When Owen McDonough was around 8 years old, his two older sisters, Jennifer and Bailey, were giving out gifts one Christmas. Owen didn’t have anything to give. Brien McDonough, his dad, said Owen disappeared for a moment. When he came back, he sat beneath the Christmas tree and handed out $20 from his birthday stash money.

"We thought that was cute and hilarious,” Brien said. “Very much like Owen.”

Owen died July 28 in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. He was just 20. The rising IU junior was swimming at Whale Beach with friends when he was overcome by rough waters. After several minutes underwater, he was pulled ashore, but medics from the North Tahoe Fire Department were unable to resuscitate him.

Owen was studying sports media and wanted to become a sports broadcaster. He was the color commentator for the IU club hockey team last season and helped with pre, post and intermission shows, as well working as a media tech. This season he was supposed to be the play-by-play announcer for the team.

He previously worked for the Indiana Daily Student covering IU club hockey for the sports desk.

Owen was a hugger and would welcome people who met him with open arms.

“Even if he’d only met them like three times in his life, he’d still hugged you like he knew you for 10,” his mom Melissa said.

One of Melissa’s most treasured photos of her son is from family pictures when he was around 2-years-old. He’s pictured wearing a white button-down shirt and red plaid tie, holding a football in his hands with rosy cheeks and his two front teeth peeking out through his smile.

The vibrant energy that he carried through his daily life translated to his goal to become a sports broadcaster. Melissa said that in this photo, Owen looked ready to be a sports broadcaster.

Named after former San Jose Sharks winger, Owen Nolan, Owen became a huge fan of the NHL team at a young age. He became a Las Vegas Raiders fan when Melissa bought him the NFL team’s pajamas when he was 3. He also supported the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces and had memorabilia of IU and his favorite sport teams in his room at home and at IU.

In a text message, Brien said that Owen’s ultimate goal was to replace longtime Sharks play-by-play commentator Randy Hahn.

“Owen had it planned out — right around the time Randy would hit retirement, Owen would be ready to step in,” Brien said in the message. “It sounds crazy but I wouldn’t have bet against him.”

Brien took Owen to a Golden State Warriors game when he was 6. When the Warriors executed a great play, Owen turned around to face the crowd. With a lisp he had as a child, he said to the crowd, “somebody call the cops.” People around him were repeating the phrase and giving him high fives.

“He had such a passion for his team and his players, and really just a knack for rooting for the underdog, too,” Melissa said.

In Owen’s house at IU, Sundays were dedicated to watching football. Noah Blair, a junior at IU and Owen’s roommate since sophomore year emphasized that Owen was energetic and would get into the game, yelling and screaming at the TV.

“It was always loud in the house when Sunday came around,” Blair said.

Owen and Blair met freshman year while living on the same floor of Teter Quadrangle. They were roommates last year and would have been roommates this year and next, along with their three other roommates.

Blair, an out-of-state student from West Virgnia, said Owen became like a brother to him. When Blair found himself awake late at night, he would go visit Owen’s room. They were always the ones keeping the energy up in their group, Blair said, calling Owen his wing-guy.

Owen’s roommates — Blair, Cameron Jamison, Henrik Olsen and Easton Freed — sent a statement via text message to the IDS sharing how it feels to not have Owen in their house anymore and their gratitude for all the support.

“It’s been hard on all of us not having his constant energy around since moving in,” the message reads. “Owen was such a bright light in our friend group that always knew how to bring the fun and we’re already feeling a huge presence being missed. It still feels unreal that we don’t live with him anymore, but we know he’ll always have a room at our house.”

His family held a celebration of life Aug. 11 in Foster City, California, near San Francisco where Owen grew up. Those who attended wore colors and jerseys from Owen’s favorite teams: the Sharks’ teal and orange, the Raiders’ black and silver and IU spirit apparel.

At the service, Blair shared a story about Owen dancing at their house.

Owen was dancing to rap music atop the coffee table in their living room as they prepared to go out, Blair said. He danced so hard he ended up dancing a hole straight through the middle of the table. The hole was there the entire year because someone covered it with a coaster. The table is not there anymore.

“He was a dancer through and through, and he had moves like I have never seen on anybody,” Blair said.

Another friend of Owen’s, IU junior Callie Copp, remembers him by his dancing.

“I would always tell Owen I was so excited to see him dance, because it would bring so much joy to everyone and genuinely light up the whole room,” Copp said.

Copp and Owen met their freshman year, living on the same floor at Teter. On their first night in the dormitory, Owen sat in her room, and they talked for hours. Copp said he was one of the few guys who she could sit down and be vulnerable with.

"He was always like my hype man, and he was just the happiest guy ever, just super bubbly all the time, and really would just put a smile on your face whenever you needed one,” Copp said.

His colleagues at work saw the same passionate and sports-obsessed Owen that his family and friends did.

Garrett Drake, an IU alum and former co-director of media operations for the IU club hockey team, said Owen was excited to have a bigger role this season as the team’s play-by-play announcer.

“He was a guy who lived and breathed it,” Drake said.

Drake would drive Owen to and from games. When Drake would pick Owen up, even if it was going to be a late game, Owen was ready with a smile on his face.

“There was never time where I looked at him and he wasn't smiling or he didn’t know what was going on,” Drake said. “He was always ready for what was presented in front of him.”

Owen’s parents had gotten him a car to help him not have to rely on rides for his hockey broadcasts. He died before they could surprise him with it. They were going to give it to him the next time he went to visit them at their home Kentucky, or when they came to visit him on parents' weekend.

Andrew Gus, a junior at IU, was a color commentator with Owen for the hockey team last season.

They bonded through working almost every single hockey game together. They would sit by each other on the rides to away games. Gus said Owen would put a smile on his face.

“Wasn't having a great day a class and I’d come to the rink and all of sudden he's all smiley and ready to go for a broadcast,” Gus said. “You know what, makes you want to smile right back.”

Gus remembered broadcasting the first game of the second semester last season in Michigan with Owen and Drake. Since it was an outdoor game in January, they were all bundled up and unable to use their equipment due to the cold.

Owen had hand warmers in his pockets and was showing Gus how his hands were so cold he couldn’t move his fingers. Owen’s hands were like claws, Gus said, because he was filming the game on his phone for social media.

“The three of us just all sacrificed our bodies for that game standing outside in the snow right at the corner of Michigan,” Gus said.

Those close to him — family, friends, colleagues — knew him as a positive spirit in their lives whose smile would cheer them up.

Brien said almost every message he and Melissa received started out with “Owen and I had a really special bond.”

“He was the glue that held his group of friends together,” Brien said. “He was a really good friend to have.”

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