Fairfield-Echo.com

Don Owens is the Pigskin-Roundball Gold Medal award winner in the Friend of Middletown Athletics category.

Owens grew up in Hamilton, graduating from Hamilton Taft in 1966. Owens played three years of basketball for Marv McCollum, facing the Middies on several occasions.

"During those years, I had a lot of interest in Middie basketball as coach McCollum prepared us for that Middie mystique," Owens said. "The practices during the week before a Middletown game seemed to take on more intensity, especially if the game was being played at Wade E. Miller."

After high school, Owens was hired as a police cadet in 1968 by the city of Middletown. He was promoted to police officer in 1969, police sergeant in 1976 and lieutenant in 1980.

Owens married his wife, Norma, in 1972. She also worked for the police department as a meter maid. Their daughter, Holly, was born in 1974.

Owens coached youth baseball, select soccer and basketball as Holly grew up. From 1979 to 1983, Owens was a varsity girls soccer assistant coach and junior varsity coach at Middletown.

Owens has officiated high school basketball for 28 years — girls and boys — and belongs to the Middletown Basketball Officials Association.

He belonged to the Jefferson Masonic Lodge in Middletown for 33 years.

Owens' daughter, Holly, also is a police officer and serves as the resource officer at Vail Middle School. She's married to Dennis Jordan, also a Middletown police officer. They have three boys — Tre, Trace and Logan — and one daughter, Tyler.

Until he retired from the police department May 2, Owens was coordinator for police security at all home Middie football and basketball games.

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