East's Bowers is historic success story at YSU

YOUNGSTOWN -- For the first time in Youngstown State's intercollegiate athletics history, the school has retired the uniform number of a female athlete.
Dorothy Bowers, a four-year YSU women's basketball player from 1984-88 who still holds six school records, received the precedent-setting honor Saturday when her No. 33 uniform was retired during halftime of the YSU-Wisconsin-Green Bay women's basketball game at the Beeghly Center.
Bowers, a Youngstown native and East High graduate who holds bachelor's and master's degrees from YSU, scored 2,324 career points under former YSU coach Ed DiGregorio.
Her other school records are for career field goals (977) and field goal percentage (.544), single-season scoring (783 points) and single-game scoring (49) and field goals (21).
She also ranks No. 2 in career rebounds (1,083) and free throws made (370), and holds a 21.5-point career scoring average.
"This is a fitting tribute to one of the best basketball players in the history of Youngstown State," said YSU athletic director Ron Strollo. "Dorothy's on-the-court accomplishments have stood for nearly 20 years. I am proud to announce that after the 2005-06 season the number 33 will not be worn by a YSU women's basketball player."
Bowers, who now is the director of student support services at Jefferson Community College in Steubenville, was a three-time all-Ohio Valley Conference selection, making the first team as a junior and second team as a sophomore.
Grateful to DiGregorio
Bowers, who lives in Boardman with husband David Collins and their two children, Doriyon and David, said she is grateful to DiGregorio for giving her a chance to play at YSU when other coaches were saying that she couldn't shoot well enough.
"He believed in me. He took a chance with me. That was my inspiration," said Bowers.
"I had a good work ethic. I came from a single-parent family. My mother [Ada Bowers Hill] made sure we did our work and that we did well academically so that we could reach our goals.
Bowers launched her YSU career by being named to the OVC All-Freshman Team. By the time she was a senior she was selected as the OVC Player of the Year.
She was inducted into the YSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1997.
Mother was foundation
Bowers said her mother's life is "a success story in itself" because besides encouraging and developing her children to succeed, she also went on to get her bachelor's degree in college and now is a teacher at Sheridan Elementary School in Youngstown.
Bowers also credited DiGregorio for building YSU's women's basketball program, and acknowledged three of her YSU teammates -- Tanja Simeone, Carol Nee and Danielle Carson -- for helping her score so many points.
"They were all my playmakers and without them I wouldn't have scored half of the points that I did," said Bowers. "They were looking to get me the ball and without them I wouldn't have done it."
DiGregorio, whose first year as coach was 1983-84, said that Bowers was his first recruit as YSU coach and that Simeone (now the Crestview High girls coach) was his second.
"A lot of the coaches asked me why I was recruiting Bowers because they felt she couldn't shoot," recalled DiGregorio. " I told them because Dorothy has quick hands and quick feet and never misses [going after] the ball. And you can teach the rest. She was a hard worker, a gym rat and played against the boys [to develop her ability]."
Bowers earned a bachelor's degree in comprehensive business education in 1990 and a master's degree in education in 1994, and now oversees a $1.1 million grant for academic support at Jefferson College to attract more students to the school.
So she is now doing for Jefferson what YSU and DiGregorio did for her -- providing opportunity for students to succeed.
kovach@vindy.com