He ran a successful law practice after his football career but in 1929 he got into some betting trouble with an unsuccessful plunge on Phar Lap in the 1929 Melbourne Cup.

[3] Howell quotes sportswriter Jack Davis who described McCowan as "short, remarkably quick and good in any era....fast, clever in handling, kicking and passing the ball and tackles well...he possessed in high degree the essentials of a crack three-quarter".

[4] Due to funding constraints he was one of only six New South Wales players (Charlie Ellis, Hyram Marks, Lonnie Spragg, Peter Ward & Robert Challoner) selected to make the trip to Brisbane four weeks later for the second Test.

[5] With the incumbent skipper Frank Row left out of the team, McCowan was selected by his teammates to lead the side in the second Test match at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground.

Zavos describes McCowan as the "finest fullback produced by Queensland" to that point and quotes contemporary commentators "stocky and dynamic, fast, very clever in handling, kicking and passing the ball and tackles well"[6] This biographical article relating to Australian rugby union is a stub.