PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Kevin Owens is a Camden Catholic High School product who enjoyed a long professional basketball career playing in what is now the NBA G-League and overseas.
He made many stops in his playing career, from Australia to Kosovo to South Korea to Estonia, and he has written a book about the experience – Overseas Famous: The Trials and Tribulations of a Basketball Globetrotter.
Listen to the full episode with Matt Leon and Kevin Owens:
"I honestly was writing for SLAM. I was putting all these blocks together, and I remember just dropping them into a folder," Owens said.
"I'm five years, six years removed from writing for SLAM Magazine. And I started looking through those and I'm like, 'These stories aren't even online anymore, and no one can find them.' I was like, 'Let me try to put this, put these things together, and just see what happens.'"
Owens compiled stories from childhood all the way through his career, from his nine-inch growth spurt as a senior to his time at Monmouth University where, as a sophomore, he found himself on a conference tournament champion that made the NCAA Tournament.
"That's your championship. I mean, for a team, that's going to be a 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament. That's your celebration, you won the championship. And now it's like, oh, by the way, you have to play Duke. And you actually have to play them. And you're kind of like, 'Oh, wait a minute," Owens admitted.
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"I was overtaken with nervousness, because you're playing Duke, and you don't want to go out and get destroyed on national television. I think that was something that I feared. And honestly, it took me a while to kind of calm down and just start realizing like, 'This is such a cool experience. Just live your life...enjoy. Enjoy the moment. Don't worry about what could happen. Just enjoy the moment."
Owens takes the reader through his days playing in the G-League for the Roanoke Dazzle, and his travels playing basketball in Cyprus, Poland, Australia, Korea, New Zealand, and war-torn Kosovo where he played in a game and yet feared for his life due to fan behavior.
"I want to win this game. But at the same time, I also don't want to die," he said.
"I always say Eagles fans are crazy. They're nothing compared to some of these overseas fans."
"1-on-1 with Matt Leon" is a KYW Newsradio original podcast. Check it out below, on the Audacy App or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can follow the show on Twitter @1on1pod and you can follow Matt @Mattleon1060.