FACES & FRIENDS AT TUSCULUM

DR. DAVID BOW

PROFESSOR OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION

He's been a coach, an athletic director, an administrator and "quasi-administrator," a faculty moderator, and even, for several years, the College's videographer for commencement ceremonies.

But David Bow says all he ever really wanted to be was a teacher, and it is as a teacher he wants to be known and remembered.

He came from the same area as a legendary American hero, Alvin C. York, the Medal of Honor winner from World War I. A Jamestown, TN, native, Bow laid eyes on the famous York only once, and that was while York was lying in state in his coffin in 1964. David was a student at the York Agricultural Institute at the time, an academy founded by York, and the school had closed to allow students to attend the ceremonies for the fallen hero.

David went to work at a shirt factory after high school graduation (he was his class's valedictorian), and to this day can describe in detail the process of attaching a front pocket to a shirt. He quickly decided that a life as a shirt pocket expert was not for him, and with the help of a supportive coach, gained a scholarship to Tennessee Technological University.

He majored in physical education and graduated from TTU having earned the highest grade point average of any undergraduate student in the PE program up until that time.

At TTU he met Flavious J. Smith, a Middle Tennessee educator and athletic legend who became his role model. David would later win the first Flavious Smith Award given by TTU. David also earned his Master's degree at TTU, then got married and went to work as a teacher in Allardt, TN, near his hometown in Fentress County, for about a year.

His doctorate came from Middle Tennessee State University, the athletic arch-rival of TTU. The summer he finished his doctorate, he saw an advertisement for a position at Tusculum College. After interviewing with Dr. Ruth Sharpe and Dean Estel Hurley, he was hired and began working with the PE program at Tusculum.

Over the years, David Bow has coached, at either the high school or collegiate level, football, baseball, softball and swimming. He was Tusculum's Athletic Director for 14 of his now-30 years at the College. He has played other administrative and faculty leadership roles at the College as well.

He says his greatest personal reward is watching students grow as individuals and graduate from Tusculum College as better and more mature persons than when they began.

Dr. David Bow got a surprise a few days ago when his fellow PE educators and a good number of students turned the day of Mardi Gras into a celebration of Dr. Bow's three decades of continual service at Tusculum College.

They brought in a Gambino's King Cake, colorful Mardi Gras beads, music, and members of David's family to help celebrate his years at Tusculum. David was even named "King Rex" for the day.

But in the end, he says, he's simply a teacher who is privileged to work with young people.

FAST FACTS ABOUT DR. BOW

MOVIE: Dr. Bow loves old movies and old television programs. Among his favorite movies is the Gary Cooper classic "Sgt. York," about Alvin C. York.

BOOKS: Dr. Bow so enjoys the subjects he teaches that his private reading is usually material in his teaching field. He even enjoys reading textbooks!