Vowell was born in Sherman, Texas in 1899 and his family moved to El Paso in 1908 where he attended El Paso High School and then the Virginia Military Institute.
[1] While studying law at the University of Texas at Austin, he played college football for the Longhorns in 1920 and 1921, helping the team to win the 1920 Southwest Conference Championship.
[2] After leaving UT, Vowell served as the head football coach the College of Mines and Metallurgy of the University of Texas—now known as the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP)—from 1922 to 1923, compiling a record of 8–8.
[3] He was also the head basketball coach at Texas Mines in 1923–24, tallying a mark of 3–10.
[1] He married Daurice Hurt McDaniel on 24 July 1922, in El Paso, Texas, and his son, Jack Caruthers Vowell Jr., served 7 terms in the Texas Legislature until his retirement in 1994.