Former Woodbridge baseball coach and athletic director Dave Cowen left ‘a fighting Warrior’

Dave Cowen’s wife Linda with Woodbridge Athletic Director Rick Gibson at Saturday’s Woodbridge Gala (Photo: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Linda Cowen, the wife of the late Dave Cowen, went to the front Saturday night and remembered her husband, former athletic director and coach at Woodbridge who was inducted into the Woodbridge Hall of Fame.

“He finished at Concordia (University) but he was always a Warrior,” said Linda Cowen, supported by Athletic Booster Club President Jay Lyon.

“He left here as a fighting Warrior. He battled this ugly brain tumor. But he fought hard and I think he represented everything that was said here tonight because he was not going to give up.

“Unfortunately, the Lord took him home. And we’re struggling to survive without him. But thank you to my partners here and some of our former students who Dave coached. They have been supportive.”

Dave Cowen died in December of 2016 after a battle with cancer.

But Lyon and current Woodbridge Athletic Director Rick Gibson made it clear to guests at the 2nd annual Warrior Pride Gala and Golf Tournament dinner at Oak Creek Golf Club in Irvine that Cowen will always be remembered.

Cowen was also a baseball and softball coach and had other coaching assignments at the school and at others in Orange County.

“It is his job as athletic director that we are recognizing tonight,” an emotional Gibson told guests.

“During his tenure as the AD, 1986 to 1998, Woodbridge High athletics enjoyed unprecedented successes. We celebrated 60 league titles, 14 CIF championships and three state titles. While the statistics are impressive, that is not the reason for his induction.

“But rather, he was selected for his outstanding, intrinsic contributions to the foundation of Woodbridge High School athletics. Dave embodied all you can see in our sports program. For example, his belief that Woodbridge High athletics was part of a larger community. This community consisted of our athletic department, teachers, athletes, parents and surrounding neighborhoods.

“This I believe is a big reason we still hold a family atmosphere. He was a staunch supporter of our all sport booster club, where each team, whether big or small, was. tied to one large supporting organization, sharing the wealth when needed.

“One of Dave’s core values was that coaches treat athletics as if it was a classroom.. This is a philosophy we continue to adhere to in making sure that everyone has opportunities to learn the life lessons that athletics can teach.

“He stressed the importance of winning, but also how to compete and not forget the lessons that the game teaches you, whether you are a star player or the athlete in training, there is a lesson to be learned. As long as athletes were learning these lessons and competing through the end of the contest, he believed success was achieved. This core belief was transferred to coaches and athletes.

“These types of leadership qualities and family values are why Dave Cowen is being inducted today. I know Dave considered Woodbridge a second family. Dave may have passed, but he still lives on with Woodbridge athletics.”

Former Woodbridge High softball star and UCLA and Olympic softball standout Natasha Watley was also inducted.

Please check back later this week for a story on Watley and more on the gala, a fund-raiser for Woodbridge High athletics.

RELATED: More on Dave Cowen’s career

-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com