Remembering Bob Bowen

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Bob Bowen was the long-time sports director at WSAZ-TV —
 and a proud graduate of Minford (Ohio) High School.

File photo | HD Media

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Bob Bowen, longtime sports director at WSAZ television
 in Huntington, was surely the most famous graduate
 of Minford (Ohio) High School. On the air, he
 never missed an opportunity to plug the tiny
 school’s sports team, which he christened
 the “Mighty Minford Falcons.”

Born in 1930, Bowen graduated from Minford High
 in 1949. After high school, he served in the U.S.
 Air Force for three and a half years.
 Part of that time he spent as a
 radar operator in Alaska.

Honorably discharged from the Air Force in 1952,
 he enrolled as a student at The Ohio State
 University. He graduated from OSU
 in 1956 with a bachelor’s of arts
 degree in radio and television.

In 1956, he was hired as a disc jockey at WTNS
in Coshocton, Ohio. He appeared in the
 mornings on “Let’s Get Together
 With Records” and in the
 evenings on the “Hillbilly
 Hoedown” show.

In 1956, Bowen and his family moved to Huntington
 when he was hired as an announcer at WSAZ
 Radio. He quickly transitioned to television,
 becoming the station’s sports director
 in 1967, a post he held until
 he retired in 1990

Without exception, any time Minford was
 part of the day’s sports news, Bowen
 always identified them as the
 “Mighty Minford Falcons.”
 Ultimately the school
 included the word
 “Mighty’ in its official
 coat of arms.

Bowen was living in Versailles, Kentucky,
 when he died in 2000. He was survived
 by his wife, Cynthia Sue Linet Bowen,
 and their three daughters, Cynthia
 Lee Kiek, Loren Lee Snape and
 Linda Lee Paluch. He is buried
 in Forest Lawn Memorial
 Gardens in Huntington.

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Note:  This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on Oct. 22, 2024.

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