Lacrosse player Dante Bowen commits to Ohio State University

March 8, 2021

A chance meeting between parents a few years ago led to Dante Bowen taking up lacrosse.

At the Chris Gibson Recreation Centre in Brampton for a younger son’s swimming classes, Skye Bowen didn’t know what sport to consider putting her eldest child in after he had suddenly decided to stop playing soccer.

“This parent’s son was playing lacrosse and he told me if I ever consider it, it was a great sport,” she recounted.  “I told him we didn’t know anything about the sport and he directed us to go to a website where we could sign him up.”

Skye Bowen and her son Dante (Photo contributed by the Bowen family)

Bowen’s parents registered their son the next day.

The move has paid handsome dividends.

A decade later, the elite student athlete signed a letter of intent to further his academic and athletic career at Ohio State University (OSU).

With several universities showing interest, Bowen narrowed his choices to OSU and Cornell in Central New York that he visited in 2019.

“I was looking for the total package,” he noted. “Ohio State has good academic programs which I value and their athletic facilities are of the highest standard. Looking at everything that would prepare me for life after school, I thought that was the perfect fit.”

Business, Marketing and Financial Management are Bowen’s career interests.

Coach Nick Myers is thrilled that Bowen chose OSU.

“I saw him play at the All Canada game and at other events with the Edge Lacrosse program,” he said. “It was love at first sight for us. His speed, toughness and ability to play at another level than most his age between the boxes was what really impressed us. As we got to know Dante and his family, our interest only grew.”

Bowen will join five other Canadians on the lacrosse team later this year.

“We have a long tradition of recruiting Canadians both from the East and West,” added Myers who has been coaching OSU since 2009. “Eric Fannell who is one of our alumni, coaches Dante on his summer Edge Club team.”

Dante Bowen in action (Photo contributed by the Bowen family)

A soccer player in his early childhood, Bowen considered switching to a more physical sport.

It’s not surprising that football was on his radar as his father and maternal grandfather were exceptional players.

Orlando Bowen, spent five seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL) with the Toronto Argonauts and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

“My dad told me it was too early to start playing football because I was only 10 years old then,” he said.

Overlooked in the 1972 National Football League draft because of his skin colour, Chuck Ealey — who was unbeaten in six years quarterbacking his high school team and the University of Toledo, a National Collegiate Athletic Association record that still stands, — moved to Canada and played seven seasons in the CFL.

The oldest organized sport in North America, lacrosse was first played by Indigenous people.

What was Bowen’s biggest challenge when he started playing the sport?

“I had the speed and quickness, but I really had to learn how to handle the stick,” he said.  “I was running past everyone, but I couldn’t get the stick handling down. That was the biggest hurdle for me.”

An honour roll student through high school, Bowen spent his first two years at Mayfield Secondary – one of two regional arts schools in Peel -- before transferring to David Suzuki Secondary.

Students enrolled in the regional arts programs are required to take two music courses annually. To be eligible to compete and receive an NCAA athletic scholarship, students need to take and pass a minimum 16 core courses.

“I had to switch schools to be able to graduate on time,” the eldest of three siblings said.

Bowen also completed the Specialist High Skills Major program in sports that offer students an opportunity to specialize, secure qualification and plan a career pathway in several non-profit sector areas while in high school.

“That was a really cool program that provided me with a lot of perspective,” he pointed out.

Bowen’s varied interests extend to the arts and volunteerism.

He started playing the saxophone in Grade Eight at Sir William Gage Middle School.

“The saxophone is soothing and I really like the sound,” Bowen said. “Also, it was a lot easier for me at the time to try to play that instrument rather than the trumpet or trombone where your mouth shape kind of plays the instrument for you. I like the fact that there are the keys.”

He volunteered with Habitat for Humanity to build homes, and Regeneration Outreach that offers programs and services to individuals and families in Peel experiencing social ills, including homelessness, drug addiction and poverty.

Advocates for excellence in education, Orlando and Skye Bowen are positive role models for their sons, Dante, Justice and Marcus.

“At a very young age, they instilled a strong work ethic, honesty and integrity,” Bowen said. “I have grown up embracing those principles my entire life. Whether it is academics or sports, they have always pushed me to be the best I can. It’s because of them that I am where I am.”

Bowen said his father is the epitome of hard work and perseverance.

“He gets up at any hour of the day or night and put in the work,” his son pointed out.  “He inspires me to work hard and never give up despite the odds.”

Orlando Bowen with his sons Marcus (l), Justin & Dante (Photo contributed by the Bowen family)

Orlando Bowen knows what it takes to get up off the carpet after being knocked down.

In March 2004 while on his phone in a parking lot behind a Mississauga nightclub waiting for friends to celebrate a new contract he signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the motivational speaker and community worker was confronted and brutally beaten by two Peel plainclothes police officers.

Left with a concussion, a nasty gash on his forehead and blackened eyes, Bowen was arrested and carted off to jail. He alleged at the time that one of the officers planted drugs on him. The cop was found guilty of seven charges in June 2010, including the disappearance of fake cocaine that was being used in a Royal Canadian Mounted Police sting and sentenced to five years and eight months.

The family patriarch has high expectations for his son.

“Once he identifies a goal, he has that discipline that will allow him to do whatever it takes to achieve it,” said his Jamaican-born father who was a linebacker at Northern Illinois University before joining the CFL. “He has the ability to be able to lock in on his vision or a plan and execute it perfectly. He is also very competitive.”

Making the decision where to pursue his athletic and academic dreams rested solely with his son.

“We wanted him to really own that because it’s going to be his journey,” the 2012 DiverseCity Fellow added.

Ranked 53rd this year among the top universities in the United States, OSU distinguished alumni include Jesse Owens who was the star at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, setting four world records in track and field that lasted for nearly a quarter of a century.