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The Playbook With David Meltzer

Lessons from a Life on the Edge

The Playbook With David Meltzer

David Meltzer, Entrepreneur.com

Entrepreneurship, Business, Careers

4.61.9K Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In today’s episode, I sit down with Owen Hanson, a former USC athlete whose ambition took him from the football field to running a multimillion-dollar illegal gambling and drug trafficking operation. He shares how the pressure to keep up with high-profile friends led him down a dangerous path, the moment everything unraveled, and what it was like facing the consequences of his choices. From dealing with one of the world’s most infamous cartels to his eventual arrest and 10-year prison sentence, his story is a stark reminder of how quickly success can turn into downfall. Now rebuilding his life, he reflects on the lessons learned and the mindset shift that changed everything.

Transcript

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0:00.0

This day Meltzer with entrepreneurs the playbook at the greatest stadium ever built even better than the Coliseum.

0:05.8

My friend Owen, who's played there many a time in one national championships with my dear friends like Mr. Liner and others.

0:14.2

But Owen Hanson is here at SoFi Stadium, the greatest stadium so far ever built.

0:19.3

That's a billion-dollar screen.

0:21.2

You don't even want to know what the Coliseum cost to build,

0:23.2

but it was less than that screen, I promise you.

0:25.4

Oh, and welcome to the Playbook.

0:26.6

Hey, thanks for having me.

0:27.8

It's so awesome to have you because I actually remember you playing

0:31.6

because we were recruiting players from USC being the local,

0:35.8

notable sports agency at Lee Steinberg.

0:38.3

Yeah.

0:38.7

And a lot of what we looked for was character.

0:42.7

And there was certain players on your team that you played with that had character to win

0:48.9

football games, but off the field, as USC and many other national champions, that people had some lessons to learn in character.

0:59.2

And I was curious from playing college football, obviously you learned a lot about discipline and character, playing there.

1:06.9

And your coach was Pete, or was it John?

1:09.3

Pete Carroll.

1:17.1

What were some of the lessons early on in life that really resonated with you from learning character from Pete Carroll?

1:19.1

You know, discipline, you know, and showing up every day and giving 110 percent, you know,

1:25.2

whether we were playing against Stanford or playing in the national

1:28.3

championship game, whatever meant, we always had to give 100%, 10% no matter what. And as Pete Carroll,

...

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