Jan Bowers to throw out first pitch
at WPBL game
[August 26, 2026]
Lincoln Lady Railer legend and Class of 1979 LCHS graduate
Jan Bowers has been chosen to throw out the ceremonial first pitch
at a Women’s Professional Baseball League game in Springfield on
Thursday, August 27, 2026.
Bowers, who excelled in basketball, softball, volleyball and tennis
at LCHS, will toss out the first pitch ahead of the 6:30 p.m. game
between the Los Angeles Queens and the New York Heights. The WPBL is
in its inaugural season, choosing Robin Roberts Stadium as the site
for games between four teams: New York, Los Angeles, Boston and San
Francisco.
Aside from Bowers being a perfect choice for this honor, credit for
her being selected goes to a former Lincoln resident by the name of
Tad Powers.
Powers suggested to the powers that be at the WPBL to have Bowers
throw out the first pitch and his voice is very well-known in the
baseball world. Powers is the Los Angeles-based host and founder of
The Sandlot Radio Network. His network is a baseball talk show and
podcast that features interviews with Major League Baseball players,
coaches and scouts. Powers is also a former professional baseball
player and former international scout for the Chicago Cubs and
Anaheim Angels. Powers was in Springfield for opening weekend of the
WPBL. He conducted interviews with the athletes and did a show on
the first game. While in Central Illinois in early August, he
crossed paths with Bowers.
“So Tad Powers told the WPBL that he played with somebody who if
they would’ve had this league then, she would’ve been a star in this
league,” said Bowers, obviously very flattered.
“He told them I was a trailblazer for young kids and he said you
should have her come and throw a first pitch,” continued Bowers.
“Tad called them again when he got back to LA and said, “I’m telling
you, you should have her throw out a first pitch.”
And so on Thursday night, thanks to reconnecting with a childhood
friend, she is.
But there’s a lot more to this story and it begins way back in the
early ‘70s.
The events that led to this moment really did start with a ball, a
bat, a sandlot, a bunch of neighborhood boys and one very determined
little girl carrying a baseball glove.
The little girl’s name was Jan Bowers.
Incidentally, Bowers was given a baseball glove by her dad when she
was just a year old. John Bowers seemed to know as soon as his
little girl could walk she was destined to be an athlete.
Fast forward a few more years and this little girl was avidly
playing sports with her older brother, Phil, and eventually several
neighborhood boys joined them.
Before long the neighborhood kids of Holiday Hills had their own
version of the movie, “The Sandlot” that grew to cover Lincoln from
one end to the other.
“When I was young a new family moved into the neighborhood and there
was this little six year old boy named Tad wanting to play baseball
with us,” said Bowers. “My brother Phil was 12 years old and I was
11 years old. We needed players and so these younger kids played
with us.”
“It really all started with playing Wiffle ball in our front yard,”
continued Bowers. “Then we moved to the lot between two houses. Then
we moved to Tad’s back yard. As we got older, we moved our games to
Northwest School and Ralph Gale Field at the junior high. We would
play just about anywhere in Lincoln where we could find a spot. We
played in 12 different sandlots throughout Lincoln. We would hop on
our bikes as more kids joined us and we would carry our bats in our
hands as we rode from Memorial Park to Chester East Lincoln school.
It was nothing for us to ride our bikes two miles to find a sandlot
to play on.”
“We played baseball all summer from sun-up til sundown,” Bowers
recounted. “Sometimes we had to play cork ball. We even made up
games to fit where we were playing.”
Summers in the 70s. What a time to be alive.
From the Bowers residence at 821 North Union Street to the area
knows as Holiday Hills, which included the streets White and
McDivitt, that was the neighborhood that created Lincoln’s version
of “The Sandlot” kids.
The core group of these sandlot kids consisted of: Kendall Hurley,
Billy Hurley, Phil Bowers, Jan Bowers, Ty Miller, Caleb Miller, Stan
Werner, Tad Powers and Tom Winkel.
“This was the core group,” said Bowers. “We had some other people
now and then who joined us.”
As time passes quickly, especially in the summertime for kids,
Bowers reflected, “Jump ahead and Tad’s watching my career through
high school.”
However, Bowers added, “Since I was five years older, I moved on in
life and lost touch with Tad.”
Bowers would graduate LCHS in 1979 after standout careers in
volleyball, basketball, softball and tennis. She then went to
Lincoln College to play basketball and softball for Coach Cyndi
Slayton-Jackson and softball for Coach Joni Comstock.
“Lincoln legends in their own right,” Bowers added.
“Coach Donna Bonebrake came in my sophomore year to coach basketball
and softball when Cyndi accepted a job as an assistant coach at
Illinois State University,” said Bowers. “Coach Bonebrake was an
amazing softball coach and guided us to a third place finish at the
NJCAA National Tournament.”
“After Lincoln College, I followed Cyndi to Illinois State where I
played under coaches Jill Hutchison and Melinda Fischer. We placed
fifth in the NWIT my junior year. As a senior, I was a starting
guard, led the team in assists and averaged 10 ppg. while shooting
50 percent from the floor. We won the conference championship,
earning an automatic birth to the NWCAA tournament.”
Bowers switched to coaching after her college careers ended. She
coached basketball at LCHS, Lincoln College and the University of
Illinois at Springfield. She also coached golf at Lincoln College,
LCHS and Mount Pulaski High School.
In addition to coaching golf, she is an outstanding golfer in her
own right. She got hooked on that sport at the age of ten thanks to
her older sister. Jan and Phil would travel with their older sister
to Mason City on the weekends to play golf and eventually they would
travel to Bloomington, Springfield and Decatur to hit the courses
there. She recalled paying $1.25 to play golf at ISU as a student.
“That was cheap entertainment for a poor college student,” laughed
Bowers.
Eventually, she landed back in her hometown teaching Math at Lincoln
College. Bowers even joined the Elks Club where the ladies convinced
her to go to tournaments with them. She admitted she thought she was
pretty good until she got wiped out at the State AM by a 50
year-old. Bowers was in her mid 20s at the time.
“That’s when I became a true student of the game and worked my
tail-end off to be a better player,” Bowers offered. “I am still
working my tail-end off.”
As the decades passed, however, Bowers and Powers had memories that
never faded.
It would take the help of another true Lincoln legend to bring those
memories back to the forefront.
That legend: Dan Duff.
[to top of second column] |
Kendall Hurley, Phil Bowers, Tad Powers and Jan Bowers make up part
of Lincoln’s own sandlot crew. Photo courtesy of Jan Bowers
As Bowers tells the story, “I reconnected with Tad through Dan Duff
because he was at a Dodger game with Dan and they decided to look me
up on Facebook. The next thing I know they’re calling me from the
Dodger game in LA, talking to me about baseball and basketball.
That’s how we reconnected. That was like four or five years ago.”
Powers himself had been very busy after high school, Bowers learned.
He went on to play college baseball and even landed in Australia
playing professionally. When he came back to the United States he
worked as a scout for the Cubs and Angels. In 2016 he even earned a
World Series ring with the Cubs as a scout.
When Powers moved to Los Angeles he started his radio show called
“The Sandlot.”
“In fact, it’s based on our games as young kids growing up in
Lincoln,” said Bowers. “Tad also interviews major league baseball
players on this show in Los Angeles. He’s had Albert Pujols on his
show. Even Barry Bonds. And you know, no one could get Barry Bonds
on a show to talk, but Tad did.”
Powers was also able to get some very special guests together for
his latest show while on his recent trip to Illinois.
“While he was here he wanted to do a show with all of us and
reminisce about our sandlot days in Lincoln,” said Bowers. “So we
met here in town at the home of Chris Gober and we recorded the show
on August 6th. Tad and Chris are great friends. It’s an hour long
broadcast and we just talked about how we made up games. We talked
about playing basketball and football too."
Bowers laughed when the guys said, “We all know who the best player
is, it’s Jan.”
Bowers said her brother Phil was really the best player but she was
flattered by what the guys said about her.
“You inspired us to want to play. That’s what these guys told me,”
said Bowers, adding their words, “You were our biggest inspiration
to want to play sports.”
Imagine that. Jan Bowers, the only girl of the group, inspiring
these boys to play sports. Again, we’re talking the 70s here. Title
IX was a brand new concept when it was implemented near the middle
of the decade.
“I felt lucky to play with the boys,” said Bowers, “But they said,
“What are you talking about? You let us play with you!”
Three weeks have now passed since the interview and Bowers said the
group is still messaging back and forth with each other.
By the way, Bowers added that this group would even play mini
basketball in the garage or other games in the basement in the
winter months. What a magnificent childhood.
So what does all this mean for the little girl who just celebrated
her 65th birthday on August 24th?
It truly means a lot.
“I am humbled and honored to be viewed and recognized as a
trailblazer for women’s sports in this area,” said Bowers.
“Anyone who knows me knows that playing and coaching sports has been
my life since I was very young. My dad must have known something
because he gave me a baseball glove for my first birthday and told
my mom I was going to be an athlete.”
“I grew up playing baseball, basketball, and football with my
brother and the neighborhood boys. I have always said that playing
with them made me the player and competitor that I am.”
“I was always fascinated with the tremendous male basketball,
football, baseball, and softball players in Lincoln. When my
brother, Phil, and I would play Lincoln Railer basketball in our
basement with two laundry baskets, a small rubber ball, shirts and a
tank top under pajamas that were our warmups, I was always Mike
Schneider or Mike Swingle. They were my idols. I became a shortstop
from my amazement in watching two of the best in Bobby Broughton and
Pat Singleton at Ralph Gale Field.”
“But when I was in 8th grade, the LCHS volleyball team made it to
State and I went with a friend to watch.
Suddenly, I am seeing new idols in Joni Comstock, Bev Cook and Diane
York, to name a few. Then I meet Shawn McCullough, Vicki Minder,
Cyndi Slayton, who I now wanted to be like. These and many, many
more were my “trailblazers” to women’s sports.”
“As my wonderful teammates, coaches, and I made our state run in
basketball in 1978, and our tremendous season the following year,
suddenly there were little girls and boys wearing Lady Railer shirts
with our names on the back. We were just playing the game we loved,
not realizing that we were now the ones impacting future generations
of young athletes. We were now “trailblazers.”
“I was blessed to have tremendous coaches throughout high school and
college who had a huge impact on me as well. When I became a coach
myself, I knew that I needed to do the same for my players. I can
only hope that I did.”
“So, full circle, to be be viewed as a trailblazer for young girls,
and boys, is perhaps the biggest honor I have ever received.”
“One of my favorite poems is titled, “There Are Little Eyes Upon
You.” I hope in all I have done in my playing and coaching career,
that I have brought honor to this poem.”
So Bowers’ next assignment is tossing that first pitch on Thursday
night and she’s already getting her arm prepared. She’s been
bringing her glove with her to work at Mount Pulaski High School,
where she currently teaches Math. She’s even recruited senior Carter
Clark to play catch with her. Bowers might be a little uncertain
that she can throw the ball 60 feet to the plate, but she’s got
generations of fans who are confident she’s got this.
One final note:
When Bowers was recalling the childhood memories of playing ball at
Tad’s house, she mentioned his mom being home in the summer.
Sometimes the baseball would roll under her lawn chair while she was
outside sunning and the kids would have to retrieve it. Turns out,
Tad’s mom was Connie Powers, the art teacher at Mount Pulaski Grade
School in the 70s. She was a single mom raising three kids and
working two jobs.
Bowers said, “I honestly didn’t know she was a teacher. We were just
kids and I didn’t think about what she did for a living.”
Connie Powers passed away in 2024 at the age of 83 while living in
Colorado. She was a beloved teacher at MPGS. You can say to any kid
who passed through her art class the word “statue” and it’s a sure
bet that will draw a smile and a paint a vivid memory.
[Teena Lowery]
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