Local Man to Referee Olympics

By MARK WILSON
Staff Writer

Steve Owen of Abilene will have a part in the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, but he doesn't want anyone to notice.

The retired Air Force avionics navigation technician is one of only four Americans who will be serving as a referee for beach volleyball in the centennial Olympic Games next month.

As in any sport, the best referee is usually an invisible one.

'I just want to be there and administrate the match and be unnoticed," said the 41-year-old Ohio native. "If I can walk away from the match and be unnoticed, I've done my job. We don't want to be the focus of the match."

Being selected as one of the total of 14 referees for beach volleyball - in its first year as an official Olympic medal sport - is a thrill that Owen labeled as "huge."

"It's just an honor on top of an honor," Owen said of being picked for the sport, which was a demonstration sport in the last Olympics. "I just can't wait for the experience to take place.

"I always spend hours in front of the TV watching the winter and summer Olympics. To be part of it will be the thrill of my life."

Owen rose to national prominence as a volleyball referee fairly quickly.

"I will say I have been a fast burner," Owen said. "I think I was a little more mature (than other beginning referees) when I started to go through the process."

After doing high school and college matches for years, he was selected by the Federation of International Volleyball to call four recent international beach volleyball events, including one in Spain.

"I had been on kind of a hot streak, getting to call a lot of national matches," Owen said. "The fact that I had retired and was able to travel was a factor. Doing well right away helped open the door."

A rating system for referees involving everything from ball handling to judgement is part of the selection process. A score of 88 is the minimum rating to qualify, and 100 is the maximum.

"You're graded on practical and theoretical tests," Owen said. "You have to score very good in both assessments to be considered as an international referee."

Bobby Clark, the international commissioner for beach volleyball referees, made the final selections for the Olympics, based on input from a national commission of referees and others.

Owen was on the national evaluation committee for indoor volleyball referees.

"That kept me on the cutting edge in officiating," said Owen, who had a football scholarship to NCAA Division II Akron University coming out of high school in Ohio but turned it down, got married and joined the Air Force two years later.

Owen started playing intramural volleyball in the Air Force in 1976, and began to referee in 1978. He was assigned to Dyess Air Force Base in 1987.

He has been active in the National Federation for high school volleyball as a referee, and has been president of the local officials chapter for the last six years. In 1995, he became a district director on the state association for volleyball.

Owen began working college volleyball matches at the NAIA level and for the Lone Star Conference in 1988. Owen has been a referee for Southwest Conference and Southeastern Conference volleyball, and he plans to do Big 12, Conference USA, Big West and Southland Conference matches in the future. He was appointed National Commissioner for Outdoor Referee Development in May.

In 1992, Owen was named winner of the Silver Whistle Award for the 1991 season, signifying him as the "rookie of the year" among volleyball referees.

Earlier this year, Owen was named as the winner of the Golden Whistle Award for the 1995. That award goes to the person chosen as the top national referee for the open national tournament.

Owen found out that he was in the running for an Olympic position last November. But it wasn't official until he completed a clinic for referees in Marbella, Spain in early April, when he earned his International Beach Volleyball Referee certification.

In the U.S. Olympic Trials for beach volleyball in Baltimore earlier this month, Owen worked the final qualifying match between the teams of Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes, and Adam Johnson and Randy Stoklos. The Kiraly-Steffes team won to qualify as one of the three U.S. men's teams that will compete in the Olympics.

The venue for the Olympic beach volleyball matches will be 22 miles south of Atlanta, in Clayton County next to a man-made lake dubbed Atlanta Beach. Owen and the other volleyball referees will be staying in the Olympic Village, at Emory University in Atlanta.

He is also looking forward to witnessing the elaborate opening ceremony, and possibly events other than indoor and beach volleyball.

"I'd love to watch track and field," said Owen. "We should get tickets for the opening ceremony.

"It brings tears to my eyes to see all that talent in one place, all the world's best. I'm sure Atlanta will put on a great exhibition. Being there, I can't imagine what it's going to be like. It's going to be great. I'm just humbled to be given the opportunity to go."