Owen brothers honored for years of service

Before Polson’s senior night wrestling dual against Columbia Falls on Thursday, coaches Bill and Bob Owen got a little surprise.

Head Coach Bob Owen has been a wrestling coach for 42 years, with only one of those years not at Polson. His brother, Bill, has been his assistant for 40 years. He’s also the head golf coach for the Pirates.

In honor of those many years of coaching, Scott Wilson gave a speech in front of the crowd before the match, then Bob and Bill’s sons, Kevin, Matt, and Brett, presented them with plaques for their years of service to the school.

In their 40 plus years of coaching, the two have helped their teams win seven divisional championships and two state championships, plus multiple top five finishes as a team. They’ve coached 195 state placers and 35 state champions. Twenty-three of those wrestlers went on to the college level, with 17 of those becoming wrestling coaches.

Head Coach Bob Owen said he had no idea what was going on when they came out Thursday night.

“It was a total surprise. It was exciting. I didn’t expect it so it was even more exciting,” he said.

Bob said that after this year, he thinks he’s going to pass the whistle to the younger generation. “I’m ready for the retirement. Not very many coaches are lucky enough to have their children take over and have the same philosophies and same values that you have. I say retire but I’ll never really get away from the sport. I’ll help these guys and stay involved,” he said Saturday morning at the Rocky Mountain Classic in Missoula.

Bob and Bill wrestled together throughout high school, then went their separate ways to wrestle at different colleges. Their sons all wrestled at Polson. You could say it’s a family tradition. Bob said, “I have five brothers that are all wrestling coaches. It’s pretty much all we do. We don’t know anything else.”