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Dartmouth offensive lineman and Cherokee Nation citizen Cohle Fowler (66) blocks for his running back against Columbia University on Oct. 22. He split playing time his sophomore year before winning the starting position for the Big Green. COURTESY PHOTO




BY TODD CROW
Reporter

VERDIGRIS, Okla. – The Verdigris High School football team received a visit during a summer practice from Cherokee Nation citizen Cohle Fowler, a former Cardinal who is now a student-athlete at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H.

Fowler said he moved to Verdigris from Tulsa when he started high school to play football and because he had family there. After four years, he made all-state for football and was recruited by several colleges and universities.

Keith Austin, who opened his home to Fowler during Fowler’s senior year, views him as an adopted family member and has seen Fowler mature over the years.

“I’ve seen him develop from a somewhat awkward, really large kid to a confident kid who was a senior, who was competing with all-state and who was recognizing that there were people outside this school who were recognizing his unique talents and abilities,” Austin said.

Through various academic and general scholarships, Fowler is able to attend Dartmouth at little personal cost. He said the only loans he’s taken were to pay for books.

“The Ivy League doesn’t give athletic scholarships, but essentially I have a full scholarship through different academic and financial aid mixed in for a full package,” Fowler said. 

He said the adjustment from Verdigris to Dartmouth was a major one, and he is continually gaining a better grasp of it.

“College academics is probably the same jump as high school football is to college football. College football, the speed and strength is twice as hard, and I would say academics is maybe even harder than that,” Fowler said.

Ivy League student-athletes are not given the same advantages as they are in other schools, he said. Each athlete is held to the same standards as non-athletes, even with class attendance.

Fowler originally wanted to go to school for engineering, but has since changed his major to German studies. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree, he wants to attend the University of Oklahoma’s law school to pursue a career as a corporate lawyer, a decision influenced heavily by one of Fowler’s mentors.

“I was matched with a big brother from the Big Brothers and Sisters Program when I was younger, and we stayed together as a pair all the way through high school, and we’re still good friends even though we’re out of the program now,” Fowler said. “His name is Mark Lauer, and he’s an OU law school graduate, and he was a really positive influence on my life growing up.”

Fowler said he also takes pride in his Cherokee heritage, which he can trace back to the Trail of Tears.

“My great-grandmother’s grandmother walked across the Trail of Tears, and she was honored when I was like 13 or 14 with a golden plaque on her tombstone by the Cherokee Nation, which is a really cool little ceremony that I got to go to and see. It’s interesting to know that my family is directly tied to that event,” he said.

Dartmouth has a rich history in Native American education, Austin said, starting as a college built specifically for that reason in 1769. 

“Part of Dartmouth’s dedication is to maintain a certain percentage of their student body as Native Americans,” he said. “They also maintain Native studies programs, and they come to Oklahoma to recruit specifically because they know we have Native American athletes and scholars that will fit into the Dartmouth programs there.”

Another piece of Dartmouth’s history that Fowler is proud of is that of his team’s.

“Dartmouth football has the most Ivy League championships, so I would say that would be the football tradition, of domination,” he said.

todd-crow@cherokee.org

918-453-5000 ext. 5903