Former Packers center Ken Bowman, who played on three straight championship teams, dies at 81
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Ken Bowman, who played center for the Green Bay Packers from 1964-73 and was part of three consecutive championship teams, has died. He was 81.
The Packers announced Tuesday that Bowman died last Wednesday in Oro Valley, Arizona. The team did not disclose a cause of death, but the Packers’ statement cited Bowman’s wife, Roseann, saying he died of natural causes.
Bowman was part of the Packers’ NFL title-winning team in 1965, the year before the first Super Bowl, and the Super Bowl-winning teams of the next two seasons.
He is perhaps best known for snapping the ball to Bart Starr and delivering a block on the Hall of Fame quarterback’s game-winning 1-yard touchdown sneak in the “Ice Bowl,” the Packers’ 21-17 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in a 1967 NFL championship game that had a kickoff temperature of minus-13 degrees Fahrenheit.
That sent the Packers to the Super Bowl, where they beat the Oakland Raiders. A year earlier, Bowman stepped in for an injured Bill Curry at center during the first Super Bowl, helping the Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Packers selected Bowman out of Wisconsin in the eighth round of the 1964 draft. He played in 123 games and made 107 starts, all with Green Bay.
Bowman was the Packers’ player representative for part of his career. He also was an NFL Players Association vice president.
TOP PHOTO: FILE – With seconds remaining, quarterback Bart Starr (15), Green Bay Packers, bulls way behind the Packers’ play leader – the center – and key blocker Jerry Kramer (64), who is delivering key block to Dallas’ tackle Jethro Pugh (75), Dec. 31, 1967. Starr gave Green Bay a 21-17 NFL victory for its third year in a row. (AP Photo)