Picture this: a crowd of screaming students, adorned in red and white, jet-black paint smeared across their bodies. The score is 20-20, and the fate of a victory for Bowie lies in the hands of the kicker, who winds up to kick a field goal. The mass of squirming students anxiously hangs in the balance, waiting, wondering, wishing as a rush of quiet sweeps over the stands.

In many ways, this image could just as well be illustrating a football game on a warm night in 1989 as it could be describing a typical Friday in 2017. But, timeless as it seems, the football program and other athletic teams have seen much more change, accomplishment, and progress since the school opened in 1988.

“We have a lot more numbers as far as participation in the athletic department. I see progress as far as triumphs and victories,” world geography teacher and football coach Howard Thompson said. “I think Bowie athletics has made a name of itself of being very competitive, having good athletes, and good students.”

While the schools athletic teams, both boys and girls, thrive now, students from the school’s opening years faced adversity in overcoming the challenges associated with a new reputation. In the first four years of Bowie, football, baseball, and boys and girls basketball all suffered losing seasons.

“We struggled for a while. We had students or football players from three different schools that came over and we didn’t really have an identity, and after about three years we began to form an identity; we became more of a team,” Thompson said. “I think that first-through-third years we began to show some progress as far as being a competitive group, and then eventually we made the playoffs and won a big bi-district game so we were the underdogs by about three touchdowns and we came back to win that game and there was a great memory in seeing that there was kind of a spark that was going on.”

Numbers aren’t the only thing driving the athletic programs, though. These victories were spurred by hard work and determination from students over the years.

“It takes a lot of energy and a lot of effort to get things turned around and those kids had a lot of pride to turn this program around, and it sets a good example for the kids today,” boys’ basketball coach Celester Collier said. “In the basketball dressing room it says, ‘Pride in performance: Tradition carries on,’ and has all the gold basketballs we have won over the years. We don’t put that in the trophy case because it’s for our new freshmen coming in to see this is the tradition we set here at Bowie and this is what your goals are supposed to be.”

The standard for success has been set high since that first season. Notable alumni Michael Griffin, class of 2003, went on to play football for the University of Texas at Austin, where he was drafted as the 19th pick for the Tennessee Titans (2007-2015) and, later, the Carolina Panthers (2016).

“I would say that there comes a point in your life that you have to be your own person, you have to be your own leader,” Griffin said. “You gotta answer to yourself because the journey that you take, you know, you have no one to point the finger at but yourself if things go right, if things go bad. You have to look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, ‘Did you make all the right decisions?’ Sometimes the decisions to made are not the best, are not fun, are not easy; it’s a hard journey to travel in order to get to where I’ve been.”

Even with his triumph in the NFL, Griffin’s roots remain at Bowie. He still remains in contact with many of his former football coaches today.

“With Coach Ables and Coach Miller at Bowie High School, they always checked on me,” Griffin said. “They were the type of coaches that followed me throughout my career. Coach Miller even came and attended one of my games when I was with Tennessee, him and his family. Coach Ables always checked in with me to make sure me and my family were okay—with my brother, my mom, my dad—always told me that I’m always welcome to come by Bowie whenever, even now. You know, when I come to the games, I’m able to stand on the sidelines and have no problems or anything at all. They’ve been very supportive throughout my career.”

Today, many of the original faculty remain in the program. In addition, new coaches join the ranks of those who helped establish Bowie’s athletic foundation.

“Having people who’ve been here a while is good for maintaining tradition and understanding the background and history of the school, but I also think that new employees, not necessarily that old employees are bad or good, but it’s just different and brings a new perspective,” volleyball and girls’ basketball coach Michael Saenz said. “Sometimes that change could be good, and sometimes new people will make a change without regard of tradition and that could be bad. So I think it’s healthy to have a mix of people who’ve been here a long time and a new mindset, a new perspective, a new way of doing things.”

Some of these coaches include Bowie alumni returning to coach their sport after college.

“[It’s] always good to hire your own and get them back at Bowie, so that’s what I think makes Bowie a special place. Former students come back to teach these kids at a school they love, which is really nice,” Collier said.

Many of these alumni were able to make changes to the program in areas that needed improvement since when they were students at the school.

“Back then, for practice we used to have to change in the bathrooms before going to practice and hardly anyone came to the games,” world history teacher, soccer coach, and alumni Carrie Hoffman-Howell said. “When I came back as a coach, I made sure that the girls had a locker room, kind of cleaned up the personality of it, and made the girls better role models, and since then they’ve been better respected and more people do come to the games.”

In addition to traditional sports, Silver Stars and Bowie Cheer have risen to competitive standards of performance since the school’s opening.

“Something that has changed is more girls are able to do more difficult dance moves. We used to do a lot of military [style], where it was more about the precision and being really sharp, and now they’re moving more into contemporary routines or pom,” math teacher and former Silver Star Erika Pesek said. “I kind of feel like a lot of the students now have a lot more on their plates, and I feel as if, especially with AP courses, I feel like there’s more pressure for them.”

Bowie athletics continue to grow and develop even today. With better uniforms, a sizable collection of awards, and plans for new facilities underway, the program remains true to its motto, “Pride in performance: Tradition carries on.

Q&A with Ables

Q: How has coaching influenced your own identity?

A: I always wanted to be a coach. Growing up, my uncle was a coach, and so we would go hang out with him and run around the gym and play football and basketball and everything, so I knew what that lifestyle was like and I knew that, from an early age, that’s what I wanted to do and work with kids. It’s been my life; it’s been my family’s life.

Q: What does the Bowie sports department signify to you?

A: For 30 years, besides my family, it’s been the most important thing in my life and making sure that we hired good people, good coaches to work with the kids, which we’ve done. We have great coaches here that do a great job, that not only do a great job coaching but, most importantly, they care about the kids.

Q: What’s the best memory you’ve had over the years?

A: The best memories really are the kids that you coach and you develop relationships with. There’s games obviously I remember that were really good games for us, but I think the biggest thing is you remember the kids that come back and visit you or the kids that text you and call you and say, “Hey coach, I’m an attorney now,” or, “I’m a pilot now,” or those guys that keep up with you and come back and tell you, “Hey, this sport helped me become the person I am today.”

A History of ATHLETICS 

The most memorable moments in Bowie’s athletic history

If you enjoyed this story, please consider revisiting the previous installment of 30 years:

30 years of teachers

If you enjoyed this story, please consider reading the next installment of 30 years:

30 years of fine arts