Breakfast of Champions honors Owens’ legacy

Coaching legacies, particularly in high school, aren’t measured in wins and championship trophies.

Tom Owens had plenty of those, to be sure. But a better measure of Owens’ legacy is a room full of men gathered for breakfast.

The Owens family hosted Dorman’s Breakfast of Champions for the Cavaliers baseball team on a recent Friday morning at Roebuck Methodist Church. The current group of players visited with players from the past, and heard a bunch about their legendary coach.

There was talk of fun (and not so fun) practices, including a visit by a monkey, and of what Owens required of his players. There were even more stories of what Owens meant to the men in the room.

It’s exactly what Dorman coach Jack Jolly was hoping for.

“I was so excited when Mrs. Owens reached out to me and said they wanted to sponsor a breakfast for the guys and to share with them Coach Owens’ legacy,” Jolly said. “I just thought it would be really cool for our guys to hear from the past, and to hear from former coaches and players, and to understand that Dorman baseball is really bigger than they think it is.”

Part of the magnitude of the program comes down to understanding the past. The gleaming facility the players enjoy hasn’t always existed. Jolly knows it’s important for them to understand that, and to understand that the luxuries the program enjoys is based on a history of hard work.

“It’s special,” he said. “I’m glad they brought some pictures today. We’re so spoiled at Dorman with what we are and what we have, I’m glad they can see what it looked like at the former place and get an idea of how special they really have it. It’s something they really need to see.”

They didn’t just see it, they heard it. Former player and current Dorman coach Daniel Wyatt fondly remembered practices at Dorman’s old field on W.O. Ezell Blvd. that Owens would bill as  “rock concerts”.

“That meant he’d come out with a couple of empty buckets, and we’d spend practice picking over the infield dirt and filling those buckets up with rocks,” he said. “Then sometimes he’d empty them and we’d fill them again.”

That’s a far cry from Ronnie J. Sims Field, the program’s fantastic home facility. But those “rock concerts” were necessary, and they’re part of what forged the bond the Cavaliers enjoyed under Owens. His widow, Marty, said that bond was evident during the entirety of her husband’s tenure, and especially after his passing.

“The manifestation of that was two lines rolling him out of the church after the funeral,” she said “We had no idea that was going to happen, and it was so special to us.”

Marty said the progress and success of Dorman’s program was special to Tom as well.

“I’m thankful that he got to see that in his lifetime, first of all,” she said. “It’s just amazing. I don’t even think the kids who are there now realize where it’s come from and how special it is. Not only facilities, but the athletic and academic programs. I don’t think they even realize how far it’s come.”

Tom’s son Ross Owens said the Breakfast of Champions would’ve been something his dad enjoyed immensely.

“For one, seeing all the old faces would’ve meant the world to him,” he said.  “He was a mentor his whole life to the past players. He’d enjoy speaking to the new players and meeting them and talking to them not only about the game, but the game of life as well. That’s what dad was really big on, to be honest. These former players can tell you, he was more like a father figure than a coach. I think it would have meant the world to him. To be able to support Dorman athletics in general, but especially the baseball team – dad poured so much time into it, just having something like this warms your heart.”

Marty agrees that Coach Owens would’ve enjoyed spending time with players new and old.

“He loved talking baseball,” she said. “He loved kids. He loved the men he coached with. I think seeing everybody and hearing the things they talked about and connecting the past with the present, and to see where Dorman baseball has come to, I think that would have meant everything to him.”

Marty still enjoys the bonds her husband built with the players he coached.

“I see many of them from time to time in other places,” she said. “Some of them are my plumber, and things like that. I see them in everyday life, too. Those relationships, after all is said and done, are what it’s all about. He loved them like they were his sons. He really did.”