SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - (courtesy of Missouri Sports Hall of Fame/Bastrop Daily Enterprise) Former Golden Lions basketball player Willie Bowie was recently inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame's class of 2017, with over 700 people in attendance. He is considered one of the state's most influential basketball coaches.

"I'm glad that someone saw fit to honor me in this way," said Bowie, who grew up in Bastrop, La. "It feels great."

In the late 60's, Bowie was a member of the Arkansas Agricultural Mechanical and Normal College (A.M. & N) Golden Lions team that played under the legend head coach H.O. Clemmons. During the 1966-67 season, the Golden Lions won all its home games and tied Alcorn for the Southwestern Athletic Conference Title with an 11-3 conference record and accepted its first bid to the national NCAA tournament. His team was second in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) small college scoring race with a 108.4 scoring average. Bowie was considered one of the strongest reserves in the conference; similar to a modern-day "sixth man," playing alongside SWAC great Robert Allen, who led the conference in both scoring and rebounding.

To finish the 66-67 season, A.M. & N. also won the SWAC Men's Basketball Tournament over Jackson State.

Bowie attended Morehouse High School in Bastrop and participated in both basketball and football. It was here where he first began the path to greatness in terms of coaching.

"Coach Payne Montgomery started me on this path in the ninth grade," said Bowie.

After graduating from A.M. & N. in 1968, he started working in Missouri as Paseo High School's head basketball coach. In 23 seasons he led his team to 400 victories. A total of four of his teams made it to the coveted final four. His 1998 team was the first from Missouri to take home the prize in the Bass-Pro Tournament of Champions. The 1998 team also had three straight undefeated seasons in the Inner Scholastic League of Kansas City.

"We had a ton of success, and I enjoyed every minute of it," said Bowie. "My biggest pride was the attempt to mold these young men to be ready for society, whether they went to college or the work force."

Click here to view Willie Bowie's inductee page on the MSHOF website.




*photo cred: Missouri Sports Hall of Fame