Random Athlete Of The Day- Cal Bowdler
Cal Bowdler II is a former NBA big man (6ft10in) from Sharps, Virginia. Bowdler attended Old Dominion where he became a go-to guy for the Monarchs. His junior year at Dom he averaged 10.2 ppg and 8.8 rpg. The next year Cal improved to nearly averaging 15 ppg, 10 rpg, and 3 blocks. The senior entered the 1999 NBA Draft with high hopes.
With the 17th overall pick, right after Meta World Peace, the Atlanta Hawks selected Cal Bowdler. Bowdler was three of Atlanta Hawks first round picks, they also picked Jason Terry with the 10th, and Dion Glover with the 20th, not the best of rebuilding years. If they knew the future they probably would have taken Jason Terry, Andrei Kirilenko, and Manu Ginobili. Regardless the Hawks took Bowdler. In Cal’s rookie year he averaged 9.2 minutes per game and scored 27 ppg. Just kidding he scored 2.7 ppg and 1.8 rpg (I forgot to put a decimal the first time my bad). The next season he averaged a career high 3.2 ppg in 2000-01. And in his final season he averaged a career high an 11.2 mpg he scored 3.1 ppg, not really the breakout season he was hoping for.
After the season Bowdler was a free agent, but no teams were interested. Instead Bowdler retired from the NBA and went to play in Italy for a few years.
Bowdler’s final NBA stats were 3.0 ppg and 1.9 rpg in 9.7 mpg. For some reason Bowdler’s jersey did not get retired in Atlanta.
Bowdler currently has a sports talk radio show called “Courtside With Cal” on ESPN Radio 94.1 in Virginia. He is also a Freelance Sports Broadcaster for TV/Radio, he’s done some work at Turner Sports and CSN.
-Schotz
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