At the hang-up

Ted Owens

This is the inspirational story of Ted Owens--still the coach with the most wins in the history of Allen Fieldhouse--from growing up as a boy on a cotton farm in Southwestern Oklahoma during the Great Depression to coaching at the highest levels of the college basketball world. "At the end of each day on the farm, we would gure the total weight of the cotton we had pulled. We called it the "hang-up," says Owens. One day, in a competition to see who could pull the most cotton, Owens was leading his father, who then gave him the greatest life lesson: "It's not what you have now that is important, it's what you have at the hang-up." He always reminded Ted that regardless of your station in life, whether encountering di culties or enjoying success, you should never lose sight of your ultimate goals. At the age of 5, Owens made his rst basketball goal, lifting the basketball from between...