He has now written a second book on OU football, this one about the Sooners’ first great coach, Bennie Owen. King answered questions from The Oklahoman about his new book, “Oklahoma’s Bennie Owen: Man for All Seasons.”

Q: When people talk about Oklahoma football coaching greats, most of the conversation seems to be about Bud Wilkinson, Barry Switzer and Bob Stoops. Do you think Bennie Owen gets overlooked in that conversation?

A: In a way, I guess. I mean he does have a statue there (at the University of Oklahoma). It is Owen Field, but I think most people really don’t understand what he did and how important he was. I think a lot of that is just due to the fact he was there 100 years ago. Up until now, there had been no books written about him. The only way you would know about him would be Harold Keith’s book “Oklahoma Kickoff” (published in 1948) and there are not very many people alive who probably have even read that book.

Q: Most OU football fans probably know Owen was the Sooners’ football coach and the field is named after him, but little else about the man. Do you agree?

A: I think that is probably right based on what people have told me. They just kind of recognize the name but don’t really understand, really, when he coached and what he did and they certainly don’t remember he also coached baseball and basketball.

Q: When researching the book, what did you learn about Bennie Owen that impressed you the most?

A: I guess it would be that he was a leader of men. He was such a leader that all of his life, even as a young boy playing baseball in St. Louis, swimming in the Mississippi, whatever he did, he was always the alpha dog, the pack leader. He just had the kind of personality people wanted to follow him. Players loved him and people always respected him. That’s the main thing, what a respected person he was in his time. And as a player, head coach or assistant coach, he was a member of 10 undefeated teams. I doubt any other player or coach can make that statement.