bud Stange, Dick Balch, Dave Patterson, Dick

Stemen and Dick Freeman. They were blue-ribbon players. Muniz would

return in ’51 and help lead OCC to an Eastern Conference title.

Many of the players hailed from Harbor High, Huntington Beach and

Orange. Owens was a former Orange High coach, which obviously drew some

top Orange talent.

Although OCC only won three games in ‘48, it warmed up its fans early

by winning the first two games. It was even brighter in ’49 when the Bucs

went 8-2-0 and were invited to a bowl game. They turned the bowl game

down since injuries had taken a big toll during the season. And, a

championship season would have to wait until ’51.

Some of the yesteryear players who still laud his coaching and

understanding includes lineman Ed Mayer, Bob Woodhouse, Boyd Horrell, Al

Muniz and Fred Owens.

One of the finest defensive marks for the Pirates in ’49 was shutting

out five rivals and holding two others to one touchdown each.

Rosso was a calm diplomat on the grid scene, but Owens took it upon

himself to create a verbal storm when he didn’t approve of certain

events.

One example of that arose one night against Chaffey during what was

deemed “the fog bowl.” Vision was extremely limited. At some point,

however, Owens swore he saw the Chaffey coach on the field entering the

Chaffey huddle. He rumbled to the rival huddle, only to discover it was a

game referee who resembled the Chaffey coach. That led to a red face, but

it didn’t discourage Owens from keeping the refs alert.

In numerous games, mostly in high school days, he had a habit of

running down the sidelines and shouting, “Ineligible receiver downfield

... Ineligible receiver downfield.” In time, Orange County refs came to

ignore his shouting since they came to realize he was pulling their leg

most of the time.

Owens used to wear baseball caps to the football games during Orange

days. When any upsetting event would bother him, he would jump up and

down and throw his cap down. Then he’d stomp on it, much to the amusement

of fans.

Les Miller, a 1943-45 Harbor High grid coach, often laughed about

Owens. He once said, “I always meant to ask Johnny how many baseball caps

he went through in one season.”

Some recall the time when the late Rod Gould, a prized guard, and

center Horrell, took each other on a one-on-one basis. They were like

battering rams with no face gear.

Despite the blood and bruises, Owens was yelling to other players,

“Hey, hey come on down and watch this. You’ll learn something.”

Then he would display a wide grin with each and every crunching

impact.