By: Mike Still (@mikestill94)
Feature photo: Owen Brown celebrates after winning the MFLM Special Teams Player of the Year award for a second straight year.
Over the years, Manitoba has produced a number of notable kicking stars who got their starts on the pitch such as Niko DiFonte of the Calgary Dinos, who booted a record-breaking 59-yard field goal to help his squad win the Hardy Cup in 2017.
St. Vital Mustangs product Owen Brown is aiming to be the next great kicking name coming out of the province and looks to be well on his way. He’s a two-time Midget Football League of Manitoba (MFLM) champion who’s also been a member of Team Manitoba U18. He’s got the leg to kick a field goal from 50-plus and is a great coffin-corner punter as well.
Brown got into football prior to entering grade ten thanks to his older brother Findlay, another former soccer star who recently finished his third season at McGill after starring with Vincent Massey Collegiate. Owen goes to St. John’s Ravenscourt, which doesn’t have a football team so he decided to shoot his shot in the MFLM beginning in 2016.
“We were both soccer players for a long time and then Findlay had had a lot of success in [football]. He got started in I think his grade 11 year and so my dad figured I should give it a try as well,” Owen says.
“It took be a bit of convincing. I’d never really considered football, it wasn’t really up my alley. But I gave it a try and [St. Vital Mustangs midget head coach] Kevin [Kavitch] sort of went out on a limb taking me as just a kicker.”
At the beginning, punting the ball was a bit more challenging for Brown, however muscle memory eventually kicked in.
“To a point, a ball is a ball. Field goal kicking is definitely a lot more natural. It’s a lot of pointing your toe and following through,” he says.
“Punting is definitely more technical. It’s a game of inches and centimetres and degrees. But I think soccer is transferrable in the sense that kicking is kicking and using your feet as extensions of your body is a helpful thing to have.”
It didn’t take long for Brown to master both kicking disciplines. He was a perfect 6-for-6 on field goals as a rookie and also had 45 total points. The following season he earned his first of back-to-back Special Teams Player of the Year awards — including netting a 52-yarder — while also helping the Mustangs two-peat in 2017 and 2018 as league champion.
“Winning two championships with the team has been an incredible ride. There’s been a lot of ups and downs,” Brown says with a smile.
“My first year we lost in the finals to the Falcons [Football Club] and it was a tough moment. But it was a real character moment for the team. We realized what it takes to succeed at a high level and we weren’t there yet. Then the next year we came back and we were really together as a team.
Trophies and rings are one thing, but it’s the journey more than the destination that matters most.”
Brown’s football journey is far from over. This season he’ll suit up for the UBC Thunderbirds, who he talked to throughout the 2018 Canada Cup and into the new year, before ultimately committing in February.
“It was always really good communicating with them. They’re very professional and really showed a lot of respect. They seemed very keen on me as a player and as a student. That was really great and I’m definitely looking forward to the next four years with them.”
While Brown is excited to strap on the pads with the T-Birds, he’s equally stoked to begin his journey as a student in the highly acclaimed Sauder School of Business.
His goal is to take football as far as he can go, however he’s also aware that there’s life after the sport, using mentor Lirim Hajrullahu — a former U SPORTS kicker and Grey Cup champ — as an example. The product of the Western Mustangs put himself through his MBA while playing in the league and now runs a kicking academy for up-and-coming prospects.
“I’ve always wanted to play professionally, that would be incredible, but it’s never been the only thing I wanted to do,” says Brown.
“Obviously if I get the opportunity to play professionally in Canada or in the United States it would really be a wonderful experience, even if it’s only a couple of years. I think if I’m able to combine football and that business side in the future, that would be really interesting.”