SALT LAKE CITY — Burgess Owens was declared the winner of the primary election for Utah’s 4th Congressional District Tuesday night.
Owens had 43.5 percent of the vote in the primary election and will now take on incumbent Democrat Representative Ben McAdams in the general election.
Owens said when he left football, after playing 10 seasons with the NFL, he was a very “cocky liberal.”
After a year or so starting up his own business, Owens said he became a “humble conservative.”
For Owens, living the American dream has been all about failures and successes.
The former pro football player grew up in Florida during the days of Jim Crow laws, segregation and the KKK.
“For those who remember the movie “Remember the Titans,” that was my high school experience,” Owens said. “There was four of us, four black Americans that integrated into an all white school.”
Owens was the third black American to go to the University of Miami, where he majored in biology.
Then Owens spent the next 10 years playing football in the NFL before leaving to start his own business.
“My business went down big time and I lost everything,” Owens said.
Living in a one room apartment with four kids, Owens found himself working as a chimney sweep and a security guard.
“When you come out of something like that the message becomes very clear that this is a country of second chances,” Owens said.
Through all of this, Owens said he learned what was most important for a successful society.
“Head, heart, hands and home,” said Owens. “Education, faith, no matter how we worship God we need to be a country that is bold in worshiping him,” said Owens.
Education is Owens’ priority should he be elected to Congress.
Here he talks about his goals if he wins the general election:
Here Owens talks about Black Lives Matter: