BYU athletics: Going pro in something other than sports

Four children also have been born to Tammy Kirby Bowers, a former BYU pole vaulter who graduated in 2003 from BYU with a bachelor’s in marriage, family and human development and lives with her husband in Lehi. Their youngest son, two-year-old Landen, was born with heart disease and had a transplant when he was three months old.

Landen has Leopard’s syndrome, one of 200 diagnosed cases in the world, chronicled in the family blog. Landen got his donor heart on Mother’s Day 2010, from a baby girl who died in a car wreck in Ankey, Iowa.

Tammy got her degree from BYU in marriage, family and human development. She takes their immuno-compromised son to 20 hours of appointments each week. Tammy is involved in organ donation and speaks at local hospitals, including once a month at the parent hour at the Primary Children’s Hospital in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Their son will need another heart in the coming years.

Several former BYU athletes have gone on to work in the broadcasting industry, some after notoriety as players in the pros. These include:

Steve Young and Trevor Matich (both football), analysts for ESPN; Johnny Miller and Bobby Clampett (both golf) color analysts on the PGA tour; Vai Sikahema (football) sports anchor with NBC TV in Philadelphia; Greg Peterson (football), color analyst for the Calgary Stampeders; Todd Christensen (football), former TV color analyst for NBC and The Mountain; Brett Benson (football), weatherman on KTVX, channel 4 in Salt Lake City; Marc Lyons (football), Mark Durrant (basketball), Chuck Cutler (football) and Paul Ruffner (basketball), current and past color analysts for KSL Radio; Blaine Fowler (football), color analyst for BYU TV; Steve Eagar (baseball), news anchor for Fox TV News in Dallas; Scott Haws (baseball), KSL-TV news anchor in Salt Lake City; Michael Smith (basketball), color analyst for Los Angeles Clippers; Ed Eyestone (cross country, track), analyst for ESPN; Amy Steele Gant (volleyball), former analyst for BYUtv.

Other former Cougar football players who have gone on to other professions include: Marv Allen, a surgeon at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center; Blair Buswell, sculptor; Chuck Cutler, a financial planner in Draper, Utah, who recently served as a mission president in San Antonio; Craig Christensen and Larry EchoHawk, members of the First Quorum of Seventy; Richard Hobbs, a pharmaceutical salesman in Shelly, Idaho.

Former Cougar basketball players who have gone on to other professions include: Devin Durrant, who currently serves as a mission president in Dallas, Texas; Mike May, who recently served as a mission president in Chile; Glen Roberts, a local title insurance lawyer; Steve Schreiner, Provo City attorney.

Ralph R. Zobell has worked for BYU Athletic Media Relations in various capacities for over 30 years. You can view his bio at http://byucougars.com/staff/athletics/ralph-zobell or contact him at ralph_zobell@byu.edu.