July 28, 2022 | Jessica Shafer '25
UNCW has a list of both students and alumni authors that stretches beyond 200 within the creative writing department alone. Having recently finished his personal memoir The Viewfinder: Michael’s Story, UNCW is proud to add Michael Bowen ’87 to its list of published alumni authors.
Bowen was drawn to UNCW because of its distinguished athletics department and Division I tennis team. He praised professors for “being empathetic, accommodating and overall fabulous.” Mentioning former professor Dr. Sue Combs and his tennis coach Larry Honeycutt as having a positive impact on his experience at UNCW.
Michael with his long-time friend Sam Highsmith
Outside of academia and athletics, Bowen also had a wonderful social life at UNCW recalling his time spent with other student-athletes. “We were a close-knit group and we supported one another. Some of my fondest memories are with them.”
After graduating, Bowen went on to teach physical education and coach tennis. He successfully led the Hoggard Vikings to eight conference titles and was named the North Carolina Tennis Coach of the Year in 2016. All the while remaining invested in the UNCW tennis program, going to matches with friends and cultivating a relationship with current coach Mait DuBois.
Like Bowen, his new book has a lot of ties to UNCW as an accident during his senior year left him paralyzed from the neck down.
An opportunity came up to be an extra in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s movie Raw Deal. Excited to be a part of the film, Bowen spent November 19, 1985 on location in downtown Wilmington with the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group Studios.
“I did a whole day of filming,” Bowen said. “At the time I was driving something that resembled a dune buggy. I got in my car, drove right off the set, pulled out into an intersection and a car hit me on my driver’s side and broke my neck. It paralyzed me from neck down. So, that is the beginning of my book.”
Bowen took time off school to travel the long road of recovery, and the path towards writing his book. In 1991 he began keeping a diary, collecting memories and experiences of his journey towards healing. He documented time in therapy, relearning basic skills like walking and victories, like biking across the United States for charity. The book compiles it all into a retelling of the last 30 years of his life and how he has grown.
His story serves as an inspiration of hard work and dedication that he shares as a guest speaker in schools and universities around the state in an anti-bullying campaign.
For more on Bowen and his book The Viewfinder: Michael’s Story, please visit Anchors Publishing, the oldest trade paperback publisher in America.