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Tommy Bowman

Answering the Call

by Chad S. Conine

Published by: Baylor University Press

Imprint: Big Bear Books

Sales Date: Friday, 1st Dec 2023

175 Pages, 5.50 x 8.50 x 0.52 in

Paperback
9781481320030
Published: Friday, 15th Dec 2023

$17.99

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Praise

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.

Tommy Bowman is known for being the first black scholarship athlete at Baylor, but I will always remember him for his integrity, hard work, and character, both on the court and off. I’m honored to have recruited him, to have been his coach, and to have witnessed his impact as a player, friend, husband, and father.
~Carroll Dawson, former Head Coach, Baylor University Men’s Basketball, and former Assistant Coach and General Manager, Houston Rockets

Tommy Bowman is not only an integral part of our program’s history, but the qualities he possesses are the same ones we look for in our players today. Driven by faith, Bowman displayed hard work and tenacity to not only become Baylor’s first African-American scholarship athlete but to excel on and off the floor, weaving himself into the fabric of our basketball program. At Baylor, we talk about Preparing Champions for Life, and I don’t think anybody exemplifies a champion in life quite like Tommy.
~Scott Drew, Head Coach, Baylor University Men’s Basketball

As much as this book is about sports, it is also a wonderful narrative about Tommy Bowman's display of an unwavering Christian faith that carried him through the racist taunts and slights, even from young children, as he humbly met history as the first Black scholarship athlete at Baylor University. Overshadowed by other Texas sports trailblazers of the 1960s--e.g. TCU's James Cash, SMU's Jerry Levias, and Baylor football walk-on John Westbrook--Bowman was a gifted basketball player (All-Southwest Conference) and devoted family man whose 'kindness and Christian manner', as one friend described him, always stood out. Kudos to Chad Conine for expertly weaving this inspiring and long overdue story with a look at Baylor's basketball history.
~Michael Hurd, author of Thursday Night Lights: The Story of Black High School Football in Texas

The story of Tommy Bowman, first Black scholarship athlete at Baylor University, is a compelling one of commitment, faith, determination, and providence, and it is well told by author Chad Conine. By any standard, Bowman had a successful sports career and was eventually elected to the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame. I never had the opportunity to see Tommy Bowman play; I have, however, had the privilege of hearing him pray. As chair of deacons, Brother Bowman regularly leads in public prayer at Toliver Baptist Church. When Tommy prays, you feel as though you have been ushered into the very presence of God who is, as Deacon Bowman reminds us, 'worthy' of all praise and honor. Tommy Bowman: Answering the Call reveals that Tommy Bowman was a player of exceptional skill and a man of even more extraordinary faith and character--the right person at the right time. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the history of sports and race at Baylor University.
~Mikeal C. Parsons, University Distinguished Professor and Macon Chair in Religion, Baylor University

Chad S. Conine's Tommy Bowman: Answering the Call is a work certainly worth reading. Chapter by Chapter this inspiring book tells the story of a young man from humble beginnings in Athens, Texas, had no idea God had a purpose for his life to become the 'first' African-American basketball athlete on academic scholarship at Baylor University, Waco. God's providential design has always been the leading force of whom Bowman always gives credit. Because of the door that opened for him, now every person of color in this sport stands on the shoulders of Tommy Bowman, the one who successfully blazed the trail.
~Jimmy D. Hunter, Pastor, Toliver Chapel Missionary Baptist Church