By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics

During the 2021 gymnastics season, Connor Bowman didn't compete in a single meet. That didn't stop his teammates from voting him team captain the following year.

Obviously, it had nothing to do with what he did in competition. It had everything to do with how selflessly Bowman handled another round of adversity.

It was nearly a year after the pandemic had hit, and more teams were switching to virtual meets. It was new and a bit confusing. But William & Mary had a technology whiz who was unable to compete because of a back injury but eager to help.

"What they needed from each team was someone to set up the cameras and figure out how to connect them to their software and be a point person," said Bowman, who will be graduating this week with a degree in computer science.

"I was injured, so I was just looking for any way to help the team. And being a tech guy, that wasn't too hard for me to help them set up the cameras and connect it all together."

Not too hard for him, but it was vital for his team.

"Connor was instrumental in figuring it out and working with Virtius for the logistics and making those virtual meets run," said Mike Powell, W&M's director of gymnastics. "That allowed us to have a season and qualify for NCAA championships."

Which is why, despite missing the entire '21 season due to stress fractures on each of his lower spine, Bowman was voted a team captain.

"They didn't just want the best guy on the team to be captain," he said. "That meant a lot to me."

Bowman made it a point to stay busy during that '21 season. He even took on a project that might have seemed laughable at the time: a fantasy gymnastics league. But he and two other computer wonks — teammate Jordan Kula '21 and high school friend Chris Cosma of Ohio State — were quite serious about it.

"It started with excel sheets and typing all this data in," Bowman said. "But being computer science students, we knew we could automate it. We had the idea and wanted to take on a project and learn how to make a web site.

"We're still making updates and making sure it's stable. We have 350 people playing now."

None of this is surprising to Bowman's father, Tom.

"Electronics were his thing, oh yeah," Tom said. "He could always, if something happened to the computer or anything electronic, that kid could figure it out. It was amazing.

"I remember when he was 5 years old, I want to say, and he picked up a Rubik's Cube. After about 10 minutes, he figured it out. Even now, I can only do one side. At that point, we knew he had a different brain."

Dealing with obstacles was nothing new to Bowman, who grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland. At 5 years old, he was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis as a child. He insists it's not as bad as others deal with, but imagine being an athlete with a chronic disease that affects the lungs. He needs to undergo weekly treatments to loosen the mucus in his lungs.

Bowman also grew up playing soccer and baseball but began focusing on gymnastics when he was 10. He won the Ohio state championship in the high bar and became a college gymnast at William & Mary.

Another interesting fact about Connor Bowman: He was one of William & Mary's first athletes to sign a Name, Image and Likeness agreement.

After the NCAA approved NIL deals for college athletes in July of 2021, Bowman reached out to the Boomer Esiason Foundation, an advocacy group for cystic fibrosis. About a month later, he was among a handful of college athletes with CF who began doing content for the foundation and receiving a monthly check.

"It's really cool that they did it," he said.

Bowman also was instrumental in setting up the program's summer camp. Working with Friends of William & Mary Men's Gymnastics, a non-profit, he and Zane Petras '21 laid the groundwork. It went from less than 10 campers in 2021 to 25 last year. This summer, they are expecting about 50.

"They built the infrastructure and the web site and everything," Powell said. "Last year, kids flew from all over the country. Some of the best gymnasts in the country trying to get recruited by William & Mary.

"Connor has continually had to adapt and overcome because he's had different injuries that have limited his abilities. He's done a lot to continue doing whatever he can for the team."