Since everything this weekend revolves around the presidential inauguration, we figured we would share an interview with a player or coach who has a presidential connection. Milton Jowers was a student at Southwest Texas State Teachers College in the early 1930s before joining the Navy in 1941, and 1 of his college classmates was a future president named…Lyndon Johnson! Jowers became basketball coach at Texas State in 1946, led the Bobcats to the 1960 NAIA national championship, and was later elected to the NAIA Hall of Fame. He passed away in 1972 but HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Vernon McDonald (1 of his former players/assistants) about Jowers’ development of the tandem post offense and that 1 time he hung up on Bear Bryant.
1 of his classmates during the 1930s at Southwest Texas State eventually became President of the US: what kind of relationship did he have with Lyndon Johnson? I do not know for sure but I think LBJ once snuck into the gym and took his spot in the bathtub!
During WWII he served as a commander in the Navy: what impact did his service have on him either on or off the court? All I can tell you is what he told me. He won a state high school title at San Marcos High School in 1940 with a bunch of juniors. Pearl Harbor happened on December 7, 1941 and he joined the Navy the very next day due to his love of country. He was on a ship that shot so much ammunition at the Japanese that the gun barrels turned bright red. There is no question that being in the military led to him being a strict coach. We drove back to campus 1 night after winning a road game: when we arrived he said that we had 15 minutes to prepare for practice!
He was credited with developing the tandem post offense: how did he come up with it and what made it so effective? I arrive at the school in 1948 and we had a 7-7 record by Christmas break. We had a 6’6” player named Spider Maze who was athletic but could not shoot a lick, so Coach put him under the basket and just let him get all of the rebounds. We had another post man who could not shoot named Slim Berry but since we already had Maze under the basket Coach put him at the FT line instead…and we just started beating everybody!
In 1952 as coach at his alma mater he won his 1st 29 games before a 3-PT 2-OT loss to eventual champion Southwest Missouri State in the NAIA tourney semifinals: where does that rank among the most devastating losses of his career? We walked off the court and I looked up at him and he had tears running down his face: it really killed him. 1 of our other guards named Bookie Brymer had to fly to Dallas earlier that week to take his physical exam for the Navy, but the weather turned bad and he did not make it back until after we lost. We both thought that if Bookie had made it back on time then it might have made the difference. I graduated that year and Jowers helped me get a job as a high school coach, then the following year he told me to come back and become his assistant.
In the 1960 NAIA tourney title game he led the team to a 22-PT win over Westminster: what did it mean to him to win a title, and what was the reaction like when they got back to campus? He did not say much but you could tell that he was very happy, as we all were. We played Westminster the previous year and their coach ran exactly what we had run the following year.
He finished the season by being named NAIA national COY and was later elected to the NAIA Hall of Fame: what did it mean to him to win such outstanding honors? He was a tough nut but I knew that it must have been satisfying to him even though he never said so. He was a big dog around San Marcos. He coached the NAIA All-Star team that year featuring 3 of our own players and beat the reigning NCAA champion Ohio State Buckeyes.
He later became the school’s football coach and went 10-0 in 1963 while leading the team to the #1 ranking in the nation: how was he able to be so dominant in multiple sports? It was unbelievable! He was the toughest guy in the world but he was fair.
While serving as athletic director at Texas A&M, the legendary Bear Bryant called him with an offer to become coach of the Aggies but Jowers allegedly hung up on him: is this true, and if so then why did he turn him down? We were having a basketball meeting at the hotel in Kansas City and I answered the phone when it rang. Bear Bryant asked for Jowers and I told Coach that someone wanted to talk to him. When Jowers picked up the phone Bryant said, “This is Bear”…and Jowers said “Bear who?”! Bryant said he would send a private plane for him but Jowers said that he was not interested in the job. He had a nice farm out in the sticks where he raised cattle and went out there all the time: he was just a country boy who never wanted to leave.
He also spent 8 years as athletic director: how did he like being an administrator compared to being a coach? He called us all into his office 1 day toward the end of his tenure and told everyone to sit in a certain place: I was put in the corner. He said that his doctor told him he had cancer and he swore us all to secrecy.
When people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? As the best, the best, the best.
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