Paul Owens (Veteran)

Born in 1924, Paul Owens attended Salamanca High School where he played football, basketball, and baseball.

Owens then served in the U.S. Army in World War II as a sergeant in an engineering unit. After the war, he returned to Olean, and attended St. Bonaventure University, where he played basketball and baseball. He graduated from St. Bonaventure in 1951.

He had success on the hardwood and scored 60 points in a game for the Salamanca American Legion team in 1949. At the time, it was the second highest point total in the nation for a Legion hoopster.

However, it was in baseball that Paul Owens achieved true greatness.

Owens was the batting champion of the PA-Ontario-NY League in 1951, 1956 and 1957 while playing for the Olean Oilers, then an affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. He was named player-manager in 1955, and the team became an affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1956. Following the 1959 season, he retired from playing with a .374 batting average in the minor leagues, with some people noting that his “advanced age” may have cost him a shot at the Majors.

Following his retirement, he became a scout and was named the Phillies farm director in 1965. In 1972, he was named General Manager of the Phillies, a position he held until 1984. He had a keen eye for talent, developing players like Mike Schmidt, Greg Luzinski, Bob Boone and Larry Bowa, and acquiring Pete Rose, Garry Maddox, Tug McGraw, Bake McBride and others to complement the Phillies home grown talent. As General Manager, Owens’ teams won three consecutive National League East titles in 1976, ’77 and ’78, and their first World Series title in 1980. He also managed the Phillies in 1972 and 1983-84 with a record of 161-158.

The Phillies honored him in 1986 by creating the Paul Owens Award, which is presented annually to the organization’s best player and pitcher in its minor league system.

Paul Owens passed away in 2003 at the age of 79.