Award-winning veteran sports journalist Paul Bowker has joined The Dispatch staff as the new sports editor.
He began work on Thursday.
Bowker, 64, is a Massachusetts native and comes to Columbus after five years as sports editor for the Cape Cod Times. Since his career began in the early 1980s, he’s also served as sports editor for newspapers in Rock Hill, South Carolina; Wilmington, Delaware; Kalamazoo, Michigan; and Wilmington, North Carolina; as well as deputy sports editor for the Florida Times Union in Jacksonville, Florida, where he covered the National Football League’s Jacksonville Jaguars.
He’s also served in editor and managing editor capacities in both Jacksonville and Hillsdale, Michigan.
In addition to covering hundreds of college and professional teams, Bowker has covered five Major League Baseball World Series and was assistant bureau chief for a 25-member team of journalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
He’s been a sports writer for TeamUSA.org since 2010 and has written 15 children’s sports books, including a six-book series on the Super Bowl that published in 2018.
Bowker is an Army veteran who attended Kansas University in Lawrence, Kansas. He and his wife, Barb, have an adult daughter, Alyssa.
“I am really excited about joining The Dispatch team and look forward to joining in on a path toward excellence,” Bowker said. “I am passionate about sports. I want to share in the celebrations of the championships and the tears of a championship almost won. I want to describe the emotions of those happy moments and those sad moments. And let’s have some fun along the way.”
Managing Editor Zack Plair said he’s confident the sports section will thrive under Bowker’s leadership.
“His experience speaks for itself,” Plair said. “Paul knows how to lead a top-notch sports section, and he’s a great writer who cares about his work. He’s community minded, too, and I’m confident our readers will be pleased with his impact on our sports coverage.”
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