Former NFL Player Alvin Cowans Passes the Torch

When Alvin Cowans got the call this year that he would be inducted into the University of Florida’s Athletic Hall of Fame, the president/CEO of McCoy Federal Credit Union was quite surprised, later sharing the stage in April with past inductee Emmitt Smith, the former Dallas Cowboy now Arizona Cardinals running back. Recruiters from a number of schools including Georgia Tech, Ohio State, University of North Carolina and Purdue all sought to woo the Alexandria, Va.-native and North Virginia All-American. Cowans chose the Florida Gators because his high school football coach had family in Gainesville and the weather wasn’t too bad either. He made the SEC All-Conference team while at Florida and went on to play defensive back for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1977 and the Washington Redskins in 1978. Today, Cowans’ youngest son Marcus is a freshman fullback and business major on a full athletic scholarship at Morehouse College in Atlanta, blocking for J.D. Washington, Actor Denzel Washington’s son. His other son Jeff is a senior shooting guard at Florida Atlantic University and 300 points away from breaking the school’s “most points” record. Cowans and Jeff’s coaches say he has a strong shot at playing professional basketball in Europe and possibly even an invitation to a National Basketball Association camp but the exercise medicine major and honor student still aspires to be a sports doctor. Even at the helm at McCoy FCU in Orlando, Cowans’ management style is reminiscent of his football days. “Team McCoy,” as he describes it, consists of the coaching team (senior management); the offense (loan department); defense (operations department) and special teams (accounting). The credit union serves more than 60,000 members and has $305 million in assets. “You can’t be responsible for winning a game with just one person,” Cowans said. “When all the departments work together, the members win.” [email protected]