Kick-starting a different career: once his competitive juices simmered down, Marc McDowell had no problem stepping away from professional bowling and into the world of finance - Then & now: Marc McDowell

Bowling Digest, August, 2002 by Dick Denny

IN A PRO BOWLING CAREER THAT lasted from 1986 to 1996, Marc McDowell put together an enviable resume: He was the 1986 PBA Rookie of the Year, was elected by his peers as PBA president for 1991-92, won five titles, and was selected Bowler of the Year in 1992.

The funny thing is, he wanted to be a football player instead. But fate works in mysterious ways ...

It happened one day at football practice at the University of Wisconsin in 1980. The Madison, Wis., native kicked three 55-yard field goals in a row as a freshman walk-on. Naturally, he was ecstatic, until another placekicker moved five yards back and boomed a couple of field goals through the uprights from 60 yards out.

At that moment, McDowell knew his chances of making it full-time with the Badgers football team were slim. "Wisconsin was deep in placekickers that season," says McDowell, now 40 and a financial consultant for Salomon Smith Barney in Madison. "There were about seven. I did have a uniform, but I never got to dress for a game.

"I played a little defensive back at Monona Grove High School in suburban Madison as a senior and made 20 of 21 extra points. My longest field goal in high school was 43 yards. I was a late bloomer, and I regret that I underachieved in sports at that age. But that was a fun time for me with the Badgers and a great experience. I remain a die-hard Wisconsin football fan as a season-ticket holder."

Besides, the UW football experience did something very positive for the 5'8", 160-pound righthander: It kick-started his competitive bowling career. At the end of his first year at UW-Madison, he transferred to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. "I was living at home and just needed to move on," McDowell says. "I wanted to get back in bowling and Wisconsin-La Crosse had a very good bowling program."

Wisconsin-La Crosse, however, did not offer bowling scholarships. West Texas State University (now West Texas A&M) did, and McDowell accepted one after spending a single semester in La Crosse. Moving to Canyon, a city of 11,000 in the Texas panhandle, took McDowell into a whole different lifestyle and bowling environment.

"Canyon was in a dry county, and it was quite an adjustment living there," McDowell says of the transition from one of the most socially active campuses (Madison) to Canyon in a year's time. "But I spent four wonderful years at West Texas State, That's really where I became a bowler."

McDowell had three of the finest teammates a bowler could want--brothers Mark and Mike Scroggins, and Jack Jurek. Mike Scroggins and Jurek each won one PBA title (Jurek also once was the Amateur Player of the Year), and Mark Scroggins was the 1993 PBA Rookie of the Year. West Texas State made it to the Intercollegiate Bowling Championships all four years McDowell was in Canyon but never won a national title.

"We had a phenomenal team my senior year," McDowell recalls. "We won every tournament we entered during the 1984-85 season except the nationals, when we were top-seeded but lost by two pins in a one-game Baker title match. Ironically, we lost to Wisconsin-La Crosse. That was one of the most disappointing moments of my career."

The event was in Milwaukee. McDowell's family and friends were hoping to see him win an IBC in his hometown, but it didn't happen. "It would have been a storybook ending if we had won," McDowell says.

Shortly after that bittersweet tournament, McDowell graduated from West Texas State with a business degree. Instead of entering the business world right away, he decided to give the PBA tour a try. "College bowling prepared me well for the grind and battles of the tour," he says.

It didn't take long for the preparation in Canyon to pay off for McDowell. In 1986, he won a then-record $51,285 for a first-year player and was voted the PBA Rookie of the Year. Then reality set in. McDowell's game went backward, as did his earnings. He won $46,289 in 1987, and in 1988 he was not even in the top 50 on the money list.

In 1989, however, McDowell's progression curve went dramatically up. Early in the summer tour, he won his first PBA title, the Fresno (Calif.) Open. "That first win was part thrill, part reality," McDowell says. "It was a thrill, obviously, but it was equally a reality because I'd had some close calls with no wins."

McDowell won a second time that year, teaming with Dick Weber to claim the Senior/Touring Pro Doubles tournament at Buffalo. He finished the year with earnings of $72,245. "That win with the legendary Weber definitely was a career highlight, probably second only to my Firestone win [in 1992]," McDowell says.

McDowell continued to do well in 1990, earning $69,740. By then, McDowell's peers had realized he had smarts as well as bowling skills, and they voted him PBA president in 1991, "That was quite an honor and changed a lot of things for me," he says. "My two-year term took me a step up in professionalism. It meant more dedication, more responsibility, and more maturity."