Former Wildcat McCowan now Hawaii deep-sea fishing guru

The man guarding him in the intense pickup basketball game got hurt and couldn’t continue, so University of Hawaii intramurals director Steve "Doc" Martin looked around Klum Gym for a replacement.

There weren’t many choices other than a bearded and otherwise nondescript guy no one had seen before. He agreed to join in. By his appearance, Martin figured easy pickins.

But it didn’t take long to re-evaluate. When the new guy elevated with him high enough to block the jumper he planned to shoot, Martin knew the fellow possessed uncommon athletic ability.

"He would have rammed it down my throat, so I kicked it out to a teammate," Martin said.

Then the bearded one anticipated Martin’s move to the baseline and quickly cut him off. That confirmed it for Martin, a former college player at Denver: Only real basketball players do that. The dude was no grad student scrub who happened to have hops.

"I don’t know who you are and where you played, but I know you played somewhere," Martin told him.

"Somewhere" was the University of Kentucky, where Bob McCowan started at guard, playing under legendary coach Adolph Rupp through Rupp’s last year in 1972.

Today, McCowan, 65, remembers their meeting the same way Martin does. They became great friends, and teammates in the highly competitive Armed Services League in the 1970s and ’80s.

"In the blink of an eye it’s been 40 years," McCowan said Saturday. He spoke from in front of the TV in his Makiki home, moments after watching the Wildcats take down Cincinnati 64-51 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. UK is the heavy favorite to win it all.

"They didn’t start out too well and Cincy had a good game plan," McCowan said. "But Kentucky is so deep that if one guy isn’t doing it three or four others will step up."

The Wildcats were certainly good during his time, too, but were clearly dependent on their star, Dan Issel, who averaged 33.9 points per game.

During McCowan’s playing seasons, Kentucky won the SEC all three years but made no Final Four appearances.

"We were ranked No. 1 a few times, but we always seemed to get beat in the Mideast Regional," he said. "Artis Gilmore and Jacksonville were really good."

McCowan was a 6-foot-1 high school basketball All-American in Dayton, Ohio., and fourth in the state in the high jump. He was Fairview High School’s athlete of the year in 1967, over his football and basketball teammate and future baseball Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt.

He chose Kentucky over Ohio State after also visiting Duke and Vanderbilt. McCowan played in 62 games in three seasons (freshmen couldn’t play then), averaging 4.8 points per outing.

A shoulder injury aborted a pro opportunity in Europe, and he came to Hawaii a couple of years after college to hang out with his brother, who was at grad school at UH. He’s lived here since.

"The old days here were pretty cool," McCowan said. "Playing with Artie (Wilson), John Penebacker, Bob Nash. I even played pickup games with Rick Pitino when he was here. Doc was our player/coach and would chew our asses. I thought playing for Adolph was tough."

Not too long after his arrival McCowan went deep-sea fishing.

"I got seasick and we got skunked, but I thought it was cool," he said.

Cool enough for it to become his career.

For 30 years, McCowan has captained the Blue Nun out of Kewalo Basin, billed as the "Funnest Damn Fishing Boat in Hawaii."

His biggest catch was hooking and towing in an 8871/2-pound blue marlin. But right up there as a highlight for McCowan is the day he took three pairs of fathers and sons out and all three sons hooked big fish. McCowan was working alone that day, so by necessity the fathers played a bigger role than usual in helping their sons boat the three ahi.

"Fathers are the same all over the world," he said. "They want to see their son catch a nice fish. This time they really participated, too."

Martin’s son, Dan, worked as a summer deckhand for McCowan.

"We had a blast whether we caught fish or not and I always respected Bob’s way of dealing with locals and tourists," he said.

McCowan’s personality also plays into why he doesn’t like college basketball players staying just one year before going pro, even though his alma mater is its most famous practitioner.

"I think basketball is still a game where what makes all these things happen is the fan," he said. "There’s no kindred relationship with the fans if you’re just there for one year. No history with the school and the players. It’s terrible for the fans and bad for college basketball. … If you take a scholarship you should stay at least two years. It’s better for the game, too. The Harrison twins stayed at Kentucky and they’re the backbone of the team.

"The relationship between the fans and the players is important."

As it is on the boat, between the crew and the clients.

"Like basketball, its teamwork. We get everyone involved to their ability. The folks pay money for a great experience, and once we cast off we’re all in it together," McCowan said. "We’ve been lucky. We get great reviews, people come back and go again because they had fun."

Indeed. Reading the Yelp comments, it’s easy to see why his customers don’t want to be one-and-done.

Reach Star-Advertiser sports columnist Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com, his "Quick Reads" blog at staradvertiser.com and twitter.com/davereardon.