Tony Bowens was a hardnosed defensive tackle who was one of the foundation of players who helped turn the Youngstown State football program into a consistent winner.
Bowens stepped on the campus in the fall of 1989 and since then the Penguins have had 11 winning seasons, made nine playoff appearances, played for six national titles and won four national championships. Prior to joining the football program, YSU had 11 winning seasons in the previous 24 seasons.
The Penguins were 20-5 in Bowens' two seasons as a member of the defensive unit. As a senior captain in 1990, Youngstown State finished 11-0 during the regular-season as that squad posted the only perfect regular season in school history. The year and his YSU career ended with a loss to Central Florida in the NCAA I-AA Playoffs.
He started all 12 contests and was a three-time selection as team defensive lineman of the game and two-time pick as YSU's defensive player of the game. Had 71 tackles, including 33 solo stops, to rank fourth on the team. He had 4.5 sacks and six tackles for losses.
In his final year he was a consensus first-team All-American earning honors from The Associated Press, Walter Camp, Kodak and The Sports Network.
Following his career he signed a free agent contract with the San Francisco 49ers.
A transfer from Grand Rapids Junior College prior to the 1989 season, he had 47 tackles as a junior, including 20 solo stops. He caused two fumbles, recovered three fumbles and had two tackles for losses.
At Grand Rapids was a first-team NJCAA All-American as a sophomore and a second-team selection as a freshman. He graduated from Highland Park High School in Highland Park, Mich.
For his two-year YSU career he started in 19 games and had 118 tackles -- 53 solo and 65 assisted. After the Penguins lost their first two games of the 1989 season they won 20 of the next 23 contests. The 1989 squad won the school's first Division I-AA Playoff game beating Eastern Kentucky.
Following his football career he earned his bachelors in Social Work/Sociology from YSU and became a certified Sports Counselor and a member of the National Association of Sports Counselors.
His teammate of two years Pat Danko is also being enshrined into the YSU Athletic Hall of Fame this year.
Bowens, who currently resides in Detroit, Mich., is a youth specialist at the Wayne County Juvenile Detention Facility. He is also working on his master's degree in social work from Wayne State University. He has a four-year-old son Anthony.
