John Kendall Cowne is a former American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 center

Center (American football)

Center is a position in American football and Canadian football . The center is the innermost lineman of the offensive line on a football team's offense...

, primarily a long snapper

Long snapper

In American football and Canadian football, the term long snapper refers to a player who is a specialized center during punts, field goals, and extra point attempts. His job is to snap the ball as quickly and accurately as possible....

 on special teams. He attended Brentsville District High School

Brentsville District High School

Brentsville District High School is a public high school in Nokesville in unincorporated Prince William County, Virginia, United States, and part of Prince William County Public Schools...

 and played college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 at Virginia Tech

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, popularly known as Virginia Tech , is a public land-grant university with the main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia with other research and educational centers throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and internationally.Founded in...

 in the early 1980s.

Cowne briefly made it to the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 with the Washington Redskins

Washington Redskins

The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...

. He was on the team's roster for three games in 1987, playing weeks four to six as one of the replacement players hired during the National Football League Players Association strike that year. Due to the playoff success of the Redskins after rosters were restored, Cowne and other replacement players received bonus checks for their contributions towards the Redskins win. Cowne was only the third Hokie

Virginia Tech Hokies football

The Virginia Tech Hokies football team is a college football program that competes in NCAA Division I-FBS, in the Coastal Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference. They have more wins in team history than any other program in the ACC. Their home games are played at Lane Stadium which seats over...

 to play for the Redskins when signed in 1987. He had previously gone to training camp for the 1987 season with the San Diego Chargers

San Diego Chargers

The San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. they were members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 before being waived at the end of preseason.

Cowne currently is a sports marketing teacher and football coach at Loudoun Valley High School

Loudoun Valley High School

Loudoun Valley High School is a public secondary school in Purcellville, Virginia. The school is part of Loudoun County Public Schools and is located at 340 North Maple Avenue in the Town of Purcellville...

 in Purcellville, Virginia

Purcellville, Virginia

Purcellville is a town in the Loudoun Valley of Loudoun County, Virginia, United States. The population was 3,584 at the 2000 census, but has undergone considerable growth since then. Purcellville is the major population center for western Loudoun and the Loudoun Valley...

.