Waving the ‘Crowell Towel’

“He is very well-respected by his teammates, as well as people not a part of the football program,” said defensive backs coach Teddy Gaines of Kane Crowell, senior safety and captain of the Fighting Scots football team. “He definitely represents Maryville College football the way coach Rader would want one of his players to represent the team.”

Kanaan Brooks Crowell, better known as simply “Kane,” is your stereotypical all-American athlete, student, friend, brother, son and allaround role model. Born on March 21, 1991, Crowell grew up in a small town south of Nashville called Hohenwald. Growing up in the South, sports were more like a religion. Behind only family, school and God, sports served as the most important aspect of Crowell’s life. After dominating his high school days as a letterman in three different sports at Lewis County High School, Crowell chose to play football at the collegiate level rather than baseball or basketball.

“Playing baseball and basketball was just another hobby of mine,” Crowell said. “I just played them because I enjoyed it. I didn’t try to pursue them in college because I was just average.” After being nominated as an allstate performer as a quarterback and safety after his senior season, Crowell knew that football was his calling. With that being said, it was a close friend that made Crowell choose Maryville over a big time program.

“Dakota Crews helped me out coming to Maryville because he had connections and was a close friend of mine that I played with in high school,” Crowell said. It did not take long for coaches to realize that Kane was going to be a special player. Since day one at MC, Kane has shown his aggressiveness on the field, his leadership off the field, and his work ethic in the weight room, as well as in the classroom. He began getting significant playing time his freshman year, and later that season got his first start against Christopher Newport, which happens to be the only time in history that the Fighting Scots have beaten CNU.

Kane relived a significant play of that game by saying, “The one play I remember making in that game was on an option play. It was on fourth down, and I stopped the guy in the backfield.” Crowell went on to have another great year for the Fighting Scots in his sophomore season and was then recognized as an All-USA South performer after his breakout year his junior season. After three years of gaining his teammate’s respect, Kane was honored to be voted as a team captain for his senior campaign. “Being selected was a real honor because it means my teammates trust in me and made me want to be a better football player on the field and a better person off the field,” Crowell said.

This Tennessee native is now six foot, 200 pounds with a max bench of 330 pounds and another 415 pounds on squat. With that being said, don’t let his muscular frame and vicious play on the field fool you. Over the years, Crowell has gained the reputation as one of the hardest hitting safeties in the USA South Conference, yet known around Maryville College’s campus for his friendly and humble personality. After witnessing how Crowell treats opposing offenses, it is hard believe how generous he is off the field. Chad Brooks, teammate of Crowell’s for the past three seasons, is grateful to have a captain that is willing to help in any way possible. “He is always in the library trying to get ahead on things,” Brooks said. “He’s helped me out in a couple of subjects that he didn’t even have. To have somebody like that on my team means a lot.”

Not only does he show this type of generosity and care to his teammates, Crowell makes sure he treats everyone with the same respect and kindheartedness. “That’s just the way I was raised,” Crowell said. Although he is roughly four hours away from home, keeping in touch with his family has never been a problem. “My relationship with my family is really tight,” Crowell said. “They usually come to every ball game whether it is home or away. They have always been real close to me. I talk to them every night and they always check on me to see how I’m doing.” Between Crowell’s mother, father, step-father, two “grannies,” sisters, multiple cousins, aunts and uncles, he always has a significant crowd cheering for him and swinging the “Crowell Towel” up in the stands. After the games, Kane and his family spend quality time either going out to dinner, or relaxing around a fire at the campsite catching up on life.

Kane takes the same dedication that he has for football and family and applies it in the classroom. As an exercise science major, Crowell has over a 3.0 grade point average and spends several hours per week studying. No one has witnessed this more than Kane’s good friend and roommate since sophomore year, Cody Martin. “He has an incredible work ethic,” Martin said. “I’ve never seen someone so determined to succeed. If he’s not working out, he’s studying.” With his degree in exercise science, Crowell plans on doing big things after graduating from Maryville College.

“After graduation I would love to get into grad school at either UTC or UT and study to be either a physical therapist or a physical therapy assistant,” Crowell said. “Later in life I would love to be a personal trainer or maybe a strength and conditioning coach for big time college or an NFL team.” Over the past four years, Maryville College has been blessed with a great talent on the football field, but more importantly a great person, leader, friend and role-model to all.