Terrell Owens Gallery

TERRELL OWENS

Terrell Eldorado Owens (born 1973) is an American football wide receiver for the National Football League (NFL). A six-time Pro Bowl selection, Owens holds or shares several National Football League records, and features in the all-time top-five in several receiving categories, including yards and touchdowns. As productive as he has been, Owens has been equally controversial, creating firestorms with almost every team he has played for as a professional. Owens played college football and basketball at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and was selected in the third round of the 1996 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers. Owens was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2004 after a spat with 49ers front office members. Two years later, he was released and signed to another large pact by the Dallas Cowboys, only to be given his unconditional release on March 4, 2009. Owens has also played for the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals in 2009 and 2010, respectively. He recently played for the Allen Wranglers of the Indoor Football League, before being released in 2012. Popularly known by his initials, T.O., Owens is as renowned for his flamboyant touchdown celebrations and public persona as he is for his talent on the field. His actions on and off the field have led to many league fines, as well as frequent penalties for his team.

While enrolled at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Owens played many sports including basketball, football, and ran track. Owens had the opportunity to play at the 1995 NCAA Basketball Tournament. While playing in college, Owens wore the #80 jersey to honor his idol, Jerry Rice. He was not a distinguished athlete at first, but managed to make a breakthrough after becoming a starter during his sophomore year. Owens caught 38 passes for 724 yards and eight touchdowns during his sophomore year, and 34 passes for 357 yards and three touchdowns during his junior year. Having gained respect in the NCAA, Owens faced double coverage more frequently during his senior year, and was limited to 43 receptions for 667 yards and one touchdown. Owens previously held the single season receptions record at Chattanooga until it was broken in 2007 by Alonzo Nix. He also participated in the Senior Bowl, a college all-star game played by college seniors, in preparation for the NFL Draft. Owens also played on the same college team with Tri-State Crematory owner, Ray Brent Marsh.

Owens has played for the San Francisco 49ers, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Dallas Cowboys, the Buffalo Bills, the Cincinnati Bengals, teh Allen Wranglers indoor team and the Seattle Seahawks.

On November 15, 2004, Owens, wearing a Philadelphia Eagles uniform, appeared with popular TV actress Nicollette Sheridan (of the ABC series Desperate Housewives, in character as Edie Britt) in an introductory skit which opened that evening's Monday Night Football telecast, in which Owens and the Eagles played the Cowboys at Texas Stadium. Some observers (especially then-Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy) condemned the skit as being sexually suggestive because of Sheridan removing a towel, and ABC later apologized for airing it. However, on March 14, 2005, the Federal Communications Commission ruled that the skit did not violate decency standards, because it contained no outright nudity or foul language.

After the December 16, 2006 game against the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta Falcons cornerback DeAngelo Hall claimed that Owens spit in his face after a play early in the game. Game officials and reporters were unaware of the incident and Owens was not asked about it until his post-game interview with the NFL Network, when he confirmed it. Owens said, "I got frustrated and I apologize for that. It was a situation where he kept hugging me and getting in my face. He had a lot of words, I didn't. I just wanted to come and prove I’m not a guy to be schemed with." Hall said that he lost all respect for Owens. The NFL fined Owens $35,000 for the incident. Within a week of the incident, Deion Sanders served as a mediator for Owens and Hall, and the two reportedly "made up".

Some media outlets in Dallas reported on the morning of September 27, 2006 that Owens had tried to kill himself by intentionally ingesting an overdose of hydrocodone, a pain medication. A police report filed on the night of September 26 seemed to confirm the attempt, saying that Owens' publicist, Kim Etheredge, found him unresponsive with an empty bottle of pain killers, pried two pills from his mouth, and called 9-1-1, after which an ambulance transported him four blocks from his Deep Ellum condo to Baylor University Medical Center. The event became a national news sensation but was soon overshadowed by the Platte Canyon High School Shooting which had occurred only hours later. According to the police report, Owens and Etheredge both said he was depressed, and Owens answered "yes" when asked whether he had intended to harm himself. Owens' publicist, however, refuted the report, stating that Owens had suffered an allergic reaction to the medication combined with a dietary supplement. ESPN reported that about half the police report was blacked out, including the phrases "attempting suicide by prescription pain medication" and "a drug overdose". Owens left the hospital later on September 27. At a news conference after his release, Owens denied having made a suicide attempt, stating that he expected to join the team for practice the next morning. He stated that he was "not depressed" and was "very happy to be here", and denied that doctors had pumped his stomach, calling speculation to that effect "definitely untrue". The press conference took place after Owens had run routes and caught passes with the Cowboys at the team's practice facility in Valley Ranch. Owens' publicist lashed out at the police and said they took advantage of him. Notably, Owens himself made no such statements, and at his press conference praised both the police and medical personnel who treated him. Then on Thursday, September 28, the Dallas Police Department reported the incident to be an "accidental overdose" and ended their investigation.

Outside of his football career, Owens also appeared in various commercials, television shows, and films. Owens played himself, as a wide receiver wearing #82 for the fictional Miami Sharks, in the 1999 film Any Given Sunday. In 2003 he appeared in a commercial for the ESPY Awards where he caught a home run ball from Barry Bonds in McCovey Cove. Owens appeared in an episode of Punk'd, starring Ashton Kutcher, which is based on his November 19, 2005 suspension. In 2006, Owens wrote Little T Learns to Share, a children's book which encourages children to share.

On May 8, 2012, Owens appeared on Dr. Phil with the mothers of 3 of his children to discuss relationships. The mothers were complaining that Owens was not involved in his children's lives. And three of the four mothers to his children accused Owens of either coming up short in his monthly child-support payments or not paying at all. Owens said he was paying some $45,000 per month in child support at one time. Apparently he is too busy writing children's books to visit his own kids.

Owens also has a breakfast cereal named after him called Terrell Owens T.O.'s Cereal.