Former Hempfield, Serra Catholic football coach Rich Bowen dies at age 60

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Tuesday, October 8, 2024 | 6:23 PM

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Rich Bowen was never a fan of attention. Not as a star football player or a championship coach. Not as a good-natured husband and father, handyman or athletic director.

Not as a man who impacted so many young lives, even up until his final weeks when he was fighting for his own.

“It’s not about me,” was what Bowen so often said.

Bowen, the longtime football coach and former Parade All-American quarterback, died Tuesday morning after a battle with Stage 4 rectal cancer. He was 60.

The former head coach at Hempfield who was an assistant this season at Greensburg Salem died at his North Huntingdon home with his family by his side: his wife, Denise; his sons Sean and Aaron; his daughter, Brittany; his mother, Jane; and some close friends.

Bowen inspired a number of people, including his son Sean, to coach and stay active in the game.

“He was so much more than a football coach,” said Sean Bowen, who is an assistant coach at Cardinal Mooney High School in Ohio. “I never thought I’d be a football coach. I thought I’d be a businessman or something. Then I thought, ‘Who are you kidding? It’s absurd. You know you’re going to be a coach. It’s in our blood.’”

Rich Bowen was the head coach at Hempfield for nine seasons and led Serra Catholic for five, guiding the Eagles to a WPIAL Class A championship and PIAA runner-up finish in 2007.

He also coached for a handful of years at both Elizabeth Forward and Yough, helping struggling programs to the WPIAL playoffs, and was an assistant for a short time at Waynesburg University.

“He cared about kids,” said current Hempfield head coach Nick Keefer, who was a member of Bowen’s staff. “He was a true teacher of the game. He was an offensive mastermind. I learned so much from him, not only schematically, but how to work with and treat kids as well. I know his lessons will stick with our kids forever.”

Keefer said Bowen taught him the no-huddle offense.

“I’m so glad I got to talk to him at our scrimmage this year,” Keefer said.

Bowen spent a couple of seasons as an assistant at Norwin before joining the staff at Greensburg Salem last season.

Greensburg Salem head coach Ty George, who played quarterback for Bowen at Hempfield, had to break the news to his team before the start of Tuesday’s practice.

“He came to our game three weeks ago against Valley,” George said. “He still knew what was going on and followed us on the broadcasts. It’s amazing when you think about the amount of people he impacted and the lives he changed. When you bring his name up, people have nothing but good things to say about him. He had such lasting impact. It’s a tragic loss.”

Bowen did his best to be with the Golden Lions this year, from summer workouts to camp to games. A slim 165 pounds in July, the once 250-pound bruiser of a man attended the Westmoreland County Coaches Association 7-on-7 tournament and was unrecognizable to friends and colleagues who had either not seen him in a while or were not aware of his diagnosis.

Still, he coached. He showed players their assignments and explained to them what they needed to do better. Football held his interest until the end.

His health deteriorated quickly of late — “He took a turn,” Sean Bowen said — and he could not be around the Golden Lions as much once the season began.

“Selfishly, I think, how lucky am I?,” George said. “I got to play for him and we had some successful seasons at Hempfield, which is hard to do. He hired me right after I graduated (from Seton Hill). He taught me the ropes. He didn’t claim to know all the secrets, but he showed you how to do things the right way.”

Bowen played at Serra in the early 1980s and led the team to a WPIAL title. He went to Pitt where he suited up for the 1982 Cotton Bowl, playing safety, before transferring to Youngstown State, where he played for Jim Tressel and moved to tight end.

He and Tressel remained friends over the years.

Bowen also had a number of friends at Pitt.

Bowen was an athletic director at Elizabeth Forward, Yough and Serra Catholic, and was an assistant AD at Hempfield.

“We’ve had so many people reach out to us that we don’t even know,” Sean Bowen said. “He knew so many people.”

Bowen followed in the footsteps of his late father, Dick Bowen, who played in multiple bowl games at Pitt in the 1950s before coaching at Serra Catholic and McKeesport.

Sean Bowen recently shaved his head so he looks like his father.

“He was able to come to our scrimmage his year,” Sean said. “And he was able to go see my brother play up at Mercyhurst.”

Sean and Aaron Bowen played football at Norwin.

Arrangments, which were still pending, will be handled by William Snyder Funeral Home in Irwin.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Greensburg Salem, Hempfield, Serra Catholic