Morris | All in the past

Owens’ rejection of prior exploits goes beyond USC and back to high school

NEW YORK

A WALK THROUGH the basement hallway of La Salle Academy in lower Manhattan is a stroll for the ages. On the left side, two sets of double doors open to the tiny gymnasium — capacity 320 by New York fire department code. A matching set of double doors on the right finds the school cafeteria.

The hanging photographs on each side of the hallway are a salute to the greatest athletes to play at La Salle, and it is an impressive lot. Ron Artest is shown in an Indiana Pacers uniform, so too is John Candelaria in a Pittsburgh Pirates jersey.

There are two striking photos, one on each side of the hallway, that speak to the heritage of the Cardinals basketball program. The photo outside the gymnasium shows John Roche attempting a long-range jump shot in what appears to be the New York City championship game of 1967 at Fordham University.

In the left corner of the photo is Tom Owens, the gangly center who is positioning himself for a rebound by boxing his opponent from the basket. Roche and Owens led La Salle past Rice High for the city championship, and with it the national Catholic school title. At least that’s what the worn banner hanging in the gymnasium claims.

The most poignant of photos, though, hangs above the double doors to the cafeteria. There stand Roche and Owens, side by side, both holding what appear to be mementos from a championship game. The educated guess is that the two were captured moments after winning the city title.

There is a hint of a smile from Roche. None from Owens.

What is interesting about the photos that remain from that era is that nearly every one features both Roche and Owens. The La Sallite, the school yearbook, includes several action shots from the 1966 and 1967 seasons. Nearly every one includes both players.

Just as when the two played at South Carolina, rarely was one spoken of without the other. It was Roche and Owens or Owens and Roche at La Salle, and Roche and Owens or Owens and Roche at USC.

The union began prior to their freshman year of high school when they first met in tryouts at La Salle, both deciding to attend the same high school. For Roche that meant a 30-minute train ride from the east side of midtown Manhattan. For Owens, the hour-long subway ride took him through Manhattan from his home in The Bronx.

Back then, the best players came from any and all of the New York boroughs to play at La Salle under coach Dan Buckley. Owens and Roche were among the best, and their two varsity seasons left quite an impression.

Even today, no talk of the greats who walked the halls of the Catholic school of 650 students goes without mention of Roche and Owens, or Owens and Roche. One and the same. Of equal stature.

Roche was inducted into the La Salle Hall of Fame in 1988.

Owens was not.

In fact, Owens is the most glaring omission from the La Salle Hall of Fame, one that includes the aforementioned Candelaria as well as long ago basketball great Dick McGuire.

La Salle wants Owens in its hall, just as USC would like to retire his jersey No. 24. La Salle officials initially wanted Owens to join the hall in the second class of inductees, the same year that Roche joined.

William Aberer, a manager on the 1967 La Salle championship team, is now the school’s athletics director. His attempts to reach out to Owens failed, just as USC’s have fallen on deaf ears. Aberer says he communicated with Owens on and off through Owens’ days at USC and into his professional career in the ABA and NBA.

But, Aberer says, about 20 years ago Owens stopped responding to any correspondence. Andy Leary, La Salle’s director of development, says Owens has never been among the former students and athletes — Roche included — who continue to reach out to the school either in correspondence or in giving.

“He won’t come back for anything,” says Aberer, who never heard from Owens when the school informed the former star that it wanted to induct him into the school’s hall. “Tommy just doesn’t do those things.”

Aberer also says the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame wanted to induct Owens and Roche together in 2003. Roche, an attorney in Denver, was inducted and attended the ceremony in New York. Owens, who lives in Portland, Oregon, never responded to requests from the New York City hall, according to Aberer.

So USC and its following of Owens’ fans should not feel slighted. Dave Odom, USC’s basketball coach, sent a letter of invitation to Owens in December and said the former player’s jersey would be retired upon his return to Columbia. Owens responded with a terse, three-paragraph note saying he was not interested.

Eric Hyman, USC’s athletics director, recently directed another letter to Owens. Hyman has not received a response from Owens.

“I don’t think it’s a South Carolina thing. I think it’s just his personality,” Aberer says of Owens. “I think he just wants to put that part of his life behind him. That’s just my reaction from dealing with him. I don’t think it’s anything about South Carolina or about La Salle.”

Apparently, it is simply all about Owens.