Dr. Nolan Fowler dies at 94; thrower was masters pioneer
Nolan Fowler helped Pete Mundle track throws records.
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Morehead State University in eastern Kentucky has reported the death Monday of former national-class hammer thrower, coach and professor Nolan Fowler in Cookeville, Tennessee. He was 94. Nolan’s role in masters track isn’t mentioned, but it is substantial and historic. His name graces an annual award at the big Southeastern Masters meet, where a silver bowl called the Nolan Fowler Award goes to the best age-graded hammer throw. Norman helped Pete Mundle compile weight throw records in his unofficial Masters Age Records booklet.
Here’s the Morehead State obituary:
Dr. Nolan Fowler, 94, a former Morehead State history professor and coach, died Monday in Cookeville, Tenn.photo-nolan-fowler He instructed history at MSU from 1943 until 1962.
Dr. Fowler started the Track and Field program at Morehead State. His teams were very successful, winning the school’s first Ohio Valley Conference title, even though MSU didn’t have a track.
A member of the Morehead State University Athletic and Ohio Valley Conference Halls of Fame, Dr. Fowler also left his mark as an athlete as he participated in 10 world championships and held more than 30 national and world records. He held the title of the 1943 United States Junior Champion as a hammer thrower.
After leaving Morehead State, he taught at Tennessee Tech University from 1963 until his retirement in 1979.
He is survived by his daughter, Elaine and her husband Dr. Michael Palencia; grandson Andrew, granddaughter, Dr. Rachel Palencia Harper, her husband, Jeff Harper, and one great grandson, Michael Harper; and his wife, Janet Marks Fowler.
According to the Hooper-Huddleston and Horner Funeral Home, the family has chosen cremation and no services are planned.
2 Responses
Remembering Nolan Fowler
In 1985 I went to my first world veterns meet in Rome, where I shared a hotel room with Nolan. He came to all my races and cheered me on(800, 1500) to the finals.
We took a night train to Milan after the meet, where we parted, him to
Venice to study history, me to race in Switerland. The highlight was seven course meal with great wine on the overnight train trip.
Two years later, in the same group, we stopped over in Molokai, Hawaii, on the way to Melbourne for another world veterans meet. We rented a car and went to the end of the island where a group of us ate lunch and went skinny dipping. Never too old.
I never met Nolan again, but often thought of him.
What a life; athlete, historian and a great human being.
Nolan you will be missed!
Along time ago as a freshman at Morehead I had a history professor for one year who changed my life. I can still remember the stories he told us that brought history to life…and the time he took to talk to us after each exam.
The next year when I returned to Morehead, I found that he had left. A group of us even talked about leaving Morehead to follow him to Tennessee.
That was in 1962, I think. Today I an a teacher trainer in the EU countries working with EFL. We have all sorts of fun and interesting ways to enable children to learn English. But I always tell the teachers I work with about Dr. Fowler. There were no smart boards and other technological wonders…just a man who had a passion for history and really cared about his students.
I was thinking about him the other day and decided to google his name…Why didn’t I think to do this sooner?
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