The namesakes are both legendary Alcorn State alums and athletes.

McGowan won four SWAC Eastern Division titles and was named SWAC Coach of the Year four times ('78, '79, '81, '88).  

Foster also served as the university's baseball coach after playing in the Negro National League in the 1920s and 1930s. He died in 1978 and was honored posthumously with an election into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. in 1996.