Dean Bowyer deflects honor of field that bears his name

"I'm so excited," he said, "but I didn't win a ball game. I was privileged to be the leader of guys who were passionate about the game. This is something to share with people."

In an illustrious career, Bowyer racked up 982 of his 1,054 career wins -- fifth on the all-time NCAA Division II list at the time of his retirement in 2008 --for the Mavericks. But Bowyer was especially thankful to Jim Peterson, who initially donated a scoreboard in honor of his son, Brett Peterson, who died of cancer at the age of 19.

"He also gave a scholarship in Brett's name," Dean said. "Jim is a great man."

But Jim is also indirectly responsible for something else important in Bowyer's career. Jim's condition for donating the first scoreboard was that Bowyer had to lead an FCA Huddle at the college. 

Bowyer has been a part of FCA ever since, and he's currently on staff.

"We are extremely excited to be able to name this facility in Coach Bowyer's honor," said Kevin Buisman, Minnesota State director of athletics said in a statement. "The number of personal accolades and team accomplishments, in terms of the conference championships, the postseason success, and awards that Dean has compiled over his distinguished career would alone be enough to justify this well-deserved recognition.  

"But that would only tell half the story, as I believe those that  are really familiar with Dean  are well aware of the tremendous impact he made on the lives of his student-athletes off the field during his time in Mankato."  

Bowyer, though, refuses to take any credit.

"Glory  to God for what he’s done through me," Bowyer said. "It’s nothing I’ve done myself."