Former University of Kansas men’s basketball coach Ted Owens has shared a room with current Jayhawks coach Bill Self on golfing trips as far away as Scotland and Ireland.
“He is a special friend,” the 88-year-old Owens said of the man 34 years Owens’ junior, quickly adding, “he’d be a better roommate if he’d get in earlier.”
Owens, a native of Hollis, Okla., couldn’t resist cracking a little joke about Self, from Okmulgee, Okla., who on Friday night will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Owens, of course, is planning on attending the event at Springfield Symphony Hall in recognition of his good friend, who will be one of 11 individuals enshrined in the Class of 2017.