'A true Saskatoon treasure': longtime coach, official Kelly Bowers dies

The voice of Kelly Bowers will no longer boomacrossSaskatoon football fields, basketball courts or wrestling mats.

The longtime pillar of the Saskatoonsports community died this week. Of the hundreds already sharingmemories of Bowers, hisunforgettable voice was a constant theme.

"It would make the hair stand up on the back of your neck,"Saskatoon Hilltops coach Tom Sargeanttold CBC Radio's Saskatoon MorningWednesday.

"If you didn't know he was in the room, you quickly found out You could hear him from across a gym with 1,000 people."

Looking back at a true Saskatoon treasure.

5 years ago

Duration 1:38

Kelly Bowers spent nearly 50 years volunteering for football, basketball, wrestling and other sports

Bowers, a member of the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame, spent nearly 50 yearscoaching, officiatingand volunteering at all levels.

Bowerscoached Sargeanton the Hilltops. Bowers was one of the most vocal supporters of the Bedford Road Invitational Tournament, nowone of the top high school basketball tournaments in Canada. He touched the lives of tens of thousands of young athletes, Sargeant said.

"He made everyone around him better. He wasa true Saskatoon treasure. He truly was a remarkable man one of a kind,"Sargeant said.

"He was a gift to all of us. Saskatoon will never be the same without him."

As of Wednesday morning, nearly 300 people hadcommented on aFacebook tribute toBowers on the Saskatoon Minor Football page.

"I saw his passion for sport and passion for loving each minute as it happened. He will be missed. Rest in peace my good friend," wrote Neil Shewchuk, who shared broadcasting duties with Bowers at University of Saskatchewan Huskies football games for more than a decade.

Former Huskies coach Brian Towriss wrote about Bowers' "infectious enthusiasm, work ethic and endless energy.

"He will be missed by all. May his voice and memory echo at the [Gordie Howe] Bowl for all time."