People: Eljay Bowron
When Eljay Bowron, '73, first joined the U.S. Secret Service in 1974, the agency's director was H. Stuart Knight (see March 1974, p. 11), '48, a fellow Spartan who rose through the ranks to the top. In the next two decades, Bowron's ascent was just as meteoric.
Beginning in Detroit, then onto Chicago, Miami, Houston, Washington DC and Atlanta, he achieved steady success while handling everything from counterfeiting to forgery and fraud to protective services. Now he is the service's 18th director.
Like Clint Eastwood in In The Line of Fire, Eljay most recently headed protective operations--responsible for the safety of the President, the Vice President, and visiting Heads of State. 'That movie was entertaining,' he admits. 'Most of the feedback I get is that it portrayed us in a positive light. And some of the footage was accurate, taken directly from the 1992 campaign. But they included some touches of Hollywood.'
The son of a Detroit police officer, Eljay 'always wanted to be in law enforcement, especially in investigations.' He was recruited to MSU by Duffy Daugherty's assistants George Perles and Ed Rutherford. 'I was plagued by knee injuries,' he recalls. 'They never dropped their interest in me as a student or as a person ever after it became obvious I'd be of no use in football. That's something I'll never forget.'
He also praises MSU's criminal justice program, in particular then assistant professor Bill Horn, who had been with the Secret Service. 'MSU was very, very positive,' says Eljay. 'I wouldn't trade my experiences for anything. Academically, I'm grateful for what it did for my career.'
Eljay now realizes he has his work cut out, especially with President Clinton's penchance for jogging and shaking hands with the public. 'We have had to do some things a little bit differently with this president, as we have with other presidents,' he notes. 'There's not a day that goes by that I don't consider the weight of those responsibilities.'
