Joe Stowell obit

The Hilltop mourns: Bradley Braves icon Joe Stowell dies at age 99

 

He was not on the list.

PEORIA — Joe Stowell died on Valentine's Day, but his love affair with Bradley Braves basketball and his place within the hearts of the program and its fanbase will live on.

An icon in a program with a long, proud legacy, Stowell died Saturday at age 99 at The Loft in East Peoria, leaving the Hilltop broken hearted.

"Our whole family was blessed to have such a father and leader who touched the community," said Stowell's son, Jim, 65. "He coached the men's team. He helped the women's team become D-1 and lead the nation in scoring. He had basketball clinics before any coaches really had them.

"I grew up being a ballboy at the Field House, sitting at the end of the bench while my dad was there coaching. Now he's gone home to be with his beloved wife (Marilyn). They loved to play cards, and she called him home on Valentine's Day to play Heaven's greatest card game."

Stowell is a hard-wired part of Bradley's culture and history, a man for whom many words fit: Devoted. Stubborn. Driven. Competitive. Passionate. Brilliant. Funny. Countless more.

He was 1 of 1 in Bradley's history.

Former Bradley Braves men's and women's basketball head coach Joe Stowell, an iconic figure on the Hilltop, has died at age 99 on Feb. 14, 2026.

His last visit to Carver Arena was at the final game of the 2024-25 season when he was honored on the court at Bradley's NIT Quarterfinal game against Chattanooga on March 25, 2025.

Stowell was mourned in a statement released Sunday by Bradley University President James Shadid that read in part:

"It is with deep sadness that I share the passing of Joseph R. “Joe” Stowell, beloved coach, broadcaster, mentor, and proud Bradley Emeritus and alumnus. He was 99 years old. I was honored to call him my friend.

"Coach Stowell’s connection to Bradley spanned generations. As a student-athlete from 1947 to 1950, he helped shape the legacy of Bradley Basketball as a player. He returned in 1956 as an assistant coach and went on to serve as our ninth head men’s basketball coach from 1965 to 1978, leading the Braves to 197 victories during his 13 seasons at the helm. He later coached both high school athletes and Bradley’s women’s basketball team.

"But wins and records tell only part of his story. Coach Stowell mentored countless student-athletes. According to the Missouri Valley Conference, he is the only coach to place both a men's (Joe Allen, '68) and a women's (Judy Burns, '82) player in the U.S. Olympic Trials. His influence extended far beyond Peoria.

"Bradley University is better because Joe Stowell chose to dedicate so much of his life to this institution. We are grateful, and we will remember him with pride. Flags on campus will be flown at half staff for three days in his honor."

A moment of silence

Down at The Villages, in Florida, there is a group of about 16 residents, all with Bradley ties, and all diehard Bradley Braves fans.

They get together on game days and host watch parties for the Braves games. Sunday, retired longtime Bradley basketball public address announcer Paul Herzog hosted the group, and he delivered a eulogy for Stowell followed by a moment of silence.

That was part of the walkup to the Braves game at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale on Sunday afternoon, where they earned a big win, 70-60.

Two more words: Powerful. Respect.

They no doubt laughed a little, too, recalling some of the stories compiled about the old ball coach over the years.

"My dad was a great racquetball player, and nine days after his 85th birthday we took him to play at Haussler Hall," Jim Stowell said. "It was Dad and I, vs. Bobby Humbles and Fred Schlink. Dad ran 11 points and shut them out.

"Afterward, we made up a plaque that said 'World Book of Records: On this day Joe Stowell became the oldest person in history to run 11 straight points.' "

Stowell was competitive about everything. When the BU team traveled, he made everyone put 25 cents in the pot as they waited for their luggage to come out of the airport carousel.

The person whose bag appeared first got the money.

And then there was a drive to an away game in rented cars. What could go wrong?

"In 1978, I was (Bradley men's basketball) SID," now-retired Joe Dalfonso said, laughing as he tells the story. "We're playing at New Mexico State. We have to fly in to El Paso and drive cars to Las Cruces about 45 minutes away. We rent cars. Joe has one with some players in it. (Then-BU assistant coach) Chuck Buescher and I have one with Bobby Humbles and some other players. The trainer has one with some players.

"But we couldn't just drive there. Joe made it a race. We're almost all the way there, getting to the off-ramp, and we're going to win. Next thing you know we get rear-ended. Now you know it was Joe Stowell. He hated to lose. So he put us out. Rental car, whatever."

Dalfonso remembers another Stowell moment during the era in which Stan Albeck was BU head coach. By then, Stowell was with legendary broadcaster Dave Snell on the Bradley radio broadcasts, and they traveled with the team.

"Everywhere we went on the road, I would set up a racquetball game for the morning of the game," Dalfonso said. "(BU assistant coach) Mo McHone, Lee Hall, we'd get 4-5 guys and go play. Joe was really competitive in it. Well we were in Memphis, and we go to play racquetball and we split the first two games. He'd always say, 'This last one's for the World's Championship.'

"Well McHone and his partner beats him. Joe is just steaming. We go out to the parking lot and he won't get in the car. He refused. Joe walked two miles back to the hotel. No one dared approach him."

A basketball life lived well

Stowell joined Dave Snell on WMBD radio broadcasts of Bradley games from 1985-2010, bringing Bradley games to life for fans across central Illinois.

The coach has been honored with inductions into the Bradley Centurion Society, the Bradley Athletics Hall of Fame, the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame, and the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame.

Each year on campus, the Coach Joe Stowell Award is presented to the male and female student-athletes who best exemplify his love for Bradley Athletics.

Joe Stowell started out as a Bradley basketball stowaway of sorts, sneaking into Braves games in 1936 at the old Peoria Armory.

But he grew up to serve in the U.S. Navy during World War II and come home to play for his beloved Braves and later build a commanding presence as their coach, creating an iconic presence in the university's athletics history.

His basketball and life journey took him to Africa, Europe, South America and other places ending where it all started, forever a Brave, in Peoria.

Stowell was a 5-foot-11 forward at Peoria High School who played basketball at Bradley from 1947-50, during which the Braves put together an 87-16 record and produced runner-up finishes in the NCAA and National Invitation tournaments.

His teammates included Gene "Squeaky" Melchiorre, the No. 1 overall pick in the 1951 NBA Draft, banned from the game for a point-shaving scandal.

He played alongside center Paul Unruh, who averaged a team-best 12.8 points in the 1949-50 season in which BU finished 32-5 and ranked No. 1 in the AP poll.

There was center Elmer Behnke, who played briefly in the NBA for Milwaukee. And guard Billy Mann, drafted by Baltimore in the third round of the NBA Draft.

Stowell coached basketball at Armington and Peoria high schools before returning to Bradley in 1956 as an assistant to men's head coach Chuck Orsborn.

Stowell played a key role in BU's recruitment of Chet Walker, a future NBA star and Hall of Famer who might be the best basketball player Bradley has produced.

Bradley elevated Orsborn to athletics director in 1965, and Stowell moved up, too, taking over the Braves sideline as head coach. He stayed there for 13 seasons, compiling a 197-147 record in the Missouri Valley Conference, at the time one of the top leagues in the country.

He led the 1967-68 Braves to the NIT, and his Bradley team also advanced to the semifinals of the 1974 Collegiate Commissioners Association Tournament.

A new phase on the Hilltop

Bradley fired Stowell as men's head coach in 1978, but he still stayed with the university as assistant athletics director, where he remained through 1985.

He jumped back onto the sideline during that era to take over the head coaching role for the BU women's basketball team and guide the program through its transition to NCAA Division I.

Stowell's women's teams averaged 87 points per game, highest in the nation, while putting together a 33-22 record from 1981-83.

Joe Stowell served as color commentator for Bradley men's basketball radio game broadcasts from 1985-2010, his raspy, high-pitched voice teaming with another icon, play-by-play man Dave Snell. Snell, who is well-known for his talent at imitating people's voices, developed a masterful Stowell impersonation.

Stowell seemed to know everyone in the basketball world, and he carried a highly respected national reputation.

The U.S. State Department asked Stowell to conduct basketball clinics abroad. He coached an MVC All-Star team in Brazil and a Bradley team in a Christmas tournament in Spain. In the 1980s, he coached the Egyptian national team to the African championship and an Olympics berth.

"I may have conducted more coaching clinics overseas than any (other) American coach," Stowell told the Journal Star in 1993.

His national reputation intact as one of basketball's icons, and his global achievements behind him, Stowell was at heart always a Bradley man.

And for all his travel, he never really stayed away for long, nor lived far from the university.

Home was a two-story house along West Callender Avenue, near the Bradley campus. There Stowell lived for more than 50 years with his wife, Marilyn, and raised a family.

Although not related by blood, that family grew over time to include scores of Bradley players. They remained close with Stowell years after they played for him.

"He is Bradley University," BU athletics director Chris Reynolds told the Journal Star in 2015. "You think of Bradley, you think of Joe Stowell."

Stowell celebrated his 90th birthday at a gathering of about 350 people in 2016. It was a night of story-telling, adding depth to a man to whom Bradley meant everything.

Snell told stories about how Stowell, while on road trips, would brazenly flaunt lax security to his advantage.

Whether it was securing a first-class airplane seat, gaining free admission to an airline club so he wouldn’t miss "The Price is Right," or nabbing a table immediately at a restaurant with a 90-minute wait, Stowell was opportunistic in such settings at a time when it was more possible.

“The first thing I wanted to do when I came here was wrap my arms around Coach Stowell,” said BU athletics director Chris Reynolds. “Because I know how much he means to this university.”

While Stowell didn't play much on those powerful Bradley teams of his era, he did take on knowledge from his coaches, A.J. Robertson and Forddy Anderson.

And that led to favorite quips in his coaching career, noted in a 2016 Journal Star story:

"You’re either early or you’re late. And if you’re five minutes early, then you’re late."

"That player can’t jump over a folded newspaper. And I’m not talking about the Sunday edition."

And Stowell stories flowed at his 2016 birthday party. This one was told by retired Bradley business manager Ken Goldin:

"There was the time when Joe was head coach, and he got arrested for playing poker at Jimmie’s Lock Shop,” Goldin recounted. “And he wasn’t worried because Sheriff (George) Shadid told him he’d take care of it. Well, George took care of it all right. He should’ve been a press agent because (that story was on Paul Harvey the next morning).”

Another, from Patty Bontz Caudill, who played for Stowell when he coached the BU women's team:

“I was out milking cows in below-zero temperatures and then rushed to practice,” she said. “When I got there, I said, ‘Coach, my legs are frozen, I can’t jump.’ And he said, ‘You never could.’ "

Statements from family, friends, colleagues, Bradley athletics people, all flowed out on Sunday.

"Joe Stowell was Bradley basketball," vice president of intercollegiate athletics Dr. Chris Reynolds said. "For more than 70 years, he gave his heart, time, and talent to this university. As a player, coach, administrator, broadcaster, and global ambassador for the game, Joe embodied everything it means to be a Brave.

"His impact spans generations, and his influence will continue to shape our program and our community for years to come. We extend our deepest condolences to his family and all who were fortunate enough to know him."

The Braves beat Southern Illinois in a Sunday afternoon road game in which their defensive effort was one Stowell would likely have enjoyed.

Bradley head coach Brian Wardle spent time in his postgame media appearance afterward, talking about Stowell.

"Just, what a life, what a legacy," Wardle said. "You always want to leave a place better than it was when you got there, and he did that. His family can be so proud of what he did for Bradley University, Bradley athletics and basketball in general.

"It was an honor to meet him, get to know him a little bit. I've had a few Bradley fans tell me I have a little bit of Coach Stowell in me as a throwback coach. I take that as a badge of honor, I'm grateful for that."

Saying goodbye

Jim Stowell said his father didn't want a public funeral. So while Joe Stowell's final arrangements are still being made by the family, they will be private.

He will be remembered regardless, by the many he touched through basketball as a teammate, coach, ambassador, teacher and broadcaster.

"He was my basketball theory teacher," Snell said. "He told me he played gin rummy with Denny Crum and he just knew so many people, had all kinds of friends. If you were his friend he would do anything for you. I learned so much from him."

Snell laughed as he recalled how Stowell would do anything to conquer a situation. He would carry a sawhorse with a no parking sign attached in his car. When he was at a crowded event and wanted to go to dinner, he'd pull out of his parking spot, put the sawhorse in place and the space would be waiting for him when he returned.

"He loved his family, and he loved BU," Snell said. "I don't know if there is another person you can name at Bradley that not only loved it as much, but gave it as much. For a while, there was this picture of him hanging up at Renaissance Coliseum, and little kids would ask who it was. Older fans would stop and tell them all about Joe Stowell. It was a legacy being passed on.

"He had so many stories that made me laugh. I loved him. And I don't know if I've ever met anyone else like him."

Snell had one more to add to that list of single words that could describe Joe Stowell with his family, with Bradley and with basketball.

Driving back from Southern Illinois late Sunday, the memories of Joe Stowell alongside as his only passenger, Snell said:

"Loyal."