Willie Cowden's legacy keeps on growing

When Willie Cowden passed away, they buried him in his orange Brighton High sweats with a whistle around his neck and a pair of old running shoes on his feet.

That was the way many remembered Cowden in this life, so it seemed a fitting way to send him off to the next one.

Willie Cowden was a high school cross country and track coach at Brighton for 15 years, but also much more.

He died of cancer in 1998 at the age of 52. Many coaches still remember him fondly, but for today's students he is simply the name of an award.

Each year, the Willie Cowden Memorial Award is presented at the state track and field championships to one or more track athletes who have overcome extraordinary adversity. Over the years, the 24 honorees have included kids who overcame blindness, cancer, car accidents, amputation, cystic fibrosis, abuse, autism and on and on it goes. Some coaches consider it the best award that is presented each year to high school athletes.

"We've had almost every challenge you can imagine," says Becky Cowden, who presents the award each year, along with her children. "We've had kids standing there sobbing saying, 'You don't know what this means to me.' It's a big thing for my kids. They didn't really know their father because they were so young when he died. Once a year, they get to walk out there in front of everyone for their father, and everyone is so polite to them."

Ed Murrell, the Hunter High coach who started the award, says simply, "I wanted Willie's kids to know what kind of man their father was."

The award is certainly true to Cowden's memory. He was known as a coach who paid equal attention to stars and the lesser talented kids. He was the type of coach who would point to an overweight kid or a slow kid and tell the team, "This is the kid I respect the most," and then he would explain why. He tried not to let any kid slip through the cracks. He thought running and athletic teams were vehicles to success. He focused not on winning, but on personal bests.

He was no different in the classroom. When a former student heard of Cowden's passing, he was serving a church mission. He called his dad in tears and urged him to help Cowden's widow, Becky — and this was a kid Cowden had flunked three times, forcing him to take summer school. The son, a talented but underachieving student, explained to his father that Cowden was the teacher who helped him the most. His dad showed up at Becky's door and gave her $2,000.

Becky, who is raising their four children — two sets of twins — by herself, still receives e-mails and letters from Cowden's former students and athletes.