On way to Hooptown Hall of Fame, Heather Bowman laid the groundwork for Gonzaga women’s basketball and became a hometown hero

As far as her former coach is concerned, Heather Bowman has a rock-solid place in Gonzaga women’s basketball history.

“There’s not a Mount Rushmore of Gonzaga women’s basketball that doesn’t include Heather Bowman,” Kelly Graves said.

In the shortest recruiting trip Graves ever made at Gonzaga, he drove 2½ miles to Lewis and Clark High School to pick up Bowman for her official visit. He wanted to make a good first impression even if Bowman could have driven herself.

Graves took Gonzaga basketball big-man standouts Ronny Turiaf and J.P. Batista with him to pick up the 6-foot-2 Bowman. The fact that they towered over those in LC’s administrative office that day tipped off Bowman to Graves’ arrival.

“They stood out,” Bowman said. “I knew someone was coming to get me, but I didn’t know who. They were so sweet. That was fun.”

“We really needed her,” Graves said. “We were pretty cool that day. We tried to pull out all the stops, for sure.”

Even though Graves started recruiting Bowman in middle school, it wasn’t a lock that she would choose the Zags. She had taken visits to Oregon and Washington.

“She was better than she was being recruited,” Graves said.

He sold Bowman on a simple idea – come be a hometown hero.

And she did. Among many feats, Bowman became the first Gonzaga player to be a four-time All-West Coast Conference first-team selection. It was a first in WCC history and was matched the following year by Courtney Vandersloot, whose jersey is the lone women’s uniform to be retired and hanging in McCarthey Athletic Center.

Bowman led Gonzaga to its first NCAA Tournament berth her freshman year and to its first Sweet 16 as a senior.

“Her athleticism is the first thing I noticed,” Graves said. “Her drive, her competitiveness. You could tell it meant something to her when she played, which was more typical of that time and less typical now. Not to disrespect others, but Heather took us to another level, that’s for sure.”

Bowman, 37, will be inducted into the fourth class of the Hooptown USA Hall of Fame in a ceremony Wednesday.

Included in the 2025 class are Gonzaga men’s coach Mark Few and former University High and Tennessee star Angie Bjorklund, who Bowman played club ball with for five years.

“It’s pretty good company,” Bowman said.

Bowman was part of the early run in Gonzaga history that established a foundation of postseason appearances.

Among Bowman’s varied accomplishments, perhaps the most impressive was she started all 129 games she played.

She missed five games as a sophomore recovering from a spiral fracture in her left hand. But Bowman was durable, playing through injuries on multiple occasions.

For 15 years, Bowman was the Zags’ and WCC’s all-time leading scorer with 2,165 points before Yvonne Ejim left that record and others in her wake last season.

“I had the (all-time scoring) record for a decade and a half,” Bowman said. “That was long enough.”

Ejim played 32 more games than Bowman – essentially another season before finishing with 2,385 points.

“She elevated the program in a lot of ways,” Bowman said of Ejim. “I joke with friends that I did it in four years. But she was fun to watch this year.”

An undersized post, Bowman developed a midrange game that became her bread and butter. Her ability to run the court served her well against taller posts.

Graves, who left Gonzaga for Oregon in 2014-15, said he’d take Bowman right now in Eugene.

“If we had Heather, we’d feel good,” Graves said. “That’s the one spot we’re a little light.”

Gonzaga was 101-35 in four years with Bowman, who was named WCC Newcomer of the Year as a freshman and player of the year as a sophomore.

Bowman credits Graves for bringing the best out of her. He would not shy away from challenging his players, Bowman said.

She recalled an NCAA Tournament game her junior year against Xavier. She was bleeding in one eye, had a black eye in the other and her nose was bandaged.

“He told me I had to toughen up,” Bowman said of Graves. “He used that phrase a lot. I had also torn the labrum in my (right) shoulder a couple of weeks earlier. So I had a wrap on my shoulder and I couldn’t lift it. He told me later he didn’t realize I had 18 points (at the time).”

Bowman finished with 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the field. The Zags won 74-59 before falling to Pittsburgh 65-60 in the second round, in a game to the wire.

Graves remembers Bowman’s game.

“She was a college professional – businesslike, she came to work every day, never took a day off,” he said. “She was always there, always played and always practiced. She practiced hard and went about her work. Drama free. She was a throwback.”

Bowman said another time Graves went into the locker room at halftime and drew a heart on the whiteboard and walked out.

“He would try to find ways to motivate us. It’s not anything you ever took personal,” Bowman said. “It was his job. It’s a business.”

At LC, the Tigers were 99-18 with Bowman as a four-year starter, winning their first state championship under then-coach Jim Redmon in 2005-06.

Redmon knows Bowman improved measurably at Gonzaga, but he’s struck more by her consistency than any statistical feat.

“Her shooting touch, you didn’t see it with somebody at her height,” Redmon said. “Anywhere around that 8- to 16-foot range, she could catch and shoot. That’s why she was so successful at the next level, because no one else could really do that. She was one of the first ones I can remember that had that ability anywhere to catch and shoot and play with her back to the basket.”

Bowman played in Ron Adams’ Spokane Stars club program for five years. In her last summer, Bowman played with seven future NCAA Division I players, including Bjorklund.

“She was a rare inside-outside player,” Adams said of Bowman. “She’s one of the best inside-outside players I have coached. A tremendous transition player. Ran like a deer. Solid speed and quickness and jumped out of the gym.”

After her career ended at Gonzaga, Bowman coached for five years, including two seasons under Lisa Fortier, who succeeded Graves.

Bowman had a two-week tryout with the Seattle Storm and played professionally overseas for three years.

She left basketball in 2017, becoming a financial adviser.

Life has come full circle for Bowman. She coached a Hooptown fourth-grade-aged girls team to a state championship last winter. The team includes the youngest daughter of former Zag David Pendergraft and daughter of LC boys coach Jase Wambold.

It was about the fourth grade that basketball took a foothold in Bowman. She’s enjoying giving back to a sport that has given her so much. She’s committed to coaching the group as fifth-graders next winter.

“My dad coached me in the fourth grade and he came to watch a game this year,” Bowman said. “He said, ‘They’re so much better than you were back in the day.’ In games and practices, it’s fun to see the little sparks in their eyes. They’re just little sponges, you know, which is so cute, and it’s chaos because it’s fourth grade.”

It’s a special reminder to Bowman how basketball shaped and continues to shape her life.