Brian Gowins - More Than a Kicker
Randy Snow
Tuesday March 11, 2008
Gowins was with the Rampage from 2000-2003 and then rejoined the team again last season. He was named to the League’s All-Rookie team in 2000. He was a major contributor in the team’s 2001 ArenaBowl championship season and was also named the 2001 AFL Kicker of the Year.
Against the San Jose SaberCats on Monday night, Gowins’ second kickoff of the game ricocheted off the iron (just like he practices) and was recovered by Rampage wide receiver Kenny Higgins for a Grand Rapids touchdown that gave the Rampage a 13-0 lead early in the game.
Just before halftime, Gowins kicked a 41-yard field goal to bring Grand Rapids to within five points of the defending ArenaBowl champions, 35-30.
But in the fourth quarter, Gowins showed that he is more than just a kicker. SaberCats kick return man Tristan George was streaking down the right sideline when Gowins shoved him hard into the boards. As soon as it happened, players from both teams began signaling to the Rampage bench for the trainer to come over. The violent collision left Gowins lying on the ground for several minutes.
He was on the ground for so long that I fully expected to see a stretcher come out onto the field, but it never came out. Eventually, Gowins sat up on the field and then was helped to his feet. He walked under his own power to the Rampage bench.
“I definitely got my bell rung,” Gowins said after the game. “It scared the crap out of my wife (who was sitting in the stands). I basically went into small seizures which wore off quickly, but for a second there, I had issues controlling all my appendages. It was very scary.”
After Gowins retuned to the Rampage bench, I figured that we had seen the last of him for the evening. I was wrong. Later in the fourth, Grand Rapids kick returner Ahmad Hawkins ran a kickoff back 52 yards for a touchdown. The Rampage was now down 59-57, so I assumed they would go for the two-point conversion. But there was Gowins, jogging onto the field and nailing the extra point.
He then went to the other end of the field and proceeded to kick the ball off once again. The ball was taken seven-yards deep in the end zone by San Jose wide receiver Rodney Wright, who came streaking down the left sideline. Again, Gowins had to make a tackle. This time he went low and tripped up the runner.
That was the end of the evening for Gowins. Rampage quarterback Adrian McPherson fumbled the ball at the one-yard line with under a minute to play in the game and it was recovered in the end zone by the SaberCats for a touchback. The crowd of 5,833 Rampage fans felt that McPherson had broken the plain of the goal line before he fumbled, but (after a long consultation) the referees rule differently. From there, San Jose simply ran out the clock to preserve a 66-58 win.
“I’ve had concussions before, but never anything like that where I’ve lost control (of my body),” Gowins said. “This is by far the worst hit I’ve had in my football career.”
Gowins was the center of attention after the game. Everyone wanted to get his autograph on the game program that had his picture on the cover.
I’m sure that the coaching staff will evaluate Gowins’ condition over the next few days, but the team has an unusually short turnaround time before their next game. Grand Rapids hosts the Chicago Rush on Friday night. If Gowins is not cleared to play, the team will really have to scramble to find a replacement kicker on such short notice.
Randy Snow covered the Grand Rapids Rampage of the Arena Football League for ArenaFan from 2003-2008. He also covered the Fort Wayne Fusion of arenafootball2 in 2007. From 2004-2008 and in 2010, he was a member of the Arena Football League Writer’s Association and, since 2011, has been a member of the Professional Football Researchers Association. Randy lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan but will travel just about anywhere for a football game or a great football story. He runs the web site www.theworldoffootball.com and hosts a podcast with his son, Adam, called “This Week in The World of Football.”