Lee Owens Inducted Into the Tiger Football Hall of Fame
On Thursday, July 18, 2024, Lee Owens, along with Troy Ellis, Rollie Layfield, Eric Wright and Alex Wood, was inducted into the Tiger Football Hall of Fame. He received a plaque during the event commemorating the honor and a duplicate plaque will be mounted in the high school sports hall in the space reserved for past Hall of Fame inductees. In addition, he will be recognized on the field during the first home football game.
The Tiger Football Hall of Fame, a vision of Mr. David Weaver, opened in 2015. The Hall has been recognizing those individuals that have made contributions to the Tiger football experience, whether it be a player, coach, band director, booster club member or just a person who has influenced the program in a positive way. Inductees are selected by a group of 25 Massillon football supporters. With the current induction class, the Hall currently has 121 members
Lee Owens was the head coach of the Massillon Tigers for four years, 1988-91, when he compiled a record of 35 wins and 14 losses. That, coming after the program had fallen on hard times, with substandard records, a 4-game losing streak to McKinley and a 3-year ban from the playoffs. Owens, however, was an immediate success and Tiger fan favorite. He went on to win three of four games against the Bulldogs and had a 6-3 record in the playoffs, including two regional championships. In 1991, his team advanced to the Division 1 state semifinal game, but fell in the final minute to Cleveland St. Ignatius, 14-13. Many fans thought that team was good enough to have captured the state title, boasting the running-back duo of Travis McGuire and Falando Ashcraft, along with a stingy defense.
While at Massillon, he also spearheaded an effort to install at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium the first ever artificial playing surface, along with making many other improvements.
Following Massillon, he was an assistant coach at Ohio State for three years, parlaying that experience into a head coaching position at the University of Akron, a post he held for nine years. In 2000 the Zips finished first in the MAC East and in 2003 they were second. But his greatest achievement there might surely have been making an immediate impact on player graduation rate, improving it from a paltry 18% to a remarkable 83%.
His next eighteen seasons were spent leading the Ashland University Eagles of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. His overall record there was a very fine 123-44, with his teams capturing four league championships and six NCAA Division II playoff qualifications. Four times he was named Conference Coach of the Year.
And this year he was inducted into the Ohio High School Coaches Hall of Fame.
But he never forgot about his time at Massillon. And even while at Akron he found time to resurrect the Massillon Wall of Champions program into the format that exists today. And, he made many good friends there.
