Edwyn Robert "Bob" Owen (June 8, 1936 – October 5, 2007) was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 star hockey player at Harvard and played on the 1960 U.S. hockey team that won an Olympic gold medal for the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. He later battled schizophrenia

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...

.

Ice hockey

Owen grew up in St. Louis Park, Minnesota

St. Louis Park, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 44,126 people, 20,782 households, and 10,557 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,122.5 persons per square mile . There were 21,140 housing units at an average density of 1,975.0 per square mile...

, and attended Harvard University, where he was a defenseman on three Ivy League championship teams. In 1957, he won Harvard’s Angier Trophy for the player who made the greatest improvement. He graduated from Harvard in 1958. At his induction into the Harvard Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 1982, he was described as a “hard-hitting player who could move an opponent from in front of the net.”

He was on the 1960 Winter Olympics

1960 Winter Olympics

The 1960 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VIII Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event held between February 18 and 28, 1960 in Squaw Valley, California, United States. In 1955 at the 50th IOC meeting, the organizing committee made the surprise choice to award Squaw Valley as...

 hockey team with several of his Harvard teammates, including Bill Cleary and Bob Cleary

Bob Cleary

Robert Barry Cleary is a retired ice hockey player. Cleary was a member of the American 1960 Winter Olympics team that won the gold medal. He was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1981.-External links:*...

, winning the gold by beating the Soviets and Czechoslovakia. It was the nation’s first gold medal in men’s hockey.

Mental breakdown

He visited Communist countries with the U.S. national hockey team in 1959 and worked on classified projects at balloon company, Raven Industries in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, beginning in 1960. He later described these times to his friends as specifically troubling and paranoia-inducing.

Owen had a breakdown in 1963 in San Francisco. In the late 1960s, he moved to Topeka, Kansas where he committed himself to the Menninger Clinic for treatment his schizophrenia

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...

. He would be released from the in-patient facility three years later, but never moved more than four miles from the hospital.

Community involvement

In 1973, he began teaching at Washburn University School of Business. Owen became a local hero in Topeka hockey, so much so that the adult hockey league in that city named its championship cup after him (the Owen Cup). He also helped to construct numerous veterans monuments in the Topeka area.

Death

On October 5, 2007 a white Lincoln Continental was found burning in a field in Topeka, Kansas. A body was found inside, severely burned. A week later it was determined to be the remains of Edwyn Owen. The Kansas state Fire Marshall's Office determined that the car's heated catalytic converter set fire to the dense dry grass around the vehicle. Only later was Owen's increasingly bizarre behavior reported. He hung up abruptly on the phone with old friends, left rambling telephone messages and claimed he was a character in a fictional children's book.

Sources

Carlson, James "Body ID'd as Olympian's" The Topeka Capital-Journal 9 Oct. 2007 A1

Carlson, James "Part 1: The Bob Owen Story" "The Topeka Capital-Journal 2 July 2008 A1

Carlson, James "Obsessed, Owen's Mind Falters" The Topeka Capital-Journal 3 July 2008 A1

Carlson, James "Owen Looks for Help at Menninger" The Topeka Capital-Journal 4 July 2008 A1

Carlson, James "Vets, Hockey Offer Owen an Outlet" The Topeka Capital-Journal 5 July 2008 A1

Carlson, James "Owen's Life, Death, a Puzzle, an Enigma" The Topeka Capital-Journal 6 July 2008 A2