Horace "Pappy" Owens, a former McDonald's All-American out of Philadelphia's Dobbins Tech and NBA Draft Pick, is in his 16th season at La Salle University in 2019-20. After spending 14 years as an assistant coach, Owens shifted roles and currently serves as a special assistant to first-year head coach Ashley Howard.
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Owens was instrumental in the Explorers 2012-13 Sweet 16 season, in which the team won 24 games, including three in the NCAA Tournament over Boise State, Kansas State and Ole Miss. The Explorers also recorded key ranked wins over #9 Butler, #16 VCU and #12 Kansas State and finished third in the Atlantic 10, which was ranked as the seventh best conference in the nation.
He played a key role in the Explorers 2011-12 season in which the team won 21 games and reached the NIT First Round, the first postseason appearance for the program in 20 years. The 21 wins were also the most since 1990.
He entered the collegiate coaching ranks after 14 years as a juvenile probation officer for the City of Philadelphia.
As the North Philadelphia Area Coordinator for the renowned Sonny Hill Basketball League, Owens has been a fixture in Philadelphia high school basketball. He coached the Philadelphia Phoenix AAU teams for six years, he mentored stand-outs Michael Blackshear (Simon Gratz/Temple), Wayne Marshall (Martin Luther King/Temple), Chaz Crawford (Northeast/Drexel) and Troy Roundtree (Northeast/Delaware State) among dozens of others who have played Division I hoops.
Owens stands as one of the all-time greats at the University of Rhode Island ('79-'83) where he is seventh on the all-time scoring list (1,750) and is second all-time in field goals. He averaged 22.3 points per game as a senior to earn honorable mention All-America citation and first team All-Atlantic 10. He was inducted into the school's hall of fame in 1996.
Owens was the 44th pick of the NBA Draft by the New Jersey Nets in 1983 and was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers where he spent one season at the professional level.
An outstanding player at Philadelphia's Dobbins Tech, he was named First Team All-City in 1979 and Second Team in 1978. Owens was the Daily News and Markward Club Player of the Year in 1979 after averaging 29.3 ppg. He averaged 25.0 ppg. as a junior. His 1,420 career points rank second in Dobbins history behind Bo Kimble.Â
Owens was named to the Second Team All-City in the Daily News look back at the past 35 years. He was also First Team All-Public and according to the Daily News, the third best player to come out of Dobbins behind Kimble and Hank Gathers.
