: Robert George Cowan (January 2, 1923 – January 20, 2004) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

halfback who played three seasons in the

All-America Football Conference The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the ...

(AAFC) between 1947 and 1949. Cowan played for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

and the

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

. Cowan was a standout track and football athlete at his

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

high school. He attended

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

and starred as a halfback for two years, interrupted by service in the

Army Air Force The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Cowan joined the Browns in 1947, when the team won the AAFC championship. Cleveland won all of its games in 1948 and beat the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

in the championship game. Cowan was sent to the Colts for the 1949 season, but he was slowed by a knee injury and left the game a year later. He became a high school principal in Fort Wayne after his playing career.

High school and college career

Cowan grew up in

and was a star athlete at the city's North Side High School. He failed to place first just once in the 220-yard dash during his high school track career. Cowan came in second in his only loss at a state track meet in his sophomore year. He had times of 9.9 seconds in the 100-yard dash, under 22 seconds in the 220 and 49 seconds in the 440. Cowan's football team lost only twice in four years at North Side. The team went unbeaten in his senior year, and Cowan broke a state high school scoring record with 155 points playing as a right halfback. Cowan attended

starting in 1941. He became the

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

's starting right halfback in the middle of the following year, his sophomore season. Cowan also played basketball at Indiana, and was spotted during a state tournament in 1941 by

Blanton Collier Blanton Long Collier (July 2, 1906 – March 22, 1983) was an American football head coach who coached at the University of Kentucky between 1954 and 1961 and for the Cleveland Browns in the National Football League (NFL) between 1963 and 1970. H ...

, who went on to become an assistant coach for the

of the

(AAFC). Cowan joined the

in 1943 and served in

as part of the ground crew at various military bases and at

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

. He played in 1944 for the service basketball team at a

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

base called the Air Base Wings. After the war, he returned to Indiana and played part of the 1946 season at right halfback. His best game for Indiana came against the Rose Bowl champion

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, when he caught a pass for a 37-yard touchdown and helped set up a second touchdown with a run as the Hoosiers won by seven points.

Professional career

Cowan was selected by the

Chicago Cardinals The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in Chicago, Illinois, as the Chicago Cardinals from 1898 to 1959 before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1960 through 1987 seasons. Roots ca ...

in the

1945 NFL Draft The 1945 National Football League Draft was held on April 8, 1945, at the Commodore Hotel in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Chicago Cardinals selected halfback Charley Trippi. Player selections Round o ...

. The war delayed his professional career, however, and he signed in 1947 with the Browns, who selected him in the

1947 AAFC Draft The 1947 AAFC Draft was the first collegiate draft of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC). It used an inverse order to the teams' final standings in the 1946 season. The Buffalo Bills, which had finished with the same record as the Brookly ...

. Cowan won a spot on the roster alongside fellow Fort Wayne native and Indiana graduate

Bill Boedeker William Henry Boedeker, Jr. (March 7, 1924 – March 21, 2014) was a halfback in the All-America Football Conference and National Football League who played for the Chicago Rockets, the Cleveland Browns, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green ...

. The Browns finished the season with a 12–1–1 record and won the AAFC championship game against the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

. After the season, he returned to Indiana to finish his final semester and get a degree. Cowan returned to the Browns in 1948. The team won all of its games that year, beating the

in the championship game. Cowan, however, lost his job as the starting right halfback late in the season to Dub Jones. He was sent to the

before the 1949 season. Bothered by a knee injury, Cowan left football after a year in Baltimore.

Later life and death

Cowan returned to Fort Wayne after his playing career and became a high school principal. ·He retired from the Fort Wayne Community Schools as Personnel Director after 30 years of service. He died in 2004.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cowan, Bob 1923 births 2004 deaths American football halfbacks Baltimore Colts (1947–1950) players Cleveland Browns (AAFC) players Indiana Hoosiers football players Lincoln Army Air Field Wings football players United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Players of American football from Fort Wayne, Indiana Military personnel from Indiana