An athlete, coach and father, Freddie Owens is no stranger to adversity.
Growing up on the North side of Milwaukee as the oldest of 10 siblings, Owens never planned on playing life with the hand he was dealt. And in Milwaukee, staying busy wasn’t a hobby — it was survival. Stark Park was more than basketball courts, it provided structure and mentorship. Decades later, with summers off and a newborn at home, Owens finally had the time to reflect on the experiences that gave him opportunities he always dreamed of.
Through faith, community, mentorship and perseverance, Owens managed to break a cycle, becoming the first in his family to pursue higher education and build an unbreakable legacy.
He tells his story in his new memoir “Echoes of Stark Park,” set to release Feb. 16. Although dedicated to his son Quentin, “Echoes of Stark Park” speaks to youth everywhere — especially Badgers.
The title is an homage to Stark Park, the “heartbeat” of Milwaukee's north side and a place where Owens spent much of his formative years. Owens told The Daily Cardinal if it weren’t for Stark Park’s busted rims and cracked asphalt courts, he never would have made it as a Badger, playing in front of thousands at the Kohl Center or professionally for BC Kalev in Estonia.
Owens cemented his legacy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison when he connected on a game-winning corner 3 to send the Badgers to secure a 61-60 NCAA tournament victory over Tulsa. But long before that, it was on those crumbling, concrete courts that Owens first learned how to fail, preparing himself for the moment he first stepped into the Badger locker room. From Stark Park to Washington High School, Owens was putting in thousands of reps.
Before Madison, a Final Four run or professional ball, Stark Park was a refuge and sanctuary for Owens. Owens said the park kept him and other Milwaukee youth off the streets.
“Teachers in the district would operate a building at each playground throughout the city [so we could] read and write and draw,” Owens said.
More than that, Owens said Stark Park was a shield from the rough future Milwaukee offered.
New beginnings
Owens also told the Cardinal that UW-Madison was his ticket out of Milwaukee.
“Where I come from, [the best] possible chance you can give yourself [to be successful is to] be educated,” Owens said.
And for Owens, graduating from UW-Madison meant more than an education. It was a testament to 18 years of hard work and perseverance. But the path to Madison wasn’t without barriers.
“I look at my upbringing and my childhood and the people that I was surrounded with, and family, friends and mentors and all of that stuff prepared me to overcome those obstacles,” Owens said.
When Owens arrived on campus, he stepped into a new world. From the tight-knit familiarity of Milwaukee to a melting pot like Madison, everything felt bigger. The expectations, the classrooms and the crowds.
“Madison was uncharted territory,” Owens said. “It was nothing like Milwaukee. This was a predominantly white environment with people from all over the world.”
For a first-generation student of color, a predominantly white campus was a new experience.
But between the courts and the classroom, Owens had no trouble settling in on campus.
“[Madison] is a second home,” Owens said. “It’s a place where I came in a boy and left a man.”
It was partly thanks to UW-Madison’s robust network of peers and fans that Owens performed so well in such a foreign environment.
“I never felt like I was an outsider, especially being a black kid from the inner city of Milwaukee,” Owens said.
The embrace he felt from the UW-Madison community gave him room to grow as an athlete and scholar. Even with a strong foundation, success didn’t come easy. What Owens lacked in experience, he made up with determination.
The pressure of the collegiate level made every season at Washington High School feel like Stark Park. There was pressure to perform on the court, pressure to perform in the classroom and the pressure of paving a new path for his family.
“In college, no one’s holding your hand,” Owens said.
Amidst the pressure of a national stage, Owens tapped into his discipline.
“My upbringing and having been put in positions where I was forced to be resilient because of my environment really helped me be able to thrive at the college level,” Owens said.
Owens still made sure his status as a Division 1 athlete didn’t take away from experiencing campus classics.
“I’m gonna go out to State Street Brats on a Friday night,” Owens said. “I understood the importance of the moment. Once those four years are up, there’s no going back.”
Looking all these years later, Owens notes the importance of balancing ambition and excitement.
“Echoes of Stark Park” may be about Owens’ legacy, but it walks through emotional terrain students experience every day.
One lesson prevails
Owens told the Cardinal the most important lesson in “Echoes of Stark Park” is persistence.
“It’s okay to fail,” Owens said. “Especially at that age, you’re working so hard to whatever it is [and you] get tunnel vision and miss out on other experiences [and] you want to be perfect. It’s okay to be imperfect, because that’s what shapes us as people.”
Family, faith and mentorship carried Owens through his life, and when he put it all on paper, something shifted. He didn’t just write a book, he rewrote his understanding of himself.
“[It forced] me to peel back layers of myself that I didn’t know existed,” Owens said.
In addition to the experience he gained studying journalism here at UW-Madison, Owens’ athletic background brought him a disciplined approach to writing.
“I [learned] how to write professional emails, [type and talk to media],” Owens said. “There were just so many different things that I was able to learn that helped me, not only being an athlete but also as I [transitioned] into coaching, and now even with teaching and this book.”
The education Owens’ received at UW-Madison ran deeper than learning equations and how to write emails.
“I knew that I could walk into any room and be relatable to any person, no matter what race, what their beliefs were, where they were from,” he said.
Owens walked off campus with a degree, three championships and a sense of self that would carry him into adulthood. For UW-Madison students, “Echoes of Stark Park” is a testament to how faith, community and mentorship can shape a legacy.
