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SALT LAKE CITY — It was at the University of Utah where Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser cultivated a love for video games that, unbeknownst to him at the time, would set him on his career path.

“I plugged endless quarters into the Donkey Kong arcade cabinet and it was all about having ‘Doug’ and you can only have three letters, it was ‘D-U-G’ on that five-person leaderboard and I was endlessly plugging away,” Bowser said. “Maybe that was my first introduction to competitive gaming.”

On Friday, Bowser returned to his alma mater to help kick off the Ken Garff eSports Spring Celebration at the Jon M. Huntsman Center, much to the delight of a raucous crowd of around 2,000 middle and high school students, educators and coaches.

Despite what appears as a logical association to make, Bowser shares no relation with the Nintendo villain who goes by the same name.

“I like to say I had it (the name) longer than the character, although we tend to share it, I think, fairly well,” Bowser said.

Perhaps less surprising but serendipitous nonetheless is that the celebration was held on National Mario Day (MAR10), an ode to Nintendo’s trademark character and star of many people’s favorite video games.

The theme for the event was “Through and Beyond Gaming,” a nod to the way esports — with its growing popularity — is promoting STEAM (science, technical, engineering, arts…