Owen At Large

The late John Owen graduated in journalism from the University of Montana, where he met his wife, Alice.
He served as a military cryptographer in the Army during the Korean conflict.
Owen worked for the Bismarck Tribune and Yakima Herald then spent 40 years at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, most of that time as sports editor, sports columnist and as author of a weekly Intermediate Eater cooking column.
He was named Sportswriter of the Year in the State of Washington on seven occasions and covered six Olympiads.
He was in San Francisco during the Earthquake World Series and traveled to Zaire with Muhammad Ali and George Foreman for "The Rumble in the Jungle."
Owen wrote nine books on sports, travel and food. He also served on occasion as restaurant critic for the Post-Intelligencer.
Upon his semi-retirement, he moved to the Edmonds Bowl and with his wife established that as their base for extensive world travel.
They also traveled with Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door excursions and with Untours which allowed them to take up temporary residence in sites like Venice, Italy and Locarno, Switzerland.
The Owens were film buffs and for the past six years have attended the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
Alice is a professional artist and a longtime member of the Northwest Watercolor Society and Women Painters of Washington.
John died in 2014 at age 85.
Additional Column Posts (1 - 20 of 155) Next Page
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A ‘Sick Stadium’ and a lot of history
By John Owen - May 24The Seattle Pilots barely made it to the starting line in 1969, their first and only season in the American League. They rushed contractors to ...
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All Gaga over tweeting
By John Owen - May 10At the time I was sports editor of the newspaper, but was given the assignment of helping research history for a 100th Anniversary edition of the ...
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Do they still play ‘Kick the Can?’
By John Owen - Apr 26The T-ball batters have been perfecting their swings at the Civic Field. The soccer kiddies are chasing the ball and each other on the grass north ...
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Righting the wrongs
By John Owen - Apr 12I found a red card wrapped around my doorknob recently. It apparently was placed there by a female named Julia, described as a spiritual psychic ...
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Enlightenment of the colors
By John Owen - Mar 22It is not really a password. You might describe it as a head case. The head belongs to me and so does the visored sports cap that I wear when the ...
- It's obviously a case of mistaken identity.
A tragic case of…
By John Owen - Mar 01It's obviously a case of mistaken identity. But that is liable to happen when people allow dogs to write their letters to the editor. The dog in ...
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Don’t mess with Alice…
By John Owen - Feb 16There ought to be a law. And violators should be sentenced to serve time on the top deck of the Kingston ferry when the captain leans on the horn ...
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The George Raveling formula
By John Owen - Feb 03Recruiting out-of-state athletes to WSU is not an easy task, but it was one at which George Raveling excelled.
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Judging the Fairs
By John Owen - Jan 05I don't hang around the Edmonds Municipal Court, but if I did I would probably never hear Judge Douglas Fair tell a defendant: "They didn't put ...
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The place to go
By John Owen - Dec 22Eric Kaminetzky is still relatively new to this area, installed and ordained as minister of Edmonds Unitarian Church less than a year ago.
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Naming a new council member
By John Owen - May 17Who said this? "I would never join any organization that would accept me as a member." The quotation is credited to Groucho Marx. It was repeated ...
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Plenty of dining options on the avenue
By John Owen - May 03I hesitate to suggest that storm sewers aren't sexy. But Fred Astaire did not refer to them when he warbled about "The Avenue. . . . Fifth ...
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Comparing out ‘art scene’ with Santa Fe
By John Owen - Apr 20Residents of Santa Fe are proud of their opera house, but note that it is located in a bleak landscape about 12 miles out of town, next to a flea ...
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The Duke as a barista
By John Owen - Mar 29According to the merchandising bromide, "The customer is always right." Really? That seems to contradict knowledge personally gained during a ...
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Choices for St. Patrick’s day
By John Owen - Mar 15Yogi Berra voiced an objection when some of his Yankee teammates suggested a popular site for dining and drinking. "Nobody goes there any more. ...
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And the views are unstoppable
By John Owen - Feb 25OK, bring in the wrecking balls, the tractors, the cement mixers and the construction crews. I've perused the latest Preliminary Redevelopment and ...
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Dog research in a warm climate
By John Owen - Feb 09
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One nutty guy
By John Owen - Jan 12Rick Steves is a former Edmonds piano teacher, an enormously successful travel writer, lecturer and tour leader but if you mention his name in a ...
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Awestruck by Newman
By John Owen - Dec 29Spend a career in the newspaper business and you meet the rich and the poor,
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A look forward to good food and drink
By John Owen - Dec 15I