Isiah Hudson Owens (January 8, 1920 – June 14, 1980) was an American football player.
[1] He moved to Gary, Indiana, as a boy and attended Theodore Roosevelt High School in that city.
[1][2] Owens enrolled at the University of Illinois in 1940, but his college career was interrupted by four years of service in the Air Corps during World War II.
[2] After the war, Owens returned to the University of Illinois where he became one of the school's first African-American football stars.
[11][2] In June 1948, Owens signed to play for the Chicago Rockets of the All-America Football Conference.