“This was probably a top three experience of my life. My kids being born, that’s an experience unto itself, then playing for Michigan is two, and the Golden Bachelor is three.”
“Above playing for the Rams?” I ask Mel Owens, the season two Golden Bachelor, in a quaint café in his hometown of Detroit. He nods, and even to me, this seems high praise. Mel played on the 1980 Big Ten Conference Championship team with my uncle, my dad went on to play for Michigan ten years later, and, as a Michigan graduate myself, I’m well aware of how deep the Michigan connection runs.
I met Mel at a Football Alumni of Michigan tailgate for the Michigan vs. Washington game, where he was donning his 1980 championship team gear. I spotted him from across the tent, and he carried an air of confidence about him that screamed both “I played a huge role in that historic season back in 1980,” and “I’m the Golden Bachelor.”
I got to hang out with Mel two more times that week, once at a watch party for the hometowns episode of his Golden Bachelor season, and the second time at that café in Detroit, where we got to chat a little more in-depth about his time both growing up in and playing for Michigan, his experience as the Golden Bachelor, and, of course, music.
Mel’s First Round Of Fame
Given his Conference Championship-winning career at the University of Michigan, which subsequently led to an eight-year NFL career with the LA Rams, Mel Owens is certainly no stranger to the spotlight. “When I was in the NFL, I was really young, and as a first round draft pick, there’s a lot of attention on you.”Owens’ stellar career at Michigan led to him being selected as the ninth overall pick in the 1981 NFL Draft by the LA Rams. “There’s a lot of scrutiny, they put their first pick on you, so it matters. All eyes are on you, and it’s all about if you perform. You have to live up to expectations, and you gotta do it for, hopefully, a long period of time because you’re the guy they drafted.”
Fast-forward a few decades, and any scrutiny he received in the NFL is no longer much of a factor. His fame died down just a bit, only to be reinvigorated when he was named to be the second ever Golden Bachelor. “Mel the football player didn’t have gray hair, you know, Mel the bachelor has gray hair,” he laughed, thinking about the comparison between his earlier fame and his newfound fame.
If you’re lucky enough to go to the University of Michigan, I mean you hit the gold mine.
“When I’m playing football, I watch it back, and I know [when] I screw up, so I’ll think ‘Okay, here comes a bad play.'” As any professional is, Owens is definitely critical of himself. “When it’s unscripted, football or the Golden Bachelor, that’s just who you are. So you can train better and execute better, and with the show, you can do that, too, but there’s no redo. You’re gonna have another game next week, but I don’t get to see how I am [on the show] until it’s all finished.”
One of the producers of the show was a Michigan alumnus, which helped Owens settle in quite nicely. “He’s a great guy, and we got along great. He was a Michigan man, that’s the connection. It’s one of the reasons you go to Michigan, we’re worldwide.
“If you’re lucky enough to go to the University of Michigan, I mean you hit the gold mine.” He spoke with a true love and passion for the university that shaped him, as well as so many others over the course of its 200+ year history.
“A lot of the opportunities and experiences in my life that have just naturally happened have led to bigger ones, which led to even bigger ones, and it snowballs. And that’s how my life has been, it’s been charmed.” He continued with gratitude, “It’s not so much that [the Golden Bachelor] changed my life, or like I went from nothing to something, but it all just compounds.”
Bachelor Nation Saw A New Side Of The Same Mel
“The Golden Bachelor is a moniker that’s gonna be with me forever. Yeah, I’ll still be a football player, but I stopped playing football. When you’re the Golden Bachelor, you’re gonna be scrutinized for whatever you do.” The public scrutiny, while not entirely new to Mel Owens, is a little different this time around. “If you get married again, you get divorced, you never get married, your girlfriends—that’s just how the Bachelor and the Golden Bachelor franchise is.”
Having played for the University of Michigan, a professional career in the NFL, and growing up in Detroit at the height of Motown, Owens wasn’t exaggerating when he said he’s been charmed in life. “I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of cool experiences, and this is a really unique one.” The third-greatest experience of his life behind his kids being born and playing for Michigan, and it was made even sweeter by the fact that he’s gotten to share it with both his kids, and the people who’ve been by his side since his time at Michigan.
“My younger son, Andre, he already knows who the last two were because he was in the promo. He’s known it for six weeks, so today after the show, he goes, ‘I’m so disappointed in you, you let Deb go.’ I’m like, ‘Bro you’ve known for six weeks!'” Owens explained that Andre is really into the show, that he watches with his girlfriend and her parents every week.
“If you watch by yourself, you have your own thoughts, but with other people, there will be comments like ‘Whoa, what is that? Is your dad really like that? What do you think your dad would do here?’ So you’re getting more input from people,” alluding that his younger son may be more into it because of the communal aspect of watching. “Overall, I think they both thoroughly enjoy it. They were in the promo, too, so they were on the show.”
When it comes to his former teammates at Michigan, it seems to be the same story. “I’ve got the greatest friends in the world. They’re so supportive, and they’re genuinely happy for me. They’re there with me on this journey, and it makes me feel great.”
His Childhood In 1960s Detroit Made Mel A Music Man, Too
When you’re a kid growing up in a house across the way from Diana Ross, it’s pretty much inevitable that music will play a sizable role in your life. Mel Owens and his two brothers used to play baseball in their yard. “[Diana] lived with her mom, that’s my recollection, she was a teenager at the time. We’d hit the ball into her yard, and whoever gave up that homerun had to go get the ball.”
Of course, then, he was a Diana Ross fan from a young age, and the rest is history. Once we got into it, Owens started listing off dozens of artists from his music library, boasting a massive variety, from Bruce Springsteen to Aretha Franklin, Billy Idol to RAYE, George Michael, Dr. Dre, Chuck Berry, The Clash, and KC and the Sunshine Band, who he was able to see perform live on the show for a one-on-one date with Peg, one of the women he still has left in the final two.
When they gave my phone back, and we got on the plane from Antigua going to Miami, I stuck my AirPods in and just pushed play.
When he was filming the show, Owens didn’t have access to his phone. He’d start each day with a run in the morning, but without his phone, he had no music to accompany him. “It was tough for the first three or four days, but I embraced it. I’d never gone on intense runs like that, but you just get lost in your own thoughts.” His runs became meditative, and a way for him to get in (and maintain) shape, both physically and mentally.
“When I ran, I’d think about what was going on in the show, like what I can do better, who the women are, just mental and spiritual stuff. But when they gave my phone back, and we got on the plane from Antigua going to Miami, I stuck my AirPods in and just pushed play.” He didn’t choose a song, an artist, or an album, he just pressed play. When I asked him what came on, he told me he didn’t even remember, but that “It was so good.”
As an athlete, too, Motown wasn’t the only aspect of Detroit’s peak that resonated with Owens. His dad was a baseball coach who had actually coached a handful of players who went on to play for the Detroit Tigers. He told me a story from when he was about ten years old, at a Tigers game in Detroit:
“We got to go down to the locker room quite often after the game, and I remember Denny McLain was the last 30-game winner in the major leagues, and I wanted an autograph. My dad goes, ‘Just go ask him.’ So he’s walking out of the locker room, down the tunnel, and I went over and said, ‘Hey Mr. McLain will you sign my program?’ and he goes, ‘No, I’m not gonna sign it.'”
Shocked and devastated, he said his dad turned this into a lesson. “I came back, I don’t know if I was crying or not, but I know I didn’t feel good. I told my dad he didn’t sign it, and he goes, ‘When you make it to the pros, make sure you sign them all.’ And I never forgot that.” He explained that when he did make it to the pros, there was a secret tunnel for players to take back to their cars after the game, and he never took that path, instead, opting to walk right through the crowd.
“Now, when I’m doing the bachelor thing, and they recognize me, ask me for a picture, I always embrace. I was in Joe Louis’ restaurant here in Detroit and I heard a woman go, ‘Whoa that’s the Golden Bachelor!’ And I went right over to her, I took a couple of pictures, sat down with the party, took some more pictures, because that’s what I should be doing.
“That’s what the bachelor should be doing, and I enjoy doing it. Because if someone recognizes me, I want to make every effort for them to come over and engage with me. If I can, I will.” He reiterated how much it means to him, and how much he enjoys engaging with the people who are fans of his, whether it be from his career as an athlete or as the Golden Bachelor.
Mel’s journey as the Golden Bachelor has been quite a labor of love, and as it coincides with football season, he’s had quite a busy autumn. Tune in this evening for the Women Tell All on ABC at 9pm EST, before he hands out his final rose next week on the season finale of The Golden Bachelor.
