Burgess Owens

Who is Burgess Owens?

Clarence Burgess Owens is a retired safety who played ten seasons in the National Football League for the New York Jets and the Oakland Raiders. He graduated from Rickards High School in Tallahassee, Florida in 1969, and then attended the University of Miami, where he was an All-American defensive back.

Owens was a first round draft pick of the Jets in 1973. During his rookie season, he returned a kickoff 82 yards for a touchdown against the Denver Broncos on October 28. This was the Jets' only TD scored on a kickoff return during the 1970s. He then became a continuous starting player for the Jets, and was a part of the Raiders' 1980 championship team.

Owens is married with six children and is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has publicly shared about his faith to large audiences.

Owens is the author of an ebook published in August of 2012 with the title, It's All About Team: Exposing the Black Talented Tenth. The book examines how the black community has fared since the start of the twentieth century, especially in following the thinking of W. E. B. Dubois and progressive liberalism. The 294-page ebook is available at ebook outlets such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iBooks.