[2][3] Owen's skill at designing defenses, his fundamentals-centered approach to the game and his innovative "A formation," a variation on the single-wing, also helped his offenses thrive and were key to his success.

Born in Cleo Springs in Oklahoma Territory, Owen was raised in an area known as the Cherokee Strip, where his original goal was to become a jockey, a dream denied by his 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m), 230 lb (104 kg) frame that earned him the nickname "Stout Steve."

Owen served in the U.S. Army training corps in World War I, then returned to coach for a year at Phillips before going to work in oil fields in various parts of the Southwest.

After a futile attempt to get a cut of the purchase price from Kansas City coach Leroy Andrews, he later said of the sale:[4] I had seen a lot of fat hogs go for more than they paid for me.

An early World War II Three Stooges short referred to them when Moe sarcastically asked a hulking adversary, "Did you ever play footborl for da Giants?!"

New York won four of their six regular-season meetings but dropped a defensive playoff struggle with them after finishing tied with the Browns for the Eastern Division title at the end of the 1950 season.

[2][6] As the final minutes ticked away in his last game as Giant coach, a late-game loss to eventual champion Detroit, television cameras showed him standing alone on the sidelines in tears.

[7][8] Just weeks after the end of the 1955 season, the Philadelphia Eagles hired Hugh Devore as head coach and added Owen as his assistant soon after.

Unable to stay away from the sport, however, he soon came back as head coach of the United Football League's Syracuse Stormers on March 20, 1963.