Baylor Basketball Legend and Local Sports Journalist to Discuss “Answering the Call”

On Friday, March 1 at 6:00 p.m., Baylor basketball legend and 2024 Founders Medal recipient Tommy Bowman (BBA ‘71) and sports journalist and author Chad Conine take the Mayborn Museum Theatre stage to discuss the recently released Baylor Press book, “Tommy Bowman: Answering the Call” as part of the Baylor Libraries Author Series. Dave Nelson, director of Baylor Press, will facilitate the conversation, which will be followed by a reception and book signing with Bowman and Conine. The event is free and open to the public.

“I am proud to feature Tommy Bowman’s biography as part of the Baylor Libraries Author Series,” said Jeffry Archer, dean of the University Libraries, Museums, and the Press at Baylor. “Bowman has answered the call not only as the first Black scholarship student-athlete at Baylor, but as Bible study leader and deacon at Toliver Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, through his service on the boards of the Waco chapter of the American Red Cross, the YMCA, the City of Waco Parks and Recreation, as a Baylor Regent, and as this year’s recent recipient of Baylor’s Founders Medal.”

A native of Athens, Texas, Bowman attended Baylor from 1966-1971, graduating with a Bachelor of Business Administration. Bowman played basketball for the Bears, averaging 13.7 points and 9.7 rebounds per game during his career, twice earning first-team All-Southwest Conference honors. He is a member of the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame (1999) and Southwest Conference Hall of Fame (2018) and served as a Baylor Regent from 2001-2010. After graduation, Bowman remained in the Waco area and worked with Central Freight and as a manager with M. Lipsitz & Co. for 18 years. During these years, he has been an active member of the Baylor community, the Waco community, and Toliver Chapel Missionary Baptist Church.

Chad Conine is a freelance sports journalist and author of “The Republic of Football: Legends of the Texas High School Game” (2016), “Texas Sports: Unforgettable Stories for Every Day of the Year” (2017), and “Tommy Bowman: Answering the Call” (2023). He has worked as a sportswriter for the Waco Tribune-Herald, Reuters News Service, and other outlets. His journalistic focus is high school and college sports in Texas.

The Baylor Libraries Author Series features publications by Baylor-affiliated authors as selected by the Dean of University Libraries, Museums, and the Press. The series is designed to inspire conversation and learning on a broad range of topics among members of the Baylor and Waco community and beyond. For more details, visit library.web.baylor.edu/authorseries.

This edition of the Baylor Libraries Author Series is co-sponsored by the Baylor Libraries, Baylor Press, and the Mayborn Museum. For those who cannot attend in person, the event will be available via Zoom Webinar. For more information visit https://library.web.baylor.edu/bowman.