The Jim Owens Achievement Award
Description & Explanation of Award
The Spartans had just come off one of the most exciting years in school history finishing with a 20-7 record in 1991-92, but the Class of 1992-93 built on top of that season by capping an incredible 28-4 season. Finishing the year as the #2 ranked team in Division 3AA Basketball, CIF 3AA Finalist, State Regional Div. III Finalist and ranked #5 in the State & undefeated Pioneer League Champs! Needless to say, our season was filled with much deserved recognition and awards to members of the team and the program.
Wanting to make the banquet a special one, we did our homework and found that in 1969, a former South High Spartan, by the name of Jim "The Big O" Owens was the only alumni to ever make such an impact in South High history by averaging about 27 points a games, shooting from three point range. It earned him a scholarship to Arizona State. After a successful career at Arizona, Jim Owens was drafted by the Phoenix Suns in 1973. He spent two years with the Suns before ending his NBA career.
Jim was a 3.5 student in school, he was an All-League, All-Area & All-CIF player. In our eyes, Jim exemplifies the ideal athlete that excels on the court and in the classroom. At the banquet, Jim Owens attended and presented the award to our first recipient. His head coach also attended. Jim Owens now resides in Whittier. And so, this award is given to an athlete that fits the following criteria:
The Spartans had just come off one of the most exciting years in school history finishing with a 20-7 record in 1991-92, but the Class of 1992-93 built on top of that season by capping an incredible 28-4 season. Finishing the year as the #2 ranked team in Division 3AA Basketball, CIF 3AA Finalist, State Regional Div. III Finalist and ranked #5 in the State & undefeated Pioneer League Champs! Needless to say, our season was filled with much deserved recognition and awards to members of the team and the program.
Wanting to make the banquet a special one, we did our homework and found that in 1969, a former South High Spartan, by the name of Jim "The Big O" Owens was the only alumni to ever make such an impact in South High history by averaging about 27 points a games, shooting from three point range. It earned him a scholarship to Arizona State. After a successful career at Arizona, Jim Owens was drafted by the Phoenix Suns in 1973. He spent two years with the Suns before ending his NBA career.
Jim was a 3.5 student in school, he was an All-League, All-Area & All-CIF player. In our eyes, Jim exemplifies the ideal athlete that excels on the court and in the classroom. At the banquet, Jim Owens attended and presented the award to our first recipient. His head coach also attended. Jim Owens now resides in Whittier. And so, this award is given to an athlete that fits the following criteria:
- An athlete who sets high goals & upholds the coaches' standards & ideas to the best of his ability.
- An athlete that strives to be the best he can be by outstanding achievements on the court and in the classroom to the coaches' & school's satisfaction.
- Following the tradition of Jim Owens, this student-athlete has a good work ethic, a strong desire & is self-motivated to do well in both the gym and the classroom.
Recipients of The Jim Owens Achievement Award
Year
2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 |
Recipient
Trevor Lee Marley Schneider Terence Sun Jun Sato David Chung Takuma Izumi Kyle Ogata Niles Chang Alex Materman - Kenichi Hackman Avinash Lalchandani Dallas Morioka Jonathan Gatlin Shawn Tan Ryan Oka Garrett Mitsuuchi Trent Hagiya Steve Turner Mike Ibarra Scott Wilson Farbod Azizi Mike Peterson Matt Peterson Ben Lee Ryan Yamaka Dane Suenaga Donald Harris David Brown Derek Brown Paul Suguira Kyle McIntosh Jimmy Williamson Jason Anthony Danny Fernandez Dan Thompson |
College
Northeastern University - - Cal State Long Beach Pepperdine UC Santa Barbara UCLA UC Berkeley Cal Poly San Luis Obispo - University of Oregon - - North Carolina State University UC Irvine UC Berkeley El Camino College UC San Diego South Dakota State Cal State Long Beach - Cal Poly Pomona Whitman College of Washington UC San Diego UC Irvine UC Berkeley University of Hawaii Cal State San Diego Cal State Long Beach Loyola Marymount - Georgetown Loyola Marymount San Diego State Cal State Long Beach - |