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- Dr. Louis Bowers
College of Education Faculty Oral Histories
Dr. Louis Bowers
AH: We’re continuing our oral history here with Dr. Louis Bowers. We were just talking about some of the programming and research you’ve done. Surely there’s stuff that we left behind over the past 33 years that we haven’t covered yet. What are some of the things we haven’t talked about that you’d like to mention?
LB: One that comes to mind is the opportunity of being a faculty member at a university. Years ago we were contacted by the Department of Defense dependent schools. They wanted us to submit a proposal for a summer workshop for American teachers who were based in military bases all over the world to come here to Tampa for Steve Klesius and I to do a two-week workshop for the teachers in adaptive physical education. Of course, we had the “I’m Special” video tapes at that time so we built around the idea that we not only prepare them in adaptive physical education, but we would give each a set of the video tapes to take with them so they would have that to share with other teachers in their school. We were awarded that grant and it was a very good experience working with those teachers as they were very eager. They only get to come home about every two years, so they were anxious to hear about what’s the latest, what’s up-to-date, what’s going on? They were very fine people.
About two years later the government figured out that rather than flying home fifty teachers and flying them back to their bases it would be a lot cheaper to bring me to their military bases. I was able to get a contract in between semesters in the spring where I did nine workshops in twenty-one days in six countries. I started off in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which was the most interesting place because of the unique situation there. They took me out to see the fence between the Cuban soldiers and our Marines. I had to stay there a few days because there was only a military plane in and out once a week. I enjoyed the workshop and the teachers there and went on to the naval base in Bermuda, then to London and the five Air Force bases circling London, and then on to NATO headquarters. My wife was able to join me in Bermuda. She traveled with me and assisted me with all my handout materials and equipment we were traveling with. It was really an enjoyable experience, being able to see all of those countries, stay on the military bases there, and meet the people there. It was challenging, endurance-wise though.
AH: It sounds like a real whirlwind tour, twenty-one days.
LB: I did nine workshops.
AH: In three weeks.
LB: We pulled it off.
AH: Was this adaptive physical education primarily for soldiers who had been injured?
LB: No, it turns out that for many years that if you were in the military and you were assigned out of the states and you had a child with a disability, you couldn’t bring the child with you. If you did, there weren’t any special education services on American bases. Someone finally stood up and said, “Wait, this is hurting my career. I’m being discriminated against. I have a child with a disability and a family I’m not going to part with to go overseas to advance my career.” The military said, “Yes, we’ll have to train our teachers to do this.” This was the beginning of the special education, including adaptive physical education at those military bases. Once again, it was with an eager group. It was something they wanted to do and needed a lot of help with, information about it and assistance with starting programs in those American schools on military bases.
AH: What year was that?
LB: It goes back to about 1990.
AH: How did it feel to become a distinguished professor?
LB: My life didn’t change very much. Certainly, my family was proud of me, and I had all my children in when I received the award in the Sun Dome. That was a big highlight, along with my wife and a party with my family. I guess the big difference was becoming a member of the Distinguished University Professor’s group. We are still an active group. We meet and discuss university issues, research, otherwise with the provost, with the president in luncheons we have throughout the year, at least quarterly, if not more. That is neat, to be able to meet those people who come from all over campus that I didn’t normally get the chance to be associated with except on the University Senate Council, Research Council, or the University Technology Council. All members of those groups were really outstanding faculty. I have continued to meet with the Distinguished University Professors group since I retired. I hope they’ll continue to be a group that gets together with the concerns of the welfare of the university.