Brigman P. Owens (February 16, 1943 – June 21, 2022) was an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

and

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

Early life

Owens attended Fullerton Union High School, where he played as a

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

and

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

. He also played

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 (appro ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

and track.

College career

Owens enrolled at Fullerton Junior College, where he became the fifth member of his family to play sports at the school. As a freshman, he was named the starting

and led the team to its first ever bowl game, the 1961 Orange Bowl Show. As a sophomore, he received junior college All-American honors. In 1963, he transferred to the

, where he became the school's first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

starter at

. He posted 974 passing yards, 7 passing touchdowns, 556 rushing yards (led the team) and 6 rushing touchdowns (led the team), while ranking twelfth in the nation in total offense. He also served as a

placekicker In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...

and punter. As a senior, he led the team to a 10–1 record, which were the most wins in school history. He posted 790 passing yards, 6 passing touchdowns, 658 rushing yards and 6 rushing touchdowns. He was a passer, runner, and punter, finishing his college career with a 16–5 record, 2

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the fourth-oldest collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwestern Unite ...

titles, 1,764 passing yards, 13 passing touchdowns, 1,214 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns. In 1979, he was inducted into the

Athletics Hall of Fame. In 1982, he was inducted into the Orange County Sports Hall of Fame. In 2005, he was inducted into the Fullerton College Athletics Hall of Fame. In 1990, he received the NCAA Silver Anniversary Award for his deep commitment to the community and country. In 2012, he was inducted into the California Community College Athletic Association hall of fame.

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

Owens was selected by the

in the seventh round (89th overall) of the 1965 NFL draft. He was converted into a

during training camp. He spent most of the year on the team's taxi squad. On August 30,

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

, he was traded, along with Jake Kupp and Mitch Johnson, to the

for Jim Steffen and a fifth-round draft choice (#119- Willie Parker).

Washington Redskins

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

, he was named the starter at strong safety. He remained with the Redskins until he retired after the 1977 season. He played a significant role in leading the

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

squad to Super Bowl VII and had a good performance in the game, recording a key interception from Miami Dolphins

Bob Griese in the end zone during the second half. One of his more memorable performances occurred on a 1966 regular season game against the New York Giants, where he scored two defensive touchdowns: a 62-yard interception return and a 62-yard fumble return. Washington ended up winning the game 72–41; to this day it is the highest scoring game in NFL history. Owens holds the record for most interception return yards in Redskins history (686) and is second all-time for the Redskins in career interceptions (36). Three of his interceptions were returned for touchdowns. He also recovered ten fumbles, returning them for 143 yards and two touchdowns. He was inducted into the Redskins' Ring of Fame.

Personal life

After the NFL, Owens graduated from Antioch School of Law, and received his Doctorate of Juris Prudence from Potomac Law School, before serving in the National Football League Players Association as an assistant executive director from 1979 to 1984. He also owned his own business, a commercial real estate development company which also represented professional athletes. Owens was a member of

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the ...

fraternity. Married to Patricia from 1965 until his death, the couple had two daughters, Robin and Tracy. He received an honorary doctoral degree from the

in 2008. He died on June 21, 2022, at the age of 79.

References

External links

The 80 Greatest RedskinsBlack History Month: Brig OwensCCCAA Hall of Fame bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Owens, Brig 1943 births 2022 deaths People from Linden, Texas Players of American football from Fullerton, California Players of American football from Texas American football quarterbacks American football safeties Fullerton Hornets football players Cincinnati Bearcats football players Dallas Cowboys players Washington Redskins players Fullerton Union High School alumni Antioch University alumni