Bowman, 57, loses cancer fight

Taylorsville boys basketball coach John Bowman, 57, passed away at his home early Tuesday morning following a nine-month battle with cancer.

"He's just the greatest guy in the world," said Olympus coach Matt Barnes, who was a senior at Olympus when Bowman joined the Oly coaching staff in 1986. "He cares about kids, people and basketball, and he's genuinely a nice and great person."

Bowman's 31-year coaching career began in Colorado, but in 1986 he moved to Utah and became an assistant coach at Olympus High. He was eventually promoted to head coach and led the Titans to a Class 4A second-place finish in 1994.

He and his family returned to Colorado the following season as Bowman took a coaching job at Wheat Ridge High School. That stint only lasted two years, and he eventually returned to Utah and served as an assistant to Kerry Rupp at East High in the late '90s. He spent the last seven years at Taylorsville.

Bowman was first diagnosed with cancer nine months ago when he found a lump on his back. Further tests revealed he had five tumors on his brain and another on his lung. Despite several bouts of chemotherapy, Bowman continued coaching and did so until late in the season when it became too tiresome.

Bowman is the second basketball coach in the state to die from cancer this year. Tooele coach Gary Alverson passed away in February after a 13-month battle with lung cancer.

"These two guys have been involved with Utah high school basketball for 20 or 30 years," said Barnes. "We've taken a huge blow to our coaching fraternity. They were both well respected, high-quality people, who cared a lot about kids."

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E-mail: jedward@desnews.com