A classy and tenacious centreliner with a good turn of pace, Ron Bowe made his league debut at the Bulldogs in round one of the 1959 season, after newly appointed playing coach John Todd was forced to withdraw at the last minute. Bowe was to become a virtual understudy, taking over in the centre when Todd was out of the side, but just as home on a wing.  Ron, grandson of James “Scotty” Doig, is one of seventeen members of the famous football family to have represented either of the Fremantle teams at WAFL level.  When brother Ross and cousin Ron Doig arrived at Fremantle Oval in 1960, history was made on the occasions that the three formed the South centreline. The Bowe brothers were immediately under notice, but the promise they showed was never fully realized, with studies shortening their combined tenure at Fremantle Oval to a total of a hundred and one games, Ron staying for four seasons and Ross moving to Canberra after just two, during which time he won a Walker Medal as South fairest and best.    In his only finals appearance with the red and whites in the 1962 first semi final, Ron Bowe was one of his side’s best in a twenty three point loss to West Perth. The talented sportsman had managed to juggle football at league level with top grade cricket, joining Fremantle Cricket Club as a sixteen year old before studies at University saw him further his cricket career there. A transfer with the Education Department to Albany in 1963 was to have opposite effects on Bowe’s sporting career. A leg injury suffered while playing with Albany Railways had a marked effect on his football, but it didn’t hinder his cricket, his two years in the Great Southern adding to his reputation as an opening batsman of note.Bowe returned to South Fremantle on his return to Perth, but the summer sport had taken hold, and he was immediately installed as captain coach of Fremantle Cricket Club. His captaincy, complimented by a stellar personal season in which he won the club’s batting aggregate and average awards, guided Fremantle to their first A Grade Pennant premiership in thirty five years. Repeating his batting success the following season, Ron was selected in the State side for the match against Victoria at the MCG, where he impressed critics with a gritty eighty six after being forced from the field hurt when on thirty. He and co- opener, another wingman in Derek Chadwick, scored the necessary nineteen runs required for victory in the second innings. Bowe also played against the West Indies, twice falling to Wesley Hall, and in another Shield match at home to Victoria, before returning to Albany, where he established himself as one of the best cricketers ever to play in the local competition. A member of winning Albany sides in 1964, 73, 74, and 77, his record in Country Week ranks among the elite, with 1943 runs at 49.82 in the nine times he participated. That included two centuries with a top score of 209 not out. He opened for Western Australian Country against the MCC in Geraldton in 1974, making a useful thirty. In 1980 Bowe was chairman of selectors at Fremantle Cricket Club, and served in the same role for Western Australia from 1987 to 2000.Ron moved to Queensland, where he is happily ensconced just north of Brisbane. His football has come back to haunt him, the leg causing a few problems, the golf sticks remaining in the cupboard, but he’s talking about a set of bowls in the near future. The Bowe and Doig dynasty has had no perpetual assistance from Ron‘s neck of the woods, neither of his two boys continuing with football, although the youngest, Ross, showed plenty of aptitude at soccer as a junior. Derek Chadwick may well have been a handy opening partner for WA, but Ron assures us he was a pain in the bum to play on at Perth Oval, while East Fremantle star Ray Sorrell was another he had trouble with. “ There was no shortage of quality opponents on a Saturday afternoon those days.”  John Gerovich, “ inspiring,” and Todd, “he’d done his knee before I came onto the scene, but on one leg he was still a star,” were the two best he played with.Ron Bowe’s football achievements were unable to match those he accomplished on the cricket field due to injury, but he was nevertheless one of the shining lights for a South Fremantle side in an otherwise ordinary period in the club’s history. With brother Ross and Ron Doig they were worthy members of an outstanding Western Australian football dynasty.