Sowards created the term Kobayashi Maru (a simulation test in The Wrath of Khan), naming it for his next-door neighbors in Hancock Park.
[1] A native of Texarkana, Texas, Sowards had numerous writing credits which extended from episodes of The Bold Ones: The Lawyers in 1969 to an installment of B. L. Stryker in 1990.
He was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for "The Invasion of Kevin Ireland", the September 26, 1971 episode of The Bold Ones: The Lawyers.
He wrote several Movies of the Week for the Spelling/Goldberg Company, including Deliver Us From Evil (1973 film) with George Kennedy, Jan Michael Vincent, and Jack Weston, Cry Panic with John Forsythe and Anne Francis, and Death Cruise with Richard Long, Kate Jackson, and Tom Bosley.
His long career with Quinn Martin Productions resulted in several episodes of The Streets of San Francisco and Barnaby Jones.