George “Ears” Bowman

A native of Bristol, Virginia, George “Ears” Bowman graduated from Emory & Henry in 1963. He was inducted into the E&H Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.

Bowman was a four-year baseball letterman at E&H, playing from 1959-62. During that time he established an outstanding reputation in the sport. At the time of his graduation, Bowman held E&H school records for career batting average (.441), single season batting average (.591), career hits and career doubles. Bowman was named All-Smoky Mountain Batting Champion in 1962 and is Emory & Henry’s only baseball player to have been bestowed All-Conference first-team honors all four seasons. During his fifth year at Emory & Henry, Bowman served as an assistant coach.

Following his years at E&H, Bowman played semi-professional baseball in Greeneville, Tennessee. While playing for the Magnavox team, Bowman was invited to play in the Semi-Pro World Series, and he was named to the 1968 Semi-Pro All-State Team in Tennessee. He went on to play for five years with the Saltville, Virginia, semi-professional team where he was a teammate of the legendary Muscle Shoals.

In addition to his post-graduate semi-professional baseball career, George has been active in his community, serving as a teacher and coach in Washington County, Virginia schools for decades. In 1967, George was selected as a member of the Bristol Newspaper’s All District Six Squad as Coach of the Year during his tenure as head baseball coach at Holston High School. He also coached baseball at Virginia Intermont College for five years.