Bennie Owen Benjamin Gilbert Owen ( July 24 , 1875 – February 26 , 1970 ) was an American football player and coach of football , basketball , and baseball . He served as the head football coach at Washburn College , now Washburn University , in 1900 , at Bethany College in Lindsborg , Kansas from 1902 to 1904 , and at the University of Oklahoma from 1905 to 1926 , compiling a career college football record of 155 – 60 – 19 . Owen was also the head basketball coach at Oklahoma from 1908 to 1921 , tallying a mark of 113 – 49 , and the head baseball coach at the school from 1906 to 1922 , amassing a record of 142 – 102 – 4 . He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1951 . Early life and playing career . Owen was born in Chicago , Illinois in 1875 and his family moved to St . Louis , Missouri when he was 12 . After he finished school , his family again moved , this time to Arkansas City , Kansas . There Owen served as an apprentice to a local doctor for three years . He then enrolled in the University of Kansas in 1897 to pursue his medical studies and he soon discovered his knack for football . Owen played football at Kansas under two excellent , but contrasting coaches . Wylie G . Woodruff , an All American player from the University of Pennsylvania came to Kansas to coach football in the fall of 1897 . Owen got a part time job working as a medical assistant for Woodruff and it was Woodruff who encouraged Owen to try out for the Kansas football team . Owen played under Woodruff for two seasons . Woodruff specialized in a tough , hard - hitting style of football . Woodruff ' s message to his players was " hurdle the wounded , step on the dead . " Woodruff was released at the end of the 1898 season and Kansas hired Fielding H . Yost from the University of Nebraska . Unlike , Woodruff , Yost ' s style of football was based on innovation , speed , and cunning . Owen was the star quarterback for Yost ' s undefeated 1899 team . Coaching career . Upon graduating from Kansas , Owen took his first head coaching job at Washburn College . Following a one year stint there , he spent the 1901 season as Yost ' s assistant at the University of Michigan . While at Michigan , he helped Yost develop the famous " Point - a - Minute " teams built around halfback Willie Heston . Owen got his first exposure to the Oklahoma football team while head coach at Bethany College in Lindsborg , Kansas . His Bethany Swedes met and defeated two Sooner teams in 1903 and 1904 . Owen was the head coach for the Bethany Terrible Swedes located in Lindsborg , Kansas . He held that position for 3 seasons , from 1902 until 1904 . His coaching record at Bethany was 22 wins , 6 losses and 2 ties . As of the conclusion of the 2012 season , this ranks him # 6 at Bethany in total wins and # 2 at the school in winning percentage ( ) . Owen took over the Oklahoma football team in 1905 , succeeding one - year coach Fred Ewing . He stepped in and immediately turned the fledgling team around , giving Oklahoma its very first win over the rival Texas Longhorns . Owen was loved by the players as he regularly would involve himself in scrimmages when he felt his players were lagging . Owen ' s first two years at Oklahoma were spent back and forth between Norman and Arkansas City . Due to a reduced financial budget , Owen only remained on campus during the football season . In 1907 , Owen lost his right arm in a hunting accident . Early in Stratton D . Brooks ' s tenure as president of the University of Oklahoma , Owen was fired by the state legislature . They believed his salary of $ 3 , 500 was far too great for an athletics coach and used the loss of his arm as an excuse for dismissal . They recommended he be terminated and shortly thereafter , he was . However , when Brooks heard of this news , he quickly got the decision rescinded . Owens did not learn of his " dismissal " until a week after his " re - hiring . " Early in Owen ' s tenure as head coach , funding for athletic teams were very much an issue . Due to costs involved in travel , Owen ' s teams would regularly go out on long , grueling road trips . In 1905 , his Sooners played three games in five days and in 1909 they played three games in six days . Owen is also known for introducing the forward pass to football in the Southwestern United States . This allowed his team to quickly score against lesser opponents . In 1911 , his team defeated Kingfisher College , 104 – 0 . Largely because of their accomplishments during Owen ' s era as head coach , the Oklahoma Sooners have scored the most points of any team in college football history . In 1 , 154 games through the 2009 season , the Sooners have scored 30 , 897 points with over 5 , 000 of those being contributed by Owen ' s teams . Owen ' s Sooners twice scored over 150 points in a game and won three games in 1915 by a combined score of 258 – 0 . Owen ' s overall record at Oklahoma was 122 – 54 – 16 . Along with Bud Wilkinson , Barry Switzer and Bob Stoops , he is one of four coaches to win over 100 games at the University of Oklahoma . No other college football program has had more than three coaches accomplish the feat . In addition to coaching football , Owen also spent 13 seasons as the Oklahoma men ' s basketball head coach . In those 13 years , he won nearly 70 % of his games , had two undefeated seasons and only two losing seasons . Honors and death . While the name of the Oklahoma football stadium is the Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium , they originally played at Boyd Field during Owen ' s tenure and later moved and renamed Owen Field in his honor . The playing surface itself still retains the name Owen Field and many still refer to the stadium as a whole as such . Owen was a charter member of the College Football Hall of Fame , elected in 1951 . He died February 26 , 1970 in Houston , Texas at age 94 .