In 2000, "the best soccer player to ever play at UBC", according to many soccer aficionados, passed away in Vancouver at age 73. He may not be that well known in today's soccer world as he played for the Thunderbirds just after the Second World War but the name Jack Cowan remains prominent in Canadian soccer. This is a soccer player whose advancement to an international career set a precedent and a new standard for Canadians in this sport and he started it all right here at UBC.
Cowan, a UBC engineering student, played four years for the Thunderbirds from 1945/46 until 1948/49 during the team's entry in the Vancouver and District league. As a freshman he immediately became the 'Birds star attraction winning the Ed Bayley Award as the league's top rookie. In 1947/48 UBC was reported to be strong defensively due largely to fullback Cowan who was selected to the Lower Mainland All-Star team and chosen the league's best player. The next season, from his same fullback position, he posed an offensive threat, leading the UBC club in scoring.
In 1948, because of his outstanding play for both UBC and in the Pacific Coast League, Cowan became just the second British Columbian to attract the serious attention of European First Division soccer recruiters. He was offered a pro contract and in July 1949 became a B.C. pioneer by joining Dundee of the Scottish First Division, the team for whom he played from '49 through 1954. It was his sensational play in the '49 Scottish League final that sealed his position with the legendary "Old Country" squad.
In 1951 he would be an integral member of the Dundee club that won the Scottish League championship as well as the one that finished in the runner-up position in '52. In fact, the Scottish National Team tried to add Cowan to its roster but failed to find any Scottish ancestry in his family. His victory with the 1951 team made him the first Canadian ever to win the Scottish League Cup medal, one of soccer's coveted honours.
After the 1954 season and having been on two League Cup winners, Cowan spurned Dundee's contract offer in order to return to Vancouver. He immediately joined Vancouver of the Pacific Coast League leading it to the 1955/56 Canadian championship while at the same time was selected to the B.C. All-Star team. It was further reported in the summer of '56 that as captain of the B.C. All-Stars Cowan was considered B.C.'s and Canada's best fullback and outstanding player on the field in an exhibition game against Aberdeen. In addition to his league and Provincial All-Star status he in 1956 was selected to the Canadian All-Star team – the basis of that year's World Cup Team – which was as good as it got in Canadian soccer at the time.
"Jack was one of the top left fullbacks Canada ever produced" stated Dave Fryatt who was a soccer administrator at provincial, national and international levels for 67 years. "Jack was the number one guy in his position for many years, so much so that he was a fixture with Dundee for five seasons. He must have been good because it wasn't easy for a Canadian player to play overseas at the time" continued Fryatt.
As a perennial All-Star remembered for his tough but gentlemanly manner on the field, Cowan, who became an Electrical Engineer with B.C. Hydro, was among the first inductees into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame and is also an inductee in the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame. In march 2013 Cowan was inducted into the Dundee FC Hall of Fame. UBC can lay claim to having a pioneering B.C. player make it big in U.K. soccer (the first B.C. player in Scotland) having developed his skills with the Thunderbirds while forwarding the cause of the Blue and Gold.
This Inductee is also in the BC Sports Hall of Fame.
Researched and written by Fred Hume, UBC Athletics Historian
