University of Montevallo Athletics

Owen Butts was an outstanding basketball player at Montevallo and later enjoyed a highly successful career as a high school basketball coach and college umpire, before retiring after 40 years. 

Butts earned All-conference honors in both his junior and senior years, and led the Falcons to their first conference championship in Montevallo's history. 

After graduating in 1973, Butts spent the next 40 years coaching high school basketball with stops at Vincent, Pelham, Shades Valley and Prattville.  His teams won 531 games, including 14 county championships, 14 area/region championships, 2 Final Four appearances and fifteen 20+ win seasons.  During this time, he was named Jefferson County Coach of the Year nine times.  In 1992, he was named to the Alabama Junior College Basketball Silver Anniversary team (1967-1992) and two years later was inducted into the Alabama Junior College Hall of Fame.

Additionally, Butts has been a high school and college baseball umpire for 45 years. During this time He has worked four DII World Series, seven NCAA DII Regionals worked, eight Ohio Valley Conference Tournaments and numerous SEC Conference games. Since retiring from full-time umpiring in 2012, Butts was an SEC Observer for Alabama and Mississippi State until 2017 and also serves as the president and assignor for Shelby County Umpires Association.