Bowden, Bears earn first team track title

Dennis McGuire remembers the first time he saw his longtime coaching partner, Chuck Bowden.

“We were still in the old high school,” the Central Valley High School girls track coach said. “I saw this young kid walking around the school, looking in the windows. I thought to myself ‘Who is this kid and what is he doing here?’ “

The kid turned out to be Bowden, then a fresh-faced, newly-minted, second-generation track coach from Eastern Washington University. A year later, when a full-time teaching position opened up, Bowden took over as boys track head coach. For the past 16 years the pair have worked side-by-side as head track coaches.

Bowden’s first Central Valley team finished 1-7 in the Greater Spokane League, tied for last place. For the past 15 consecutive seasons, the Bears have finished no lower than fifth in the final league standings and have been regulars in the championship meet in the final week of the regular season. They’ve finished second numerous times, but never won a GSL title.

Until last week.

“We finished second by two points and again by nine in just the last couple years,” Bowden said. “We’ve been so close.

“You want to know what the difference was this year? In past years we didn’t have strong distance kids. This year’s different. This year (senior) Sean Coyle went out and beat all of those Mead kids in the 1,600 meters and turned around and placed second in the 3,200.”

Not that the Bears’ coach relaxed as his team earned that first title.

“It was really kind of funny, watching him during the meet,” McGuire said of last week’s GSL championship meet. “He was walking around saying ‘we’re getting killed here!’ I kept saying ‘Chuck, what are you talking about? You’re winning.’

“I don’t think he relaxed until he got in the tent afterward and added his scorecard up and saw that he had more than the magic 73 points.”

For a track and field coach with a program that annually boasts more than 100 athletes, Bowden wasn’t always a track enthusiast.

The son of Hall of Fame Prosser track coach Mel Bowden, Chuck’s first loves were baseball, football and basketball. He coaches football and basketball at Central Valley.

“You know what I love about track and field?” Bowden asked. “This sport is all about personal discovery. It’s all about learning how to improve and be better.

“I love it when a kid comes up to me after they’ve PRed (scored a personal record). To them, they’ve just set a world record – they’ve done better than they’ve ever done before.”

Senior shot putter and discus thrower Tyler Murphey loves that attitude about Bowden, who coaches the Central Valley throwers.

“Coach never limits you – ever,” he said. “He’s all about showing you that your potential is limitless. As soon as you set a new PR, he’s right there helping you set a new goal.

“The one thing he’s always telling us is to compete. Compete. That’s one of his favorite expressions.”

One thing about Bowden, McGuire says: he’s not a man of few words.

“There have been times when I have to give him one of these,” McGuire said, tapping his forefinger on his wristwatch. “I shouldn’t say too much about that, though – we are so much alike.”

The two head coaches have traveled a good many miles together, including a trip together to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

While, for administrative reasons, the boys and girls programs are separate, the coaching staffs are known for working together.

“That’s one of our strengths,” Bowden said. “If I’m over in the pit working with my shot putters, of course I’m going to help out the girls, too. And Jennifer Stalwick, the girls throws coach, is always helping out our guys, too.

“It’s the same with our sprint coaches – across the board.”

It’s a little intimidating coming into the Central Valley track and field program, Murphey said. Especially when you see the big numbers turned out for the first practice. This year, there were just under 250 boys and girls out to start the season – more than 140 boys and almost 110 girls.

“But the thing about the coaches here, they don’t let you get lost,” he said. “They’re always willing to work with you and help you get better. It may not look like it, but this really is the ultimate team sport and that’s how they treat it.”

To put an exclamation point on it, Bowden started a tradition at Central Valley. He brings his team together at the end of a meet to cheer on the final event of a meet: the 1,600 relay.

“We call it “Rocking the Field,” he said.

Teammates run from one side of the track to the other, across the infield, to cheer their teammates home. This year, Bowden said, he hopes to do it at the end of the state Class 4A track meet.

“I know he’s trying to keep it all under wraps, but this is our sprint coach, Steve Bernard’s final season,” Bowden said. “He has put together a terrific 4 by 400 relay team.

“When we won the GSL title, he told me that a title was a great way to go out. Well, I’d love to see him go out with a state championship relay, too, and I think we can do it.”

Over the years, athletes have come back to thank Bowden and the rest of the Central Valley coaches for the lessons they learned under their tutelage.

“I have the kind of personality that keeps me focusing on what I can do to get better,” Bowden said. “When you focus on that, you sometimes miss the bigger picture. When a kid comes back and thanks you for what you did, it takes you to a whole different place. At times like that I can really see why coaches stay in this job for 30 years.”