He had to deliver because he was representing a lot of people. It was like he had to be good every week. He was one of the very few people of his race doing what he was doing at the level he was doing it. Because of his race, he was so recognizable. “Hubert carried a burden I never had to carry because of who he was,” Shaw said. Shaw, who was one of college football’s most-respected referees before leaving the field, firmly believes Owens faced pressure he never faced himself. “The players, the fans, the coaches would all be going nuts and he never changed, no matter what.” Murray marvels at his friend’s serene manner in the most pressure-packed moments of officiating high level football, when bowl games, millions of dollars and coaches’ livelihoods hang in the balance. Said Murray, “Everyone on our crew had a nickname and this will tell you how much we thought of Hubert. The two became close friends and share a great mutual respect. Much later in life, officiating brought them together in the SEC. For many of his formative years, Owens went to an all-Black school in Yazoo City and identified with what he knew, the SWAC. Murray grew up going to mostly segregated schools in Jackson and following the SEC. They were the products of two different environments. Stan Murray, the former Mississippi State star player, served as a back judge on Owens’ crew for most of Owens’ 15 years in the SEC. We’ll be in good hands.’ In officiating, you can’t measure the value of that.” They would see Hubert and say ‘OK, we got Hubert’s crew today. 2 is the rapport he had with the coaches and the respect those coaches had for him. “He’s in charge and everybody knows it although hardly ever had to raise his voice. “Hubert is a really good official, but what sets him apart is his game management,” Shaw said. as National Supplier Diversity and Contract Compliance Director.)įormer SEC referee Steve Shaw – by then the director of SEC officials and now the NCAA National Coordinator of Officials – was the man who tabbed Owens to make SEC history. (Formerly Director of Contract Compliance for the City of Atlanta, Owens now works at Luster National, Inc. In 2013, he became the first African American to serve as referee in the SEC Championship Game at the Georgia Dome in what had become his hometown, Atlanta. And that’s exactly what happened.įor the football season of 2005, Owens became only the third African American referee in SEC history. “They want a Black referee and you are the only one on their list,” the man told him. That’s when Owens attended a officiating clinic in Beaumont, Texas, and ran into an official who told him he would soon be hearing from the SEC. “He looked right at me, took off the white hat and gave it to me.”Īnd Hubert Owens became a referee for the rest of his career, a career that again drastically changed in the spring of 2005. Pennington said he wasn’t feeling well and didn’t think he could do the game,” Owens said. Cassie “Cass” Pennington of Indianola was the crew chief, the referee. His crew was calling a game matching Prairie View and Texas Southern in the annual Labor Day Classic. Then, in 2002 something happened that changed the course of Owens’ officiating career. He was a promising official on one of the SWAC’s top crews. At first he was a side judge, lining up behind the defense and mostly making calls that involve pass plays. The younger Hubert Owens officiated high school ball and eventually in the SWAC. Hubert Owens accepts the game ball from a young Kentucky fan. When integration finally did come to Mississippi, the officials who had served the old Magnolia association had to file a court injunction to officiate in the integrated games Mississippi High School Activities Association. To me, that’s just the way it was.”īefore integration, big Hubert officiated high school games in the old Magnolia High School Activities Association, which was no more after integration. Over half a century later, Owens said, “I don’t know that I thought about it that much. One can only imagine the impression that must have left on a 10-year-old who loved sports as much as little Hubert did. Big Hubert took his son to games in Lorman, Jackson, Grambling, Itta Bena and Baton Rouge, where the players, fans and the officials were nearly always all African-American.īut here’s the deal: On the Saturdays when little Hubert stayed home and turned the college games on the TV, many of the players were Black, but none of the officials were. When the umpire throws his flag, the offense usually groans. The umpire is the guy who most often calls holding penalties. Big Hubert was an umpire, the guy who stands in the middle of the defensive secondary, just a few yards from the line of scrimmage. The father often took his sons to the games he worked.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |