John Owen 1947-2023: An ultimate coach, but better man

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

Former North Idaho College wrestling coach John Owen opened doors to the world that neither Pat Whitcomb nor Randy Boswell could have imagined.

Thanks to the opportunities at NIC, both Boswell and Whitcomb are now enshrined along with Owen in the NJCAA Wrestling Hall of Fame.

As Whitcomb describes …

“If not for him, my life would have definitely had a different path,” Whitcomb said. “Coming from Michigan, you either went to prison, became an engineer or a wrestler.”

Whitcomb captured back-to-back NJCAA titles in 1986 and 1987 before continuing his wrestling career at Oklahoma and Western Montana.

But to Whitcomb, who later was an assistant with Owen before taking over the program upon Owen’s retirement in 1997, he was more than a coach.

“He took the time to have you at his house for dinner whenever you wanted,” Whitcomb said. “And you’d talk more about life than wrestling.”

John Owen, who helped put North Idaho College wrestling on the map nationally in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, died Thursday, due to complications from a stroke. He was 75.

Owen came to NIC in 1975 as an assistant coach, took over as head coach in 1978 and coached the Cardinals until 1997.

At NIC, Owen guided the Cardinals to eight national junior college championships, four second-place finishes and five third-place finishes.

His dual record at NIC was 304-23-2.

He coached 35 individual national champions and 102 NJCAA All-Americans.

“John made it simple as a coach,” said Whitcomb, who was inducted in the NJCAA Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2014 in Spokane. “You win. Second’s not good enough. Make no doubt about it, you don’t want to be the guy after the guy. But being the guy after John was easy. They just wanted me to keep it going in the right direction.”

As far as wrestling for him?

“He set the bar so high that when we wrestled against Penn State and Michigan, he still expected you to win,” said Whitcomb, who coached at NIC until 2019. “And you did. Not just me, but others. His biggest compliment I think he received was from Dan Gable from Iowa. I’d beat a kid and his teammates were giving him grief for losing to a junior college kid. Gable grabbed those kids and said ‘that’s a kid from North Idaho College, and you respect them.’”

Owen was named junior college coach of the year four times, was inducted into the National Junior College Hall of Fame in 1989, and was inducted in the North Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005.

For years Owen was tournament director of the prestigious Tri-State Invitational at NIC.

“We all owe him everything really,” said Whitcomb, who won four national titles as coach at NIC. “Just having his attitude on life and everything he did. From staying in hotels to traveling with him, I owe him a debt that I can never pay off.”

Boswell, an athletic trainer at NIC since 1993 who announced he is retiring at the end of the school year, learned quickly about Owen.

“If I’ve done anything good in wrestling, it’s because of John,” Boswell said. “He took me under his wing and asked me to come on road trips, which was something that the previous trainers didn’t get to do. Over the years, he really seemed to care and I got to know his family really well. I just felt like I was part of them. It’s hard to accept that I won’t be able to talk to him anymore.”

Boswell recalled his first trip to the NJCAA tournament in 1994, with the Cardinals off another national title in 1993.

“We got to the gym late that day for weigh-ins, and it was like Moses parted the Red Sea,” Boswell said. “Everyone got out of the way and made room for us. There were a lot of people that just respected the eight national titles and everyone knew where NIC was. To be a part of that and all eyes on you, it was just a phenomenal feeling.”

Boswell was inducted into the NJCAA Hall of Fame as a contributor in 2021. He has also been a trainer for USA Wrestling teams in recent years.

“I don’t think I’d be as involved with wrestling without him,” Boswell said. “I don’t get put into the NJCAA Hall of Fame unless John Owen says to get on the bus with us. He showed me around at nationals and made me feel more comfortable.”

Owen’s impact — as well as that of previous NIC wrestling coach Les Hogan, who passed away recently — was celebrated with a moment of silence on Thursday during the Cardinals' dual against Division II Simon Fraser.

Likewise at the TerHark Cup high school dual between Coeur d’Alene and host Lake City on Thursday.

“It’s been a tough day with coach John Owen passing away,” longtime Coeur d’Alene coach Jeff Moffat said after Thursday's match. “I know it was tough on Corey (Owen, Lake City coach and John’s nephew), and our hearts go out to them. We’ve got a lot of respect for them and the Owen family. It was a tough day for the wrestling community. I know there’s a lot of heavy hearts in the wrestling community today.”

Moffat also credits John Owen for getting him involved with wrestling, where he coached Coeur d’Alene to state 5A titles in 2010 and 2011.

“He’s the first guy that got my brother (Kelly, a Coeur d’Alene assistant) and I into wrestling,” Moffat said. “He’s been like a second dad to me.”

Following his career at NIC, Owen coached at Central Valley High in Spokane Valley.

Owen was chosen as the head freestyle coach for the Junior Pan American Games in 1979, the head freestyle coach of the USA team vs. Cuba in 1991, and the head freestyle coach of the USA team vs. Russia in 1992. He was named Idaho Coach of the Year in 1985, Inland Empire Coach of the Year in 1990, and Region 18 coach of the year 11 times.

Owen wrestled at Missoula County High School, where he compiled a 64-3 record and a second-place finish at state, then wrestled at Yakima Valley College.

Owen graduated with honors from Central Washington University in 1972 and received a masters in education from Whitworth College in 1977 and a masters in educational administration from the University of Idaho in 1989. He served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam where he was awarded the Bronze Star.

John started his wrestling coaching career in 1972 at South Umpqua High in Myrtle Creek, Oregon. He compiled a 72-11-2 won-loss record and his 1974 team placed second in AA at the 1974 Oregon state tournament. He became assistant wrestling coach at North Idaho College in 1975.