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Giant Steps Award
ANNVILLE, Pa. (Conference News) – The Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) has announced Eastern’s Michael Bowlers as the 2020 recipient of the MAC Giant Steps Award.
On the court, things are a little easier.
Sure, the biggest guys on the other team are constantly pushing and shoving to try to move him away from the basket, but for Eastern University’s Michael Bowlers, these difficulties are minor and expected.
He is introduced as a 6’8” forward from Lincoln High School, but that only tells part of his story. For his ability to persevere through adversity and to inspire his teammates, the Middle Atlantic Conference is recognizing him with the league’s Giant Steps Award for 2020.
The award is given each year to individuals who have overcome adversity while still succeeding in life, who use sports as a vehicle for positive social change, who break down barriers to provide opportunities to those who follow behind them, and individuals who inspire us to do great things using the positive aspects of sport. The award was established in 2003.
On the court, Bowlers earned All-MAC Freedom honors in each of his two seasons for the Eagles. He was a first-team honoree in his junior season where he averaged 14 points and 8.9 rebounds an outing while helping his team to the MAC Freedom Tournament. In January of 2020, when Victor Peña returned following a year of injury, Bowlers approached Head Coach Dan Pruessner and offered to be the first big man off the bench. He still averaged 12.6 points per game while shooting a program-record 61.7 percent from the floor. He earned second-team all-league recognition.
“Mike came to me and said ‘I’m OK being this team’s Lamar Odom,’” Pruessner related. “I was impressed that we had a guy with the maturity to sacrifice starting games for the good of the team. I also thought it was great that he was able to remember the last big man to win the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award.”
He scored a career-high 28 points on 13-of-18 shooting in an 81-57 win over Misericordia on senior day. He delighted the Eastern fans with two made 3-pointers in that game. He helped the Eagles to reach a conference championship game for the first time in program history.
His path to Eastern was not an easy one. Bowlers played his High School Basketball at Lincoln High School in Northeast Philadelphia. He had enough success to be recruited by some junior colleges and he initially went to Seminole State in Oklahoma for the 2012-13 academic year. With the team losing and not playing a post-oriented game, the basketball was not what he had hoped for, and life off the court was a bit of a shock as well.
He transferred to the College of St. Joseph in Vermont, and the basketball was better. He played in 22 games for the Fighting Saints and led the USCAA school to the Yankee Small College Conference Championship game. He even started opposite Duncan Robinson in an early-season 80-64 loss to Williams College. In the team’s semifinal win over Southern Maine CC, Bowlers made all eight field goal attempts to score 19 points. He nearly repeated that performance with an 8-for-10 performance in loss in the Championship game.
Even with the basketball going well, he had another situation back home. His daughter, Jayda, was born and bills were piling up. He came home and started to work. For the next four years, he worked, took care of his daughter, and took classes when he could. He knew that he would need a degree to have the impact he wanted, and he missed basketball. He still had two years of eligibility, so he sent out emails to local colleges.
“I still remember the email,” Eastern Athletic Director Eric McNelley recalled. “Once we talked about his goals and what Eastern is about, it was a fit. He also really like that we feed the post.” McNelley coached Eastern Men’s Basketball until this past season.
For the past two years, Bowlers has worked the overnight shift at a nursing home providing care to the elderly to pay for school and support his family. All of this with the goal of working as a middle school guidance counselor. Early on, he had a car, but when that broke down, he had to take public transportation between work, school, and home. There were more than a few times that teammates would get to school in the morning and see Bowlers in the locker room trying to grab a couple winks of sleep between class and practice.
Through the years, things got very difficult, and he did not think he would be able to make it through, but he kept going. He was able to get to practice and class and develop strong relationships with younger teammates. Many of those in the stands did not know all he was doing to be able to play ball, but his teammates were aware, and they loved him for it. He has stayed on track in the classroom and will be a great mentor in the schools when he graduates.
Those around him often know he has a quick wit and good-natured personality that exudes gratitude. He would be the first to point to his daughter as his inspiration and his mom, Stephanie Price, as a model of service and a rock of stability in his life.
His impact on his teammates and the Eastern program will remain.
Michael Bowlers is the second Eastern University Athlete to receive the Giant Steps Award. Aaron Benz received the honor in 2009.