Paul Owens

The last time I saw Phillies icon Paul Owens, he was frail and failing as he leaned on the arms of his prot?g?, club executive Dallas Green, and general manager Ed Wade during emotional closing ceremonies for Veterans Stadium on Sept. 28. That's not the way I will remember The Pope. I will remember how excited he was to attend a high school or college basketball game when one of his grandsons was playing. I will remember how he was a straight shooter, a man who was secure enough in himself - and his beliefs - that he answered questions with candor.

Paul Owens, 78, of West Philadelphia, a member of the legendary Dixie Hummingbirds gospel group, died of cancer last Thursday at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Owens spent 16 years of his singing career with the famed Dixie Hummingbirds, lending his smooth tenor to the tight harmonies of a group considered one of the pillars of gospel music. Before he joined the group in 1948, Mr. Owens had built a reputation as a talented soloist with groups such as the Israelite Gospel Singers and the Baystate Gospel Singers.

A quarter-century later, he's back to the future. A quarter-century after Paul Owens began assembling the greatest team in Phillies history, the Phillies have remembered he's still around. Finally, they are tapping into his font of wisdom again. Finally, they are allowing him to be actively involved in all phases of this team again. Finally, they have hauled his blueprints out of the attic and are using them to rebuild this baseball team the way Owens built his own quasi-dynasty in the '70s.

During Veterans Stadium's final season, The Inquirer will look back weekly at memorable Phillies moments. In the summer of 1983, when Comcast SportsNet was just a distant dream and WIP a dying radio station, sports news wasn't yet a ubiquitous buzz. There was an enormous black hole between the morning papers and the 11 o'clock news, and Philadelphia fans, for the most part, were content to pass those hours in blissful ignorance. So it wasn't unusual that on the night of July 18, 1983, thousands of Phillies fans arrived at Veterans Stadium having not heard a single word about the hastily convened news conference that had taken place on the 400 level a few hours earlier.

Paul Owens, the architect of the best Phillies teams in history, sat in the bleachers at Cherry Hill East High last week, puffed on an unfiltered Chesterfield and exhaled a mouthful. A mouthful of praise, that is. "He reminds me a little of Doc Gooden when I saw him pitching in high school in Tampa," said Owens, now a special assistant with the Phillies, as he watched Toms River North speedballer J.M. Gold deliver a pitch last Friday. "He's the closest I've seen to him in a long time, and what I like about him is that he doesn't waste any motion.

Bishop Eustace's Geoff Owens, a 6-foot-10 center, said last night that he has made an oral commitment to the University of Pennsylvania. Owens, a grandson of Phillies executive Paul Owens, said he chose Penn over Penn State, Rider and Navy. Last season was his first as a varsity basketball starter. Owens averaged 12 points and 10 rebounds a game. "One college told us that Geoff was the best-kept secret in the country, and I agree," Eustace coach Bill Lange said. "He still hasn't tapped all his ability, and his work ethic is incredible.

BIO   Charles Fuqua Manuel Age: 66 Birthdate: Jan. 4, 1944, in North Fork, W.Va. Major league career: 1969-75, he played 4 years with the Twins and 2 years with the Dodgers. Major league numbers: .198 average, 242 games, 384 at-bats, 25 runs, 76 hits, 12 doubles, 0 triples, 4 home runs, 43 RBI 40 walks, 77 strikeouts, .273 on-base percentage, .260 slugging percentage. Managing career: 9 years in minor leagues (610-588); 2-plus years with Cleveland Indians (220-190)

When Geoff Owens finished his freshman year at Bishop Eustace, he made a decision that eventually would change his future. Owens chose to forgo baseball and concentrate on basketball. He hasn't regretted that decision one bit. Owens, a former power-hitting first baseman, will continue his basketball career next season at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also plans to major in pre-med. Entering yesterday's game against Overbrook, the 6-foot-11, 200-pound center was averaging 16.4 points, 14 rebounds and 7 blocked shots for Eustace, which is expected to seriously contend for the South Jersey Parochial B title.

Jokingly, Rich Ashburn told Mayor Rendell that the Mummers should be part of the festivities. Well, that can-do mayor placed a call and, wouldn't you know it, six Mummers were in town by Saturday night. One problem: There were no rooms left. And even the can-do mayor couldn't solve that. The Mummers ended up taking naps in their cars and rose at dawn to play. They weren't the only early risers. By 9 a.m., the field surrounding the outdoor stage was dotted with red-dressed people.

To help get ready for Tuesday's Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Arizona, see what you know about past games. 1. The first All-Star Game was played in 1933. Where? a. Fenway Park, Boston. b. Comiskey Park, Chicago. c. Polo Grounds, New York. d. Wrigley Field, Chicago. 2. When was the first All-Star Game played in Philadelphia? a. 1943. b. 1953. c. 1967. d. 1976. 3. When was the last time the game was played in Philadelphia?

To help get ready for Tuesday's Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Arizona, see what you know about past games. 1. The first All-Star Game was played in 1933. Where? a. Fenway Park, Boston. b. Comiskey Park, Chicago. c. Polo Grounds, New York. d. Wrigley Field, Chicago. 2. When was the first All-Star Game played in Philadelphia? a. 1943. b. 1953. c. 1967. d. 1976. 3. When was the last time the game was played in Philadelphia?

BIO   Charles Fuqua Manuel Age: 66 Birthdate: Jan. 4, 1944, in North Fork, W.Va. Major league career: 1969-75, he played 4 years with the Twins and 2 years with the Dodgers. Major league numbers: .198 average, 242 games, 384 at-bats, 25 runs, 76 hits, 12 doubles, 0 triples, 4 home runs, 43 RBI 40 walks, 77 strikeouts, .273 on-base percentage, .260 slugging percentage. Managing career: 9 years in minor leagues (610-588); 2-plus years with Cleveland Indians (220-190)

IN THE PANTHEON of truly thankless jobs, major league baseball traveling secretary ranks somewhere between bomb-squad defuser and deckhand on a Bering Sea crab trawler. The good news is you get to see 162 baseball games a year. And you not only get the bonus of spending most of the winter in Florida or Arizona setting up all the spring-training logistics, you actually arrange most of your team's exhibition schedule. The bad news is that for 81 of those games, you are a concierge-to-go.

BEFORE THERE WAS Black Friday - Oct. 7, 1977 - the Phillies endured Soggy Saturday and Sunless Sunday. Sunday was the day general manager Paul Owens and manager Danny Ozark learned the real difference between a team that would win 101 games for the second straight season and a Los Angeles Dodgers team of similar talents. It was the day the words "bleeping Dodgers" were hurled in scatalogical volleys with shortstop Larry Bowa leading a profane chorus. They were in LA for a three-game weekend series.

PHILLIES GOT the rings. Braves gave the fingers. Until the bottom of the seventh, that is, when a bat-around plus four made Atlanta's 10-3 lead go away faster than a family-of-four $100 bill on Ashburn Alley. Three letters came to mind when I saw the TV closeup of clubby/traveling sec Frank Coppenbarger hefting his 2008 World Series ring, featuring the High Hopes Diamonds. All 103 of them. Touch 'em all, Ruth Madoff. You will never see a bigger ring the rest of your life. Hell, in her elegant prime, twig-thin Audrey Hepburn could have worn Ryan Howard's as a waistband.

1982: There was nothing the great Paul Owens enjoyed more in life than making The Big Trade. The bigger, the better. And it was the best of those deals - for Tug McGraw, for Garry Maddox, for Bake McBride, for Manny Trillo, for many more - that defined the Pope's inimitable legacy and transformed his team from punching bag to champions. But not this year. This was the year of two of the worst of those deals. The year began and ended with two of Owens' least popular, most second-guessed trades ever.

Reprinted from yesterday's Daily News: THERE ARE October underdogs and there are 6-feet underdogs. When the 1983 Phillies - the "Wheeze Kids" - went against the Los Angeles Dodgers, they were 6-feet underdogs. It would be three-and-cut-free for aging Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez and a winding-down semidynasty that had given the town an 8-year run of five division titles, two pennants and the 1980 World Series trophy. But there surely would be no World Series appearance in '83. That much seemed evident as Tommy Lasorda's Roman proboscis.

Twenty-five years ago, the Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, three games to one, in the best-of-five National League Championship Series. Larry Shenk, vice president of the Phillies' alumni, and Dodgers team historian Mark Langill tracked down where the members of those teams are now. Pitchers Larry Andersen: Philadelphia. Phillies broadcaster. Catchers Bo Diaz: Deceased. Infielders Ivan DeJesus: Orlando, Fla. Special assistant to Cubs manager Lou Piniella.

THOSE who to blame the woes of this year' Phillies on manager Larry Bowa, his coaching staff and general manager Ed Wade are off the mark. The real problem is the owners. For a team that was a sure bet to clinch the National League's Eastern Division, the Phils have been a personal heartbreak, but not an unexpected one if you've followed the team as long as I have. The Phillies are the only pro team I've ever cared about. I spent my childhood, adolescence and adulthood paying their escalating ticket prices.

The last time I saw Phillies icon Paul Owens, he was frail and failing as he leaned on the arms of his prot?g?, club executive Dallas Green, and general manager Ed Wade during emotional closing ceremonies for Veterans Stadium on Sept. 28. That's not the way I will remember The Pope. I will remember how excited he was to attend a high school or college basketball game when one of his grandsons was playing. I will remember how he was a straight shooter, a man who was secure enough in himself - and his beliefs - that he answered questions with candor.