Wisconsin Football Countdown: No. 57, Ken Bowman
By Jim Oxley
As the countdown to the first Wisconsin football game of the season continues, Badger of Honor is taking a look at Badgers by the numbers, checking in on a different Badger or Badgers players who wore the number corresponding with the remaining days until the Badgers head to Texas to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide Saturday, Sept. 5.
Next up in our countdown, signifying 57 days until college football is back, is Ken Bowman.
Bowman played from 1961-1963 at Wisconsin, anchoring the offensive line from his center position.
Wisconsin Badgers
A Milan, Illinois native, Bowman became a team captain and a first team Academic All-American by his final season in 1963.
Following college, Bowman was an eighth round pick (No. 111 overall) by the Green Bay Packers in the 1964 NFL Draft.
He had a long and successful NFL career with the Packers, winning a pair of Super Bowls (since they were the first two Super Bowls, Bowman was the first former Wisconsin Badgers player to win a Super Bowl). He was a Packer from 1964 to 1973.
You can’t see him, but he’s at the bottom of the pile pictured in the famed Ice Bowl photo of Bart Starr’s game-winning touchdown.
After his NFL career ended, Bowman played football for the Honolulu Hawaiians for a year in the World Football League.
He was voted onto the school’s All-Time Team by fans in conjunction with the centennial celebration of college football in 1969. In 1998 he was voted onto onto the second team of the College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-America All-Time team.
Who wore No. 57 first?
• Tackle Arthur Mansfield first wore No. 57 in 1927.
Who wears No. 57 now?
• Defensive end Alec James, who recently switched jerseys from No. 6 to No. 57, wears Bowman’s old number. James figures to be heavily used in Wisconsin’s defensive line rotation this fall.
Stay tuned to Badger of Honor as we continue our daily countdown in preparation of the season opener against Alabama.
Next: Wisconsin Football Experience