ST. LOUIS – Bob Bowlsby, who served as the Director of Athletics at the University of Northern Iowa from 1983 to 1991 and managed the Panthers’ entry into the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) in his final year in the role, has been selected as part of the 2024 MVC Hall of Fame class, as announced by the league office on Wednesday afternoon.
Bowlsby will be honored with the conference’s lifetime achievement award during the league’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony on March 8, 2024 during the State Farm MVC Men’s Basketball Tournament in St. Louis. Tickets to the 2024 Hall of Fame event, which will be held at Stifel Theatre adjacent to Enterprise Center can be obtained by contacting the league office at (314) 444-4300. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
“One of the great rewards that comes with representing a conference with the magnitude of the Missouri Valley is the opportunity to interact with some of the finest practitioners in the collegiate athletic space,” said MVC Commissioner Jeff Jackson. “This class represents the reach of The Valley in and away from the athletic arena. We are all truly inspired by their achievements and touched by their grace.”
During Bowlsby’s tenure as Athletic Director at UNI, he managed the university’s entry into the MVC ahead of the 1991-92 school year and increased the program’s fundraising by 400 percent. Bowlsby formulated the UNI Athletics Hall of Fame program, the first class of which was inducted in 1985. Bowlsby himself was inducted into UNI’s Hall of Fame in 2004.
Late last month, Bowlsby agreed to serve as Interim Athletic Director for the Panthers. He currently serves as a member of the steering committee for UNI’s $250 million Our Tomorrow Campaign that has raised over $243 million to date.
A native of Waterloo, Iowa, he became the University of Iowa’s tenth men’s athletic director in June 1991. He directed the merger of the Hawkeye men’s and women’s athletic programs into a single unit in 2000 supervising 24 sports. In addition, he oversaw the planning, construction and renovation of more than $100 million in campus projects, including the refurbishing of Kinnick Stadium. In 2006, he became Director of Athletics at Stanford University.
In 2012, Bowlsby was hired to be Commissioner of the Big 12 Conference. Over his tenure, the Big 12 won 25 NCAA team national championships. In 2020-21 the Big 12 captured five NCAA team national championships, including a Baylor University men’s basketball title. Also, for four consecutive years, the Big 12 placed men’s basketball teams in the Final Four. In football, the Big 12 placed teams in the College Football Playoff New Year’s Bowls throughout its seven-year history. The Big 12 is the home of two of the last five Heisman Trophy winners and was the only Conference to place a team in the Final Four and CFP semifinals in 2017-18 and 2018-19.
Before retiring from the Big 12 in 2022, he earned the reputation as one of the nation’s most respected, energetic and ambitious athletic administrators. The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) named him Central Region Athletic Director of the Year and Sports Business Journal selected him from the four regional award winners as the National Athletics Director of the Year in 2001-02. He was appointed to the 15-member United States Commission on Opportunities in Athletics by U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige in 2002-03.
Bowlsby also served as President of the Division I-A Athletic Directors’ Association from 2002-03 and in 2005 he finished a five-year term on the NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament Committee. He served as the chairman in 2003-04.
Additional professional experiences include serving as an ex officio member of the NCAA Executive Committee; and chairing the NCAA Wrestling Committee, the NCAA Olympic Sports Liaison Committee and the Big Ten Championships and Awards Committee. He was a member of the NACDA Executive Committee and the I-A Athletics Directors’ Association Executive Committee.
Bowlsby earned his Bachelor’s of Science degree from Moorhead State in 1975 and his Master of Arts from Iowa in 1978. He was Assistant Director of Recreational Services at Iowa from 1978-81 and was named UNI’s Assistant Director of Athletics for Facilities from 1981-83. He then replaced Stan Sheriff as the Panthers’ Athletics Director while serving as administrative head of the UNI-Dome.
Bowlsby is one of six individuals being inducted into the MVC Hall of Fame this coming March:
Christy Barrett Sherman, Indiana State (1988-1991) [Track & Field]
Bob Bowlsby, UNI (1981-1991) [Lifetime Achievement]
Curtis Granderson, UIC (2000-2002) [Baseball]
Boomer Grigsby, Illinois State (2001-2004) [Football]
Tom Lamonica, Illinois State (1980-2006) [Paul Morrison Award]
Nolan Richardson, Tulsa (1980-1985) [Men’s Basketball]
Bowlsby will become the fifth UNI honoree to be join the MVC Hall of Fame:
2014 – Chris Bucknam (Track & Field)
2013 – Molly O’Brien (Volleyball)
2012 – Joey Woody (Track & Field)
2011 – Iradge Ahrabi-Fard (Volleyball)
