Ex-Ram Cowan Discovers Friends, Fans Ready and Willing to Help Out

Charlie Cowan, former Ram offensive lineman, was ushered to the podium amid the applause of fans, friends and former teammates Wednesday night at Rams Park. Looking out at the more than 300 people in attendance, Cowan bowed his head.

“You spend your life as a lineman in the trenches and you feel that you’re not appreciated,” a tearful Cowan said. “Then something like this happens and you realize you’ve been appreciated all along.”

The crowd was not only there to honor Cowan, but to help him. They were there to participate in an auction of sports memorabilia to help raise money to buy Cowan a dialysis machine.

Cowan was diagnosed with renal failure last February, a condition doctors believe came from chronic high blood pressure.

A little more than two months ago, Cowan was listed in serious condition at UC Irvine Medical Center after his body rejected a transplanted kidney. Since then, he has spent three days a week hooked up to a dialysis machine until doctors believe he’s ready for another transplant.

The cost of using the hospital’s dialysis machine has been staggering and, on Jan. 2, Cowan was told by his insurance carrier that his coverage had been cut from 100% to 80%.

Jack Faulkner, director of football operations for the Rams, organized the auction, which he hoped would raise $25,000.

“Charlie has huge bills to pay and he can’t work right now,” Faulkner said. “He played in a time when the money wasn’t too good and he doesn’t have a big pension. We wanted to help.”

Faulkner said the response has been tremendous. Besides donations, he has also received calls from salesmen who said they can get him a deal on a dialysis machine.

“I even had one guy who said he could get me a used machine at a good price, but that’s not what we want,” Faulkner said. “The best thing is that people have come out to help.”

Rams past and present were in attendance, including Jim Everett, Deacon Jones and Merlin Olsen. The players and former players signed autographs, posed for pictures and talked with the people who paid $25 admission.

All said they came to help Cowan.

“Charlie was the last guy I hugged in professional football,” said former wide receiver Jack Snow, who played for the Rams from 1965-75. “I caught a touchdown and ran about halfway up a tunnel. When I came back onto the field, Charlie grabbed me, lifted me up and said, ‘Nice job.’ He’s just a super guy.”

Lamar Lundy, who played for the Rams from 1957-69, remembers Cowan off the field. Lundy was hospitalized with a muscle disease and diabetes in 1971 and was in intensive care most of his stay.

After Lundy was released, Cowan made several visits to his home.

“Charlie came by one day and noticed the fence at the house was in bad shape,” said Lundy, a former defensive end. “The next day he came back and rebuilt most of it. He then put a new battery in my car and helped around the house.

“When something like this happens, there are three types of people. There are the ones who send messages, the ones who dial the phone and the ones who come and help. Charlie helped, that’s just the type of person he is, on or off the field. Now I want to help him.”