Douglas Fowler was originally appointed voting machine custodian by Governor Earl Kemp Long after having been a Red River Parish clerk of court and a Coushatta mayor. Fowler was then elected to his first full term as elections commissioner in the 1959-1960 election cycle. He was reelected with minimal opposition in 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1975. (The primaries for the 1968 and the 1972 elections were held late in 1967 and 1971). To Louisiana voters, the name "Fowler" became synonymous with the management of elections – the two won a total of ten consecutive elections, and Douglas Fowler served more than a year of an appointed term.\n', '

There was also a third Fowler in the dynasty: Hendrix Marion "Mutt" Fowler, Sr., the younger brother of Douglas Fowler and the uncle of Jerry Fowler. "Mutt" Fowler was a mayor of Coushatta in the 1960s and a state representative from District 24, who served from 1972 to 1986. He resigned from the legislature to become executive director of the Sabine River (port) Authority. His contract was nonrenewed in 1989, and he was thereafter indicted for violating state bid laws. In a plea bargain, "Mutt" served 45 days in the Sabine Parish jail.\n', '

Fowler, the younger of the two sons of Douglas Fowler and his wife, Abbie Marston Fowler (1906–1976), was born in Shreveport, reared in Coushatta, and graduated in 1958 from Red River Senior High School, then known as Coushatta High School. Thereafter, he played football for nearby Northwestern State University (then Northwestern State College) in Natchitoches and obtained a degree in education. He was drafted to the Oakland Raiders and then ultimately the Houston Oilers (1960–1966), for whom he was an offensive tackle. He played in four games in the 1964 season. Another north Louisiana player, Charlie T. Hennigan (born 1935) of Minden, the seat of Webster Parish, also played for the Oilers at the time in a 7-year career from 1960-1966.\n', '

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