Ken Bowman obit

Former Green Bay Packers center Ken Bowman who played on first two Super Bowl teams dies at 81

 

He was not on the list.

GREEN BAY – Former Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Ken Bowman, who was coached by Vince Lombardi and played 10 seasons for the team, has died.

Bowman, 81, was a center in the first two Super Bowls and also won three NFL championships with the Packers in 1965, 1966 and 1967.

He was selected in the eighth round of the 1964 NFL draft and took over for Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Ringo as a rookie after Ringo was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Born and raised in Illinois, Bowman played college football for the Wisconsin Badgers. During his junior year in 1962, the Badgers were Big Ten Conference champions and played USC in the Rose Bowl. Bowman was selected by the Packers in the eighth round of the 1964 NFL Draft and succeeded hall of famer Jim Ringo at center for the Packers as a rookie in 1964. In his fourth NFL season in 1967, Bowman was the center during the winning play of the Ice Bowl, in which Bart Starr scored the winning touchdown on a quarterback sneak in the game's final seconds to win a third consecutive NFL title.

After his rookie season, Bowman attended law school part-time and earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1972. During the 1974 players' strike, Bowman was the NFL players' union representative for the Packers, and was picketing the first preseason scrimmage against the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field in late July. Along with a number of teammates, he was arrested, and was placed on injured reserve with a phantom back injury and sat out the 1974 season. Bowman ended his 11-year professional career in 1975 in Honolulu with The Hawaiians of the struggling World Football League, which folded on October 22. Bowman was inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 1981