When I called my dad in Wichita, Kan. to wish him a happy Father”s Day a couple of weeks ago, he told me that he had read the obituary of my youth baseball coach, Don Bowin, in the paper that week. A couple of days later I e-mailed one of my friends from those days, who still lives in Wichita. He said that he had attended the funeral service and had even been asked by the family to speak about the coach.
Don Bowin went through most of his life being called either Coach Bowin or just coach. His full-time job was physical education teacher and sports coach at Wichita East High School. I was affiliated with him on a summertime basis. He was my summer league baseball coach from the time I was 8 years old until I quit playing baseball when I went into the Air Force at 19.
Coach Bowin lived a life that was full of sports. After teaching it for an entire school year every year, he would teach us youngsters how to play baseball every summer and, in addition to that, he was an umpire for the National Baseball Congress baseball games that took place at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium in Wichita. It is a semi-pro system in which many major leaguers and former major league players participated.
I think one of the most outstanding attributes about Coach Bowin was the fact that, over the years, he helped thousands of young boys and girls learn more about sports and he made every one of them feel special. He created a one-on-one relationship with each of his players that made us all believe that we were special to him, and I think we were.
In some ways he wasn”t exactly the perfect coaching role model. He smoked, which wasn”t too uncommon for a coach in the 1950s and ”60s. And, he wasn”t in the greatest physical shape. He kind of reminded me of a bear. His shape and the way he walked just made me think of an old grisly. But, he knew his stuff and he knew how to get that knowledge across to those he taught.
At times he could be tough, like a bear, on his students and players, but it was always to help make us better. I remember the summer after I was selected as the Wichita High School City League center fielder of the year. I guess I had a kind of a big head going into that summer. At the first summer league practice session he hit fly balls to me until I dropped. He was making a point to me that day that I might think I was pretty good, but I had plenty of room to get better.
Our relationship got rocky a time or two over the years, but we always worked it out. One season I thought he had recruited too many hotshot college players instead of relying on those of us who had been with him since we were in elementary school. The college players were getting playing time and his old reliables were on the bench. I actually left the team that summer. A few weeks later, he drove by my house and we had a talk. He asked me to come back and help the team in the national tournament. He started me in the first game. Fortunately, I got three hits and helped the team win that game.
Over the last 30-plus years I only went to visit the coach once. I regret that I didn”t make a greater effort to spend time with this person who was so instrumental in my early development.
Think about the people who had an early impact on you and, before it”s too late, go see them or give them a call.
Gary Dickson is the editor and publisher of the Record-Bee. Call him at 263-5636, ext. 24. E-mail him at gdickson@record-bee.com.
