Hector Cowan

Hector Cowan
Cowan at Princeton during his playing years
Sport(s)	Football
Biographical details
Born	(1863-07-12)July 12, 1863 Hobart, New York
Died	October 19, 1941(1941-10-19) (aged 78) Stamford, New York
Playing career
1885–1889	Princeton
Position(s)	Tackle
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1888 1894–1896	North Carolina Kansas
Head coaching record
Overall	18–8–1
Statistics College Football Data Warehouse
Accomplishments and honors
Championships 1 WIUFA (1895)
Awards All-American, 1889
College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 1951 (profile)

Hector William "Hec" Cowan (July 12, 1863 – October 19, 1941) was an American football player and coach, and an ordained Presbyterian minister. He played college football at Princeton University from 1885 to 1889. He was team captain for Princeton and selected to the first College Football All-America Team in 1889. Cowan served as the head football coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for two games during the 1888 season and at the University of Kansas from 1894 to 1896, compiling a career record of 18–8–1. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1951.

Playing career

Cowan played football for the Princeton Tigers from 1885 to 1889. While at Princeton, he had several games against William "Pudge" Heffelfinger of Yale who said Cowan had "the strongest shoulders and arms I've ever been up against and his stubby legs drove like pistons when he carried the ball..."

Coaching career

North Carolina

Before coaching at Kansas, Cowan was the head coach at North Carolina for two games in their inaugural season of 1888.

Kansas

Cowan was the fourth head football coach for the University of Kansas Jayhawks located in Lawrence, Kansas and he held that position for three seasons, from 1894 until 1896. While at Kansas Cowan was the head football coach for fellow college football hall of famer John H. Outland and future KU head football coach A. R. Kennedy. His overall coaching record at Kansas was 15 wins, 7 losses, and 1 tie. As of the completion of the 2007 season, this ranks him 14th at Kansas in terms of total wins and ninth at Kansas in terms of winning percentage.

After Cowan left Princeton in 1889 he became an ordained Presbyterian minister at Hope Presbyterian church in St. Joseph, Missouri in 1891. While there the chancellor at the University of Kansas, Francis H. Snow, began making contact with him in an effort to convince him to come to KU and become the new head football coach. KU's very first head football coach, E.M. Hopkins aided in the effort as he was a classmate with Cowan back at Princeton. Cowan was seen as a premiere football coach at the time despite only having coached a few games previously, but he also wanted to continue his ministerial pursuits and made one of his conditions on coming to KU that he be made chapel director at the university as well as professor of physical culture. In addition chancellor Snow promised Cowan a 1 year salary of $1,000 if he were to accept the offer from KU. In February of 1894 Cowan agreed to the terms laid out and his $1,000 salary was raised with $400 in donations coming from the faculty at KU and the remaining $600 coming from a citizens committee in conjunction with area businessmen interested in athletics. Cowan arrived at KU on March 1, 1894 and thus became the very first paid head football coach in KU history. As a result of him being an ordained Presbyterian minister and his title of chapel director while at KU he was often referred to as Reverend Hector W. Cowan.

Later life and death

Cowan left his job as head coach at Kansas in 1896, but remained as chapel director, and professor of physical culture for 2 more years. Cowan later was replaced in his positions of chapel director and professor of physical culture at KU by Dr. James Naismith in 1898. He moved from Lawrence, Kansas to Spring Hill, Kansas in the summer of 1898 to become the minister of the local Presbyterian church there. In 1905 Cowan moved back to just outside of Stamford, New York to take over his parent's dairy farm. He worked the remainder of his life as a dairy farmer from this point on. Cowan returned to KU several times over the years to visit his former players and friends, and was an honored guest of the University of Kansas athletic association at the 1925 Kansas Relays. Hector died on October 19, 1941 on his farm in Delaware County, New York. He was survived by his wife, Anna Louise Smith (November 3, 1864 – October 20, 1945), four sons, Hector Edmund Cowan (July 2, 1893 – January 2, 1974), Walter Griffen Cowan (June 26, 1895 – July 28, 1982), John Mark Cowan (April 26, 1900 – June 16, 1978) and William Howard Cowan (May 9, 1908 – August 1, 2002), and 3 daughters, Mrs. Helen Louise Leete (August 2, 1897 – September 29, 1992), Mrs. Frances Petit Beddow (November 25, 1901 – July 8, 1998), and Mrs. Annie Smith Turnbull (August 9, 1905 – April 18, 1990).

Head coaching record

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs
North Carolina Tar Heels (Independent) (1888)
1888	North Carolina	1–1
North Carolina:		1–1
Kansas Jayhawks (Western Interstate University Football Association) (1894–1896)
1894	Kansas	4–3–1	1–2	T–3rd
1895	Kansas	6–1	2–1	T–1st
1896	Kansas	7–3	2–1	2nd
Kansas:		17–7–1	5–4
Total:		18–8–1

External links

• Hector Cowan at the College Football Hall of Fame
• Hector Cowan at the College Football Data Warehouse