Football fan attending games for 75 years
Eva Owens began attending classes at NDSU more than 75 years ago and has been a Bison football fan ever since.
Gene Taylor, director of athletics, and Chad Stark, a past NDSU football player, presented Owens with a signed football in honor of her support of NDSU football for 75 years.
A native of Fargo, Owens currently lives in a house about five blocks away from where she was born and raised.
Owens said she graduated in 1933 with a major in home economics.
After college, Owens and her husband lived in Fargo where they raised a family of three daughters.
“ My first job was at NDSU, but it was during the war and there was a law that married women couldn’t work in certain state and national places,” Owens said. “So when I got married I had to quit that job.”
Owens said she worked at Gate City Bank for three years until she had kids, and then she became a stay-at-home mom until she later went to work at Warner & Company.
A football fan all her life, Owens said she was basically brought up watching football.
“ My brother played at Fargo High and so I would go with my father to games and then we’d go home and talk about it all during dinner,” Owens said.
When Owens attended NDSU, she started going to Bison football games with her friends, but soon found someone new to watch the games with.
“ It’s actually where I met my husband,” Owens said. “I was sitting way up high in the bleachers with a friend who knew him and invited him to come with us. He walked all the way up to sit by us and that’s how we met.”
Back then, Owens said games used to be a lot different, and students had to sit outdoors to watch.
Owens said until her husband died in 1981, they regularly attended games together and were both big Bison football fans.
“The last time my husband and I went to a game it was raining and he easily caught a cold, so we had to leave,” Owens said. “But we always watched them on TV or listened to the games on the radio.”
Since Owens’ husband died, she said she drives to games with friends who also are faithful Bison football fans.
“ We never had great seats but we had fun anyway,” Owens said. “We would also get to the game an hour early so we could beat the rush and sit in our seats and eat dinner.”
Owens said this is the first year she didn’t purchase season tickets because it has become too difficult to get into the bleachers.
Even though Owens didn’t attend any football games, she still faithfully watches or listens to games on her TV or radio and plans to for many more years to come.