IRVINGTON, NJ — Like many people who reside in town, Troy Bowers loves Irvington.
He was a three-sport star at Irvington High School, in football, basketball and baseball, graduating in 1987. In fact, he was named the IHS Athlete of the Year as a senior.
After playing football and baseball at Montclair State University, Bowers came back to Irvington, where he was an assistant coach in both football and baseball at IHS. He eventually became the IHS head baseball coach for three seasons, from 2017-19.
Bowers currently is a health and physical education teacher at University Middle School in Irvington, where he has also been the head boys basketball coach for the past five years.
Golf is another sport in which he excels. Bowers said he is an avid golfer with a single handicap. He has been the head IHS golf coach since the program was revived in 2020, though there was no season in 2020 and he did not coach this past spring due to medical reasons.
As one of the greatest athletes ever to come out of Irvington, Bowers is one of the inductees of the 2022 IHS Athletic Hall of Fame class. He will be inducted as an athlete.
In a phone interview with the Irvington Herald, Bowers said he was grateful to be an inductee.
“I was so happy that my efforts were recognized,” he said. “I’m still coaching in the district and still giving to the community, and it’s good to be recognized.”
The induction ceremony originally was scheduled for Tuesday, July 26, at IHS but was postponed until next May. The IHS Athletic Hall of Fame also announced induction classes for 2020 and 2021, but those induction ceremonies too were postponed due to the pandemic. As a result, the Hall of Fame classes for 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 will all be inducted during the May ceremony next year.
The IHS Athletic Hall of Fame was revived in 2018 thanks to the efforts of IHS athletic director John Taylor. Induction ceremonies were held in 2018 and 2019.
Bowers said football is his main love. But in baseball, he truly made his mark. In his senior year in 1987, Irvington was one of the top baseball teams in the state. Under then–head coach Jim Casalino, the Blue Knights were ranked No. 2 in the state at one point. They were runner-up in the Greater Newark Tournament, which is considered the county tournament. IHS lost to Glen Ridge in the final. In the state sectional semifinals, the Blue Knights lost to Westfield. In that game, Bowers pitched and gave up a homer to the Westfield pitcher. But later in the game, Bowers hit a home run off the same Westfield pitcher.
Bowers also played American Legion Baseball with his IHS teammates. In addition, Bowers was a devoted member of the Irvington Cardinals adult baseball team, which competed during the summers. The Cardinals team, which no longer exists, won league, state and region championships, and traveled throughout the country and abroad, competing in such places as California, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
“My best memories came from representing Irvington abroad,” Bowers said. “With the team that we had with Coach Casalino, the things that he taught us allowed us to play ball internationally. We took our legion team from Irvington and traveled all over the East Coast, and then we took the Irvington Cardinals and won the Double-A championship out in Arizona. We represented Irvington throughout the country and internationally. That was amazing.”
File Photo.
Troy Bowers’ legendary Irvington HS career is recognized added by Joe Ragozzino on
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