“I don’t like to call it a retirement,” said Owens, who has been a fixture at the station since 1980. I’ll still be helping out the sports department from time to time, but on my own schedule, so I’ll still be on the air occasionally, he said.

“Big Daddy” as he is known to his colleagues and fans alike has covered a myriad of sports stories in his 29-year career at the station. His Oracles Corner, a Friday sports segment where he predicts the outcomes of the weekly NFL games is a favorite of many viewers. Owens plans to continue to do the Oracles Corner along with Bronco locker room interviews and possibly some fill in anchor work down the road.

His many career highlights include attending 4 Super Bowls with the 1997 Bronco/Green Bay game being his favorite. And the time he got to do some shadowboxing with Muhammad Ali. “I put my fist in his hand, which was as big as a ham,” he recalled. I told him to go easy on me, because I didn’t want my wife to collect on my insurance policy just yet, he laughed.

He got his start at KKTV in a rather unusual way. The station decided to hold live on-air auditions for its new sports anchor, featuring a different person each night for five nights in a row. The viewers voted and John was the winner.

In the many years that I worked with Owens at KKTV, he coined a name for some of the heaviest snow storms to hit Colorado Springs: a JOTB, a “John Owens tree bender.”

“John is a local legend,” said Liz Haltiwanger, news director. “It’s not going to be easy for any of us, but we have to respect what John knows is best for him and his family.”

Owens adds, “To everyone who has been watching me throughout the years, and I know a lot of you grew up with me, I will miss you. Whenever you see me on the street, please, let’s talk sports.”

His last regular night on the air will be December 11th.