Nothing major happened, but Allen remembers it because it was the first time he met Tim Bowers, a linebacker who has since become a three-time All-Big 12 academic selection and a two-time team captain.

“I remember Tim coming in and telling me he was a good student and that he was here because he wanted to play football, and that he was going to be the spokesman for the players involved,” Allen said.

Spokesman?

“He was the dormitory attorney,” Allen said, smiling. “I thought right then that this guy has some special talents.”

Now a fifth-year senior, Bowers completed requirements for a degree in political science just last week when he turned in a paper on urban sprawl.

In the meantime, Bowers has taken enough pre-med courses to keep him eligible to apply for medical school if that’s the curriculum he decides to follow.

“After January, hopefully after we’ve been to a bowl game, I’ll re-evaluate my options,” said Bowers, a 6-foot, 230-pounder from suburban Columbus, Ohio.

During the past 10 weeks, Bowers put his foot in the door, so to speak, of the world of physicians. He worked as a sales rep for SmithKline Beecham, a pharmaceutical company, touting doctors on an antibiotic called Augmentin.

“I got to see the whole operation of a doctor’s office that way,” Bowers said. “I met one doctor who said he played quarterback for KU back in the 50s, and I went to the office of another former KU player but he wasn’t in.”

The former quarterback was Chet Strehlow. The former Jayhawk missed by Bowers was John Schroll, an All-Big Eight tight end in the early ’70s.

Bowers, incidentally, did not obtain his summer sales rep position through the KU football program. He was touted to SmithKline Beecham by Travis Batts, a former sprinter on the KU track team.

“He had done it and recommended me,” Bowers said. “I went and interviewed for it because I thought it was a great opportunity.”

Bowers was chosen and spent 2 1/2 months this summer making calls to doctors in the Greater Kansas City area and in Northeast Kansas.

Now as a graduate student, Bowers will play football while taking additional courses in political science.

“I’ll take some pre-med stuff, too,” he said, “in case I want to go to med school. I know that’s a hard row, but it was also a challenge to work for SmithKline Beecham.”

Some people can sell; others can’t. Bowers seems to fit the former category.

“With me it was easy because of my newness,” he said. “And sometimes I used my role as a KU football player. That helped in some cases. All in all, it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.”

In his last year as a KU football player, Bowers will try to crack the All-Big 12 academic team for the fourth time and perhaps double as a regular All-Big 12 selection as well.

Bowers has what would probably be described as average physical tools, yet many times he has played above his physical limitations.

“His football skills correlate to his personality,” Allen said. “He gets everything out of his ability he can.”

Check out the extended Media Day photo gallery.