The Day That Cowan Outdueled Boomer and Walked Away With the Hardware

The 1982 Aloha Bowl was over, or so a lot of people thought. A prominent University of Washington alum, ESPN-TV, viewers everywhere. Almost everybody except Tim Cowan and his teammates.

With time running out, and the Huskies botching a fake punt and Maryland holding a 20-14 lead and in possession of the ball, the network went ahead and awarded the offensive player of the game trophy to Terps quarterback Boomer Esiason.

A funny thing happened on the way to the postgame celebration.

Maryland missed a chip-shot field goal with fewer than three minutes to go. The Huskies had a heart beat. The trophy didn't have a permanent home quite yet.

Given this Christmas Day reprieve, Cowan heroically moved his UW team 85 yards down the field in 17 plays. The heady little quarterback twice picked up crucial first downs on fourth-down runs.

On the next to last play, he tossed one to fullback Chris James, who stayed in bounds after the catch rather than go out and stop the clock. The Huskies called timeout and the quarterback conferred one more time with legendary coach Don James. Their conversation was riveting.

"This is how good Coach James was," Cowan said. "He pulls me aside and says, 'Listen, in that situation just throw the ball away. We've got time constraints.' I remember thinking to myself, 'I had one more play left in my career at the University of Washington and Don James is still coaching me up.' "

With six seconds remaining, the 6-foot senior from Cerritos, California, tossed a third touchdown pass of the game to his elusive wide receiver Anthony Allen that led to a stunning 21-20 victory, zipping one through the narrowest of passing lanes.

Cowan, enjoying one of the finest performances by a Husky quarterback and headed for the CFL, outdueled the far more recognizable Esiason, soon to become a prominent NFL player and still a TV personality.

The holiday numbers from Honolulu: Cowan completed 33 of 53 passing attempts for 350 yards and those 3 Allen TDs, with no interceptions; Esiason was good on 19 of 32 throws for 251 yards and 2 scores, and 1 pass theft. The offensive player the game trophy ended up with the Husky offensive leader.

Two and a half decades later, these two quarterbacks ran into each other again.

Accompanying his wife on one of her business trips to New York City in 2008, Cowan was wandering through a downtown plaza when he spotted the set of CBS' NFL Today, which to this day employs Esiason as one of its trusted and always entertaining analysts.

Cowan asked someone affiliated with the show if he could say hello to his long-ago adversary. Hearing this Esiason hustled right over on a break, eager to see his opposite Aloha Bowl quarterback. They exchanged pleasantries, took a photo together and Boomer had to get back to work.

They didn't get more than a couple of steps apart when the former Maryland quarterback called out for Cowan. He had a lighthearted request, typical of him.

"Hey Tim, do you still have my trophy?" Esiason asked impishly.

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