UK’s Lynn Bowden is the 2019 Herald-Leader Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year
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2019 Herald-Leader Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year
Click here to read all of our stories and watch all of our videos unveiling the winner of the Lexington Herald-Leader’s 39th annual Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year award.
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With the 2019 Kentucky Wildcats football season on the brink, Lynn Bowden stepped forward to the rescue.
His team standing 2-3 and with its quarterback position decimated by injury, Bowden shifted from slot receiver to QB.
What happened next defied all logic.
Bowden thrived as a read-option QB, and his team rallied around him.
Running around, over and through defenses, the Youngstown, Ohio, product led Kentucky to six wins in eight games and, improbably, led the SEC in rushing with 1,468 yards.
With 15 seconds left in the Kentucky season, “the wide receiver playing quarterback” threw a game-winning, 13-yard touchdown pass in UK’s 37-30 victory over Virginia Tech in the Belk Bowl.
For producing one of the most improbable success stories in the commonwealth’s college football history, Lynn Bowden was chosen as the 2019 Lexington Herald-Leader Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year in a vote by sports media members from around the state.
“(Bowden) is definitely the best (UK football player) I have seen in the 30 years I’ve been following the program,” wrote Daniel Rieffer of WDKY-TV. “He saved Kentucky’s season. The Belk Bowl game-winning drive was among the most impressive things I’ve ever witnessed on a football field.”
Added Eric Chumbler of Paducah’s WPAD-FM: “What Lynn did … at quarterback after playing half of the season at a different position will go down as one of the more remarkable individual achievements I’ve witnessed.”
In becoming the 39th winner of the Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year Award, Bowden prevailed from among a trio of athletes that dominated the voting.
While finishing 1-2-3, Bowden (91), Baltimore Ravens quarterback and former Louisville star Lamar Jackson (48) and ex-Murray State basketball star Ja Morant (11) combined to collect 150 of the 169 first-place votes cast by Kentucky media members.
Jackson revolutionized how the QB position is played in the NFL while leading Baltimore to a 14-2 record. The Pompano Beach, Fla., product set a single-season quarterback rushing record (1,206 yards) and led the NFL in touchdown passes (36).
The ex-U of L star is thought to be the leading candidate to be named NFL MVP.
“The best and most-talked-about football player in the world played his college football in the state of Kentucky,” wrote Mike Rutherford of CardChronicle.com. “That’s not something I thought I’d ever be able to say.”
Added Rick Bozich of WDRB.com: “If you’ve got somebody better than the NFL MVP, I need a detailed explanation.”
In Sports Figure of the Year voting, the choice came down to Jackson’s excellence at the highest level of his sport vs. those who made major impacts while competing inside the commonwealth.
“Nobody with a Kentucky connection had a better year than Jackson,” wrote C. Ray Hall, a retired Courier Journal sportswriter, “trouble is, he didn’t do any of it in Kentucky.”
In an electric sophomore season at Murray State, Morant became a fixture of ESPN highlights.
The 6-foot-3, Sumter, South Carolina, product became the first men’s player since the NCAA recognized assists to average a points/assists double-double (24.5 points, 10 assists). Morant was chosen No. 2 overall by Memphis in the 2019 NBA Draft.
“I voted (Morant) No. 1 because he was the most-talked-about story in college basketball last season,” wrote Edward Marlowe of The Paducah Sun. “He was drafted No. 2 overall from the Ohio Valley Conference — something that may never happen again.”
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Bowden led the Sports Figure of the Year voting in Lexington, Eastern Kentucky and Western Kentucky and finished second behind Jackson among Louisville voters.
The 6-1, 199-pound Bowden was UK’s leading receiver (30 catches for 348 yards) when he made the move to QB.
In his first start at quarterback since high school, the junior ran for 196 yards and two TDs and also threw for a score in a 24-20 win over Arkansas.
Bowden would go on to run for 204 yards and two touchdowns in a victory over Missouri; for 284 yards and four TDs in a Governor’s Cup rout of Louisville; and for 233 yards and two TDs in the Belk Bowl victory over Virginia Tech.
As an all-purpose player, Bowden was chosen First Team All-America by The Associated Press. He won the Paul Hornung Award, signifying the nation’s most versatile player. He was MVP of the Belk Bowl and of the Governor’s Cup victory over Louisville.
The knock on Bowden’s season came when he threw a punch in a skirmish that preceded the Belk Bowl.
“As I’m sure others did, I paused to consider (Bowden’s) pregame punch at the Belk Bowl, for which I thought he should have been punished. But he wasn’t,” wrote Kyle Tucker of The Athletic. “And he apologized — after one of the great individual performances in (UK football) history. Bottom line for me: Bowden was easily the most compelling sports story in the state in 2019.”
Adds Kenny Rice of NBC Sports: “(Bowden) is the easiest choice in the history of this award.”
Lynn Bowden is the 2019 Lexington Herald-Leader Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year.
This story was originally published January 28, 2020 at 9:10 AM.
