Bruce Bowen Jr. (born June 14, 1971 in Merced,
California) is an American professional National
Basketball Association (NBA) basketball player. The
6'7", 200 lb (91 kg). Bowen plays small forward for
the San Antonio Spurs. He is an alumnus of Edison
High School and Cal State Fullerton and also a
former member of the NBA Miami Heat, the Boston
Celtics, the Philadelphia 76ers, the CBA Rockford
Lightning and the French clubs Le Havre, Evreux and
Besançon. Regarded as one of the best defenders in
the NBA, Bowen has been elected eight times to the
NBA All-Defensive First and Second Teams, and was a
member of the Spurs teams that won the NBA
championships in 2003, 2005 and 2007. In private
life, he is an ambassador for raising child obesity
awareness.
Bowen is the son of Bruce Bowen Sr. and Dietra
Campbell. He remembers having a problematic
childhood, plagued by his father's drug addiction.
Today, Bowen has cut many relationships to his
parents and several relatives, instead looking up to
his childhood friend Quinn Crozier and a Los Angeles
couple whom he regards as his adoptive parents.
Bowen is married to Yardley Barbon, and the couple
has two sons, Ojani (born September 7, 2005) and
Ozmel (born June 9, 2007). When not standing on the
hardwood, he often speaks out against child obesity,
and runs his own "GET FIT with Bruce and Buddy"
program for healthy nutrition and daily sports
acitivies for children. He is also a fan of the
Dallas Cowboys and the University of Texas Longhorns
football team. He runs the Bruce Bowen Foundation,
an organization set-up to provide scholarships,
tuitions and to help those less fortunate. In
addition, he is working on his college degree in
communications from Cal State Fullerton (by taking
classes at nearby University of Texas at San
Antonio), and wants to become a teacher after his
NBA career.
