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HOW MUCH DOES HE OWE? $473,599
THE BACKSTORY: Owen Housel is a big man—6 feet tall and 200 pounds, according to a traffic ticket—and a big mystery. Except for his tax bill, he has left a small imprint on the public record.
He appears to have played football at Yamhill Carlton High School (Yawama conference All-Star, 1972) and later attended the Oregon College of Education (now Western Oregon University), where, according to a student newspaper, he refereed a powderpuff football game in 1976. He briefly—from 1993 to 1995—had a company in Lake Oswego called Owen L. Housel Inc. Housel, 68, got divorced in 1994 and again in 2020. It’s unclear how he ever made enough money to owe nearly half a million dollars to the Department of Revenue (he also has substantial federal tax liens).
Housel’s second ex-wife, Terri Housel, says it’s a mystery to her. “I never knew anything about his finances even when we were married,” she says. She wasn’t sure who could shed light on her ex’s financial situation. “I didn’t know any of his friends even when we were married,” she says. “I don’t know much about him.”
John Rusk, a lawyer who represented Housel in a family probate case a decade ago, expressed puzzlement that Housel made the DOR list. “I find that very dubious,” Rusk says. “He didn’t have assets to speak of when I knew him.” Rusk adds that Housel was legally blind and in poor health and may have died, although WW could locate neither him nor any record of his death.
INTERESTING DETAIL: Housel, a registered Democrat, hasn’t voted since 2008.
WHAT DOES HE SAY? Housel could not be reached for comment.
WHAT THE BACK TAXES COULD BUY: At an average salary of $66,000, it would pay seven teachers’ salaries for a year.