Tommy Bowman (eBook)

Answering the Call

Chad S. Conine (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024
175 Seiten
Baylor University Press (Verlag)
978-1-4813-2004-7 (ISBN)

Infos

The call came for Tommy Bowman unexpectedly and yet he followed with conviction. It happened at a time when revolution was coming to Southwest Conference football and basketball during the 1966-67 school year. John Westbrook, a Baylor walk-on, became the first African American to play in an SWC varsity football game in September of 1966. At SMU, Jerry LeVias carried the torch as the SWC’s first Black scholarship football player and took the field for the Mustangs that season. By the end of the fall semester, TCU’s James Cash became the SWC’s first African American scholarship athlete to play in a varsity basketball game.

In Tommy Bowman, Chad Conine, a Waco sportswriter, tells the story of Tommy Bowman’s impact on not only Baylor basketball, but Baylor as a whole. Tommy Bowman quietly arrived at Baylor in 1966 for the fall semester. He found himself, almost by surprise, integrating the Baylor basketball team. Bowman had been recruited by Baylor basketball assistant coach Carroll Dawson to be a pioneer for the Bears--Baylor’s first Black scholarship athlete. It was a case of a young man being thrust into a game-changing role. Dawson discovered Bowman by a chance encounter at a service station in East Texas. Both coach and player now describe it as God’s providence. Bowman faced without flinching all the challenges of helping to break the race barrier in the SWC. With the help of his Baylor teammates, he excelled on the court and on campus.

Now, more than fifty years later, Bowman’s achievements have gained their rightful acclaim. He is a member of the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame and the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame. Despite his own humble tendency to avoid the spotlight, Bowman’s Bear teammates have ushered him forward as one of the program’s heroes. They recognize how he answered the call and changed Baylor for the better.

Autor

Chad S. Conine is the author of The Republic of Football: Legends of the Texas High School Game, and Texas Sports: Unforgettable Stories for Every Day of the Year (University of Texas Press). As a freelance sportswriter and former staff member at the Waco Tribune-Herald, he has covered a variety of sports over the last twenty-five years. His focus on high school and college basketball has included covering multiple boys' and girls' state tournaments and men's and women's Final Fours for a variety of publications. He lives in Waco, Texas.

Inhalt

Introduction
Preface: 1965
1. Once Upon a Time in Athens, Texas
2. Tommy goes to College
3. Freshman Season: Fall of 1966
4. Carroll Dawson
5. Freshman Season: SWC Play, 1967
6. The Summer of Love
7. Sophomore Season: Fall of 1967
8. James Cash
9. Sophomore Season: SWC Play, 1968
10. Meeting Jackie
11. Junior Season: Fall of 1968
12. Junior Season: SWC Play, 1969
13. Senior Season: Fall of 1969
14. Senior Season: SWC Play, 1970
15. Graduation
16. Life after Basketball
Epilogue

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 13.6.2024
• Verlagsort: Waco
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik
• Themenwelt: Sport ► Ballsport ► Basketball
• Themenwelt: Weitere Fachgebiete ► Sportwissenschaft
• Schlagworte: Tommy Bowman, Baylor University, Baylor basketball, Baylor Bears, Southwestern Conference, Civil Rights era, race relations in Texas, Waco
• ISBN-10: 1-4813-2004-1 / 1481320041
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4813-2004-7 / 9781481320047