Hall of Fame
A longtime member of the NIU Athletics community, Walt Owens was the head coach of the Huskie baseball program from 1976-82, winning 133 games during his seven seasons to rank third in career victories and fourth in winning percentage. Owens' best season at NIU came in 1977 when the Huskies went 26-13-2 (.659) and finished fourth in the Mid-American Conference with an 8-5-1 (.667) mark.
Owens, who played in the Negro Leagues with the Detroit Stars from 1953-55, was a teacher in the Detroit Public Schools system from 1956-73 and won numerous city championships as a baseball, basketball and track coach. He came to NIU as a member of the faculty in 1973 and also served as an assistant coach for Emory Luck with the NIU men’s basketball team. Upon his retirement in 2007, Owens was named an emeritus professor.Â
Owens has served as a mentor to numerous Huskie student-athletes during his tenure at NIU while also serving as chair of the Presidential Commission on the Status of Minorities and as a member of the Task Force on Racial Discrimination and Sexual Harassment. He was also a board member of the National Congress of Black Faculty as well as a member of the Illinois Committee on Black Concerns in Higher Education.Â
In 2011, Owens was honored with the E.B. Henderson Award during the annual convention of the National Association for Health & Fitness, which acknowledges those who have made outstanding contributions to the improvement and development of their community.
