Former Woodbridge athletic director and baseball coach Dave Cowen. (Photo courtesy Woodbridge athletics).
Former Woodbridge High baseball coach and athletic director Dave Cowen, a beloved and popular personality at the school, will be one of two inductees to the Woodbridge Hall of Fame on Saturday.
Former Woodbridge High and Olympic softball player Natasha Watley will also be inducted during the event at the Warrior Pride Gala and Golf Tournament on Saturday at the Oak Creek Golf Club, according to Jay Lyon, president of the Woodbridge Athletic Boosters and Athletic Director Rick Gibson.
It will be the second annual induction ceremony. Last year, former Warrior basketball player and NBA player Adam Keefe was inducted.
The event is “a celebration of our student athletes,” Lyon said.
Cowen died in December of 2016 after a battle from cancer. He graduated from Chapman College in 1971 and immediately went to work for a finance company, according to Gibson, who received background information from Cowen’s wife, Linda.
“After approximately two years, he decided that he needed to quit his job and return to school to pursue what he loves…teaching and coaching. And so it began,” Gibson said. “He actually attended seven different colleges over the years and at different times to pursue his passion.”
Cowen’s first teaching assignment was at Pacifica High in Garden Grove where he taught a special education class and coached football and baseball from 1972 to 1980. He then took a position at Woodbridge where he taught history and coached baseball, softball and football, according to Gibson.
He ended his career at Woodbridge as athletic director and in 1998 moved to the Anaheim Union High School District where he served as an assistant principal at Magnolia High. Cowen later became principal at Kennedy High and later finished his career in Anaheim as assistant superintendent where he retired in 2009.
“Dave also taught classes at Concordia University from 2009-2016 and later developed, implemented, recruited and taught the Masters in Coaching and Athletic Administration major at Concordia,” Gibson added.
Cowen was survived by his wife Linda and the couple’s daughter Heather Ferenc.
RELATED: Former Warrior softball star Natasha Watley to be inducted
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