Family is at the heart of what makes Pocatello's Julian Bowie one of the best ever

It’s always with him.

Julian Bowie’s No. 21 gold necklace. It belonged to his father Lambert Bowie or “Bo” as he’s more commonly referred to as.

While the Pocatello High School senior is one of the best high school basketball players in Idaho history, greatness is not the only thing that drives the 6-foot-3-inch point guard.

It’s also what’s strapped around his neck and everything that it has come to represent.

“Family has always been close to his heart and I think it always will,” said uncle and former Pocatello boys basketball coach Joe Green.

It already is − literally.

The necklace hangs close to his heart. Bo received it as a gift from his mother nearly 40 years ago on his 16th birthday. It represents the number he wore in football at Mountain Home High School.

Bo had a preferred walk-on offer to play football at Boise State. But his heart was always in basketball. So he traded in the glitz and glamor of playing on The Blue before what would have been then 20,000 people, to on a good night, maybe, a few hundred at a junior college in Pendleton, Oregon.

He played two years at Blue Mountain Community College before deciding to go to Boise State after all − as a student. But Bo passed down his love of the game to his two children Timmie Lambert and of course Julian.

SISTER

Like Julian, Timmie was a star in her own right.

After earning the starting point guard spot her freshman year, Timmie became a three-time first-team all-conference player. The Rams went 85-13, won four consecutive district championships, qualified for state four times and took third at state twice with her on the roster. Highland hasn’t placed at state since.

That’s really where Julian’s love of basketball first started.

He was at every practice and every game, spending his 5th through 8th birthdays inside the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa for the annual Class 5A girls basketball state tournament. Julian and Timmie still go there to celebrate his birthday to this day.

“That’s all he knows,” Timmie said with a laugh.

Julian provided the halftime entertainment by going out on the court to shoot. The parents made it fun for him by laying down crisp $1 bills on different spots on the floor. If Julian made it, he would get to keep the money. He often left with enough to cover a trip to the concession stand.

“Those parents, all of them, remember the first shot he made on a 10-foot hoop,” mom Amy Bowie said. “There are a lot of Highland girls basketball parents who watched Julian grow up. It was like he had 10 older sisters year in and year out.”

But for Julian, there’s only ever been one Timmie.

She was the first one to place a basketball in his hands before he could even walk. They spent countless hours playing together in the backyard. Bo personally paved an asphalt half-court for them.

“We always had to turn the light on,” Amy said. “Those two were just always out there working on moves to see who could do them better.”

Julian doesn’t like to admit it, but it was Timmie. She was 10 years older, though.

However, that never deterred Julian. Because even at a young age, he was full of confidence and a little bit of brash.

“I was calling her soft and saying she was scared because she wouldn’t want to play me when her friends were over,” Julian said with a laugh. “Obviously, she was beating me when I was that young. But that was all right. Because I loved her and I always wanted her to come play with me and play against me.”

And Timmie always did. Even when she couldn’t.

When Julian was age 6, Timmie was diagnosed with aplastic anemia. It’s a very rare condition where the body stops producing enough blood cells. It cost Timmie her entire junior year of basketball and nearly her life. She needed a bone marrow transplant.

But no one was a match.

So there were only two options: chemotherapy or a dangerous experimental bone marrow transplant that would have really been the first of its kind. Doctors elected to try the former.

But they weren’t too optimistic about it.

“The doctors give you a number with how long they think you’ll live and the percentage that you’re likely to live and mine were extremely low,” Timmie said. “So we had to have those tough conversations. That was really hard on my family and I.”

Especially Julian.

Timmie went from being surrounded by screaming fans to stoic nurses and doctors. For basically nine months straight, she lived at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City — two and a half hours away from the person who adored her the most.

“I just really didn’t know how to handle it,” Julian said. “I just dealt with it in my own way.”

He tried basketball. His elementary school counselor took him out of class to do just that during that time period. But the only thing that really worked was being with his sister.

Nestled in between blood transfusions, the 13 surgeries in 26 days on her left leg, being told she’ll never walk again, four lung surgeries and a collapsed lung were Julian’s much-needed visits.

They played video games, “Madden” and of course “NBA 2K.” That was the only time back then that Julian was able to beat her in basketball. But the two mainly just cuddled in her hospital bed.

And after every visit, Julian always asked his mother for a penny on the way out the door. It was for the water fountain.

He wished for the same thing every time.

“To get better and to not die,” Timmie said while trying to hold back tears. “Everything was really dark around me, but he was kind of like my light.”

He got his wish.

Julian not only watched his sister make a full recovery and walk again but return to the court as well.

She sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat Idaho Falls in one of her first games back. Timmie ended up leading Highland to a sixth straight district title and a seventh state tournament appearance in a row. She was also a first-team all-league player that year.

Timmie never got to realize her dream of becoming a college basketball player. But she’s been in full remission for a decade now and is currently running her own personal training company. Timmie trains everyone from 6-year-olds to college athletes. Julian and most of his teammates are all clients of hers.

“She’s a warrior who stands for what I want to be,” Julian said. “Obviously, I’ve never been in that severe of a situation. But if anything knocks me down and I need to get back up, it’s because she did amazing things with her life.”

DAD

Bo was born in Oakland, California, but never really stayed around long enough to call any one place home with a stepdad in the Air Force. They moved all across the country before settling down in Mountain Home. But his mom and stepfather, who Bo admittedly was never really close to, separated when he was in the ninth grade. So he was then just raised by a single mother for the remainder of his teenage years.

Bo never met his biological father. So he always made it a priority to be there for his own son.

He did so in part by coaching Julian, which was always eventful.

One time their team was down by double digits during a game at Pocatello’s Mountain View Event Center. Bo told Julian just to get the ball to the rim. But he had other ideas.

Julian just started cranking up 3s — well behind the line at that.

“You can just see Bo shaking his head getting all frustrated,” Amy said with a laugh.

But Julian kept on making them.

“I told him to stop shooting them,” Bo said with a laugh. “But all of the parents and the fans were cheering and going crazy. So he looked at me like, ’Can I shoot it?’ And finally I just gave up. He probably hit eight 3-pointers that game. That’s probably one of my favorite memories of coaching Julian.”

The two even went against each other a few times.

Bo was coaching at Alameda Middle School, while Julian was playing his eighth grade year a few miles down the road at Franklin. So the nights before those games were always eventful in the Bowie household.

“Bo was drawing up plays on his whiteboard on how they were going to clamp Julien up and what defense they were going to run against him. And then Julian would grab the marker and say, ‘Well, if you do that, I’m just gonna do this,’” Amy said. “They were going back and forth on how Julian was going to score 40 and how Bo was not going to let him score 40 and what their game strategy was and everything.”

Julian scored 40. And his team won every single time.

But he always respected his father. It’s why he wears the No. 0 for Oakland.

And of course there’s that necklace. Julian found it one day while digging through some old boxes in the sixth grade. It hasn’t left him since.

“He turned around his life for me,” Julian said. “He’s provided for me to live comfortably, paying for me to play AAU, going to my tournaments and providing all of this support to allow me to pursue basketball pretty easily. I owe him everything for that. My dad is one of my biggest motivations, if not my biggest for sure.”

MOM

Amy was at Highland from 1989-1992. She helped the Rams make state every year and win a consolation title. Her playing days came to an abrupt end with a torn ACL her senior year. But she returned to the program as an assistant coach for a few years before getting pregnant with Julian.

That was the end of her basketball career. But she still did a lot behind the scenes.

There were several times when Amy had to go into work late at night as the principal at Irving Middle School. Julian usually tagged along. And Amy always knew exactly where to find him when she was done.

She always rebounded for him − even when she didn’t have to.

Julian didn’t play well in a game his freshman year. So that same night, he asked if they could go straight to the gym.

“Sometimes I would be so tired that I would say, ‘Julian, I don’t want to go back to the gym tonight. Please don’t make me go.’ But he was always like, ‘I got to go,’” Amy said. “So I remember being in my slippers and trying to rebound.”

Minutes usually turned into hours.

Julian never let them leave until reaching one of his “crazy goals.” This included everything from having to hit 50 3-pointers in a row to three consecutive half-court shots. He didn’t even let his mom off the hook after an errant shot of his drilled her in the head and gave her a concussion.

But it was more than worth it for Amy. Because it was their time together. And it just wasn’t about basketball either.

“Julian is more talkative late at night, so I found that if I took him to get food or a milkshake after, he was more likely to open up to me,” Amy said. “We used that time to just talk about life and what’s going on with him. How he’s feeling? I even learned to appreciate his music a little more than I did at first. It was just some good quality time between the two of us and memories that I’ll always have with him.”

TOGETHER

The three of them were all on hand to watch Julian sign his National Letter of Intent with Boise State last November. Timmie, who lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, FaceTimed in.

“That’s why it’s such a good fit. His parents are so great. Another family that just gets it,” Boise State head coach Leon Rice said. “That’s why he’ll get better and better and better and why he’s here. He’s hungry for that. And he loves that and loves the game.”

They all witnessed Julian become just the ninth player in Idaho history to reach 2,000 career points.

He accomplished the historic feat on Feb. 15 with 21 points in a 66-61 win over league rival Preston at the district tournament. It came after the Indians swept the Thunder for the regular season championship and following a potential season-ending injury for Julian. He tore the plantaris tendon in his right foot in the final game of the regular season at Century just six days earlier.

He went on to finish with 2,100 points, which currently ranks eighth all-time. Julian is the only player on the list to have played all four seasons at a Class 4A school or higher.

“I’m biased, but I think he’s the best I’ve seen in Idaho,” Green said.

Green’s brother Tony was the head coach at Highland when Timmie was there. He also coached under Joe for the last five seasons. Their father Bill was also on staff.

“That comes with some pressure,” Amy said. “But I think he stays grounded because of those life experiences. I think for his age he has quite a bit of perspective.”

It showed.

Julian helped Pocatello go 87-20, end a 12-year postseason drought, win three consecutive district championships, make three state final appearances in a row and deliver the program’s first state title in nearly a quarter century during his time there.

He scored 16 points in the fourth quarter of the Class 4A state final against Hillcrest on March 2. Julian was 9-for-9 at the free throw line and 3-of-4 from the field with his only miss coming on a 40-foot heave while trying to run out the clock.

This all came after injuring his hip on a nasty fall during the final play of the first half. He needed a cortisone patch just to be able to get back on the floor. Julian was hobbled for most of the third quarter, going 0-4 from the field and had to be taken out of the game just minutes into the second half.

But with his family looking, Julian finished with 20 points, 12 rebounds and four assists in the Thunder’s 73-67 win over the Knights, who had beaten them in the title game in each of the last two years. It resulted in Pocatello’s first state championship since 2000 and the 11th overall, which is tied for the second most in Idaho history.

“He just guts through it,” Bo said. “It’s cliche, but he’s like, ‘I’m hurt, but so what? Who isn’t hurt this time of the year? I’m gonna play no matter what and I’m gonna give it my all and we’ll see what happens.’ He’s definitely a tough, strong-willed kid. There’s not a lot of things that he’s gonna let hold him back.”

Julian made 105 career starts in 106 games. The only game he ever missed was against Century in the opening round of the district tournament on Feb. 13 due to the torn plantaris tendon. Julian also didn’t start in his varsity debut against Burley back on Dec. 2, 2020. But he still dropped a team-high 17 points and never came off the bench again.

It’s still a point of contention within the family.

“So apparently, he was good enough to start as a freshman,” Joe said with a laugh. “Just had to make him earn it.”

He certainly has.

Julian ended his storied career as a four-time all-league and all-state player. He was just named the Class 4A Player of the Year for the second straight season last month. Julian also has the most total points (89) and the highest scoring average (29.7 points per game) in Idaho Class 4A state tournament history.

But it all just wasn’t for himself.

“My family is the reason I’m here,” Julian said. “They’re the reason I do what I do. My family is my driving force.”