Nancy Olson-Bowen
(Softball, 1977)
This 2011 Hall of Fame inductee was a standout basketball and softball player from the class of 1977, Nancy Olson Bowen. Her coach for both sports was Mike Cioppa. During her varsity basketball career she was named Most Outstanding Player for both her junior and senior years. She was basketball captain her senior year and was voted Most Athletic by the class of 1977. Nancy received FCIAC honors her senior softball season. Nancy started at first base for the Hatters for three years and was the first female to receive the Old Timers Athletic Scholarship Award. After graduating from Danbury High Nancy went on to play collegiate softball at the University of Connecticut competing in the Big East division I conference. She graduated magna cum laude from UConn in 1981 and received a BS degree in physical education and health. In 1985 Nancy earned a MS degree in education from Western Connecticut State University followed by a 6th Year Professional Diploma in Administration from Southern Connecticut State University in 1989. Nancy has been a teacher at John Read Middle School in Redding, Connecticut for the past 30 years. Nancy continued playing softball and basketball in local leagues with her teammates from high school. Together, competing as the Danbury Mad Hatters, they won the Connecticut Class A Softball Championship in 1985. Throughout the years, Nancy has coached both boys and girls soccer, basketball, baseball and softball. In 2001 Nancy was awarded the Newtown Bee Sportsman of the Year Award. In 1989 she was honored by the Western Connecticut Superintendents Association as recipient of the Outstanding Achievements in Creative and Caring Education Award and also recently received an Outstanding Program Award from the Connecticut Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance for Project D.R.E.A.M., a collaborative program with Broadview Middle School. Nancy and Tom Bowen, her husband of 24 years, have two children, Joe and Kate.