The 9:01: Mike Bowen, a champion for Memphis, dies in Costa Rica car crash

Good morning from Memphis, whose new professional football team just lost bigly in its debut game in Birmingham. But first...

Memphis lost a champion Saturday. Mike Bowen, who ran what was once the fifth largest awards and apparel company in the U.S., died in a car crash in Costa Rica.

Bowen, 61, was perhaps best known as chief executive of Champion Awards Inc., a business his parents started in a barn in 1970 that is now the largest local licensee for University of Memphis merchandise. And even though he didn't graduate from then-Memphis State University — one of his biggest regrets, he told me when we first met in 2014 — he was still one of the U of M's biggest fans and boosters, a staple at games.

My favorite quote from a 2014 Memphis Business Journal story I wrote about his rebranding of Champion Awards & Apparel as T-Shirt Champions was this one on his entrepreneurial upbringing:

In his life, he’s had a total of 23 jobs and was “fired from half of them” – many times by his mom. But that education taught him a simple principle: “Never, ever, ever give up,” he says. “Persistence.”

For more about Bowen, his death, and how losing him will affect Memphis, stay tuned for updates to our story here. In the meantime, here's more about his community ties:

He was a lifetime member of the University of Memphis Alumni Association and an active member of the Tiger Scholarship Fund. He was also a member of the Memphis Convention Bureau, Memphis Chamber of Commerce and the Beale Street Merchant’s Association.

Bowen was also a graduate of Leadership Memphis and was serving on the organization’s board of directors for the 2018-2019 class.

UPDATE: The family has released the details of the funeral arrangements:

Saturday, Feb. 16
Visitation, 11:00am - 1:00pm
Memorial Service, 1:30pm
Hope Church, South Hall
8500 Walnut Grove Rd, Cordova, TN 38018

Donations in lieu of flowers can be sent to: Kindred Place, 2180 Union Ave, Memphis, TN 38104 

Memphis Express steamrolled in debut

In its debut performance Sunday in Birmingham, Memphis Express — the city's new professional football team — was stopped in its tracks, our Jason Munz reports.

The Express, led by legendary Chicago Bears linebacker and former San Francisco 49ers coach Mike Singletary, suffered an unfortunate 26-0 blowout to Birmingham Iron thanks largely to offensive "misfires galore," as Jason put it.

The silver lining: The new Alliance of American Football league is disappointing its skeptics with its relatively high attendance numbers. From Jason's story:

The announced attendance for Sunday’s Express-Iron game was 17,039. Those who gathered at Legion Field on an overcast, chilly Birmingham afternoon made their presence known, creating a nice environment.

The other silver lining is that Sunday was only the first game for Memphis Express. Their next will be a home game against the Arizona Hotshots at 7 p.m. Feb. 16, at the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. You can watch the game in person, on the NFL Network, or on the AAF mobile app. List at 101.9 Kiss FM (Greg Gaston, play-by-play).

Memphis Express schedule:2019 opponents, radio, TV, game times
More:A look at the AAF's notable rule differences

The news in Memphis sports wasn't all bad this weekend, though.

In its first home game without star forward Marc Gasol, the Grizzlies took down the New Orleans Pelicans 99-90 on Saturday, our David Cobb reports.

Then, the Tigers overpowered the University of Connecticut Huskies 78-71 to the profanity-laced tirades of UConn's coach, Dan Hurley, our Drew Hill reports. Here's Tigers coach Penny Hardaway's opinion of his counterpart's performance:

"That's just him fighting for his team," Hardaway added. "It's hilarious, but that's just him fighting for his team."

Speaking of sports: Our David Cobb reports that the injury-prone Chandler Parsons will return to the Memphis Grizzlies — which is a hilarious turn of events.

Pat Halloran launches Positively Memphis

Pat Halloran, who spearheaded the restoration of The Orpheum Theatre in Downtown Memphis, has a new initiative, Positively Memphis, our John Beifuss reports.

There are four prongs to the initiative envisioned by Halloran:

1. Best of Memphis Speaker Series. From Positively Memphis' website: "The major improvements that have occurred and will occur in the city, are the subjects that will dominate this series." Dr. Scott Morris, president of Church Health, will inaugurate the series at noon Wednesday, Feb. 13, at the Crescent Club in the Crescent Center, 6075 Poplar.
2. Promoting local attractions. Halloran hasn't articulated what this looks like apart from a reference to "tours" on the website.
3. Open forums and volunteer development. The open forums will be kind of like the Speaker Series, only with panels and more interaction with the audience. From the website: "The goal of the open forums is to enlist volunteers to work toward the successful conclusions and specific needs of individual organizations."
4. Merchandise. Positively Memphis will be selling merch, from T-shirts to lapel pins.

Is Positively Memphis unabashed boilerplate boosterism? Yes. But while I'm generally skeptical of the power of positive thinking, there's value in Memphians thinking more positively about their city. And if that's what this initiative does, more power to it.

Things are happening in Orange Mound

Orange Mound, Memphis' first neighborhood developed by African-Americans, is unfortunately one of the city's most neglected landmarks. But that could soon change as the city redevelops the Fairgrounds into a youth sports complex and as local groups — like at the art gallery The CMPLX — work to breathe new life into the old neighborhood. 

That brings us to The CMPLX's newish photography exhibit, "PHTGRPHS," featured the work of local photographers Lester Merriweather and Lawrence Matthews. As our Phillip Jackson reports, the artists chose to work with The CMPLX because it's the first art gallery they're aware of in Orange Mound.

Also happening in Orange Mound today:

What to know and read in the 901

• Electrolux fired 254 full-time employees and 404 contract workers in the year leading up to last month's closure announcement, our Desiree Stennett reports.
• Lakeland's mayor threatened to have the town's vice mayor removed from a tense public meeting after a disagreement over building a school, our Katherine Burgess reports.
• Columnist Tonyaa Weathersbee argues that perhaps it's in the best interest of LeMoyne-Owen College President Andrea Miller and the school's students that she step away. Also, she previews a free public panel at 6 p.m. today in Rhodes College's Buckman Hall on the role black Memphians played in the freedom struggle.
• Our Jennifer Chandler has a closer look at The Peabody's 150th anniversary specials, which include a lobster burger for $150. Jen also reports that the long-awaited Midtown Donuts — cousin to Howard's Donuts — is now open.

The Fadeout

So, with a few exceptions, Memphis got robbed at the Grammy's, as detailed here by our Bob Mehr.

If we don't count Drake, who has family ties to Memphis, Memphians won two Grammys. First, University of Memphis professor, historian and blues expert Dr. David Evans won his second Grammy in the Best Album Notes category for his work on the box set “Voices of Mississippi: Artists and Musicians Documented by William Ferris.”

Grammys 2019:Kacey Musgraves wins album of the year, Childish Gambino makes history

Then there was West Memphis, Arkansas, native Yebba, whose given name is Abbey Smith ("Abbey" is "Yebba" spelled backwards). She was the featured artist on PJ Morton's cover of the Bee Gees' 1977 hit "How Deep is Your Love," which tied with Leon Bridges’ “Bet Ain’t Worth the Hand” in the Best R&B Performance category.

Yebba stole the show in the video of that performance, which will fade us out this morning (her solo begins at the 1:18 mark):

Columnist Ryan Poe writes The 9:01, a weekday morning news briefing and commentary on all things Memphis. Reach him at poe@commercialappeal.com and on Twitter @ryanpoe.