萝莉社

After 40-plus years with the program, Gordon Vadakin retired this month as Wichita State鈥檚 head bowling coach, ending an association that began as a bowler in 1973 and moved to coaching in 1976.

His accomplishments include 18 team national championships, 145 National Collegiate Bowling Coaches Association All-Americans and 239 Academic All-Americans. In 2012, the Bowling Coaches Hall of Fame inducted Vadakin and called him 鈥減erhaps the most successful collegiate bowling coach of all time.鈥�

Those honors, however, are not the most important part of Vadakin鈥檚 legacy at Wichita State.

鈥淲hen I transferred from another college to 萝莉社, I had no idea the impact that Gordon and the university would have on my life,鈥� former bowler Josh Blanchard (2008-10) wrote in an email. 鈥淭here were days while at school we had meetings with Gordon that I could replay word for word everything he said. I remember those words because they were so impactful on me and my maturation process. I wouldn鈥檛 be who I was today without those words.鈥�

Vadakin, a native of Wichita, bowled on Team USA in 1983 and 1989. He won two U.S. Bowling Congress National Open Championship titles and is a member of the USBC Hall of Fame.

鈥淯ltimately, words cannot describe the level of influence and importance GV has played in my life,鈥� wrote former bowler Chris Greene (2002-06). 鈥淕ordon spent hours upon hours of developing us, not just as students of the game, but students of life. Teaching us how to be great humans, on and off the lanes. Being loyal, hardworking and how to be great team players are a sample of the qualities GV worked to instill in us.鈥�

Vadakin will spend much of his time with his family. He wants to travel with Cindy, his wife. He has two grandchildren (children of his daughter Andrea and her husband Raja). Son Kenny recently married Cara.

Ryan, Vadakin鈥檚 grandson, is 2 and has a rare genetic disorder that requires constant care.

鈥淗e鈥檚 a wonderful kid,鈥� Vadakin said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an-all-hands-on-deck deal with his care. For a while, that鈥檚 filling our days.鈥�

Mark Lewis, formerly the women鈥檚 coach, will take Vadakin鈥檚 job as director of the bowling program. Holly Harris will continue with the program and coach the women鈥檚 team and Rick Steelsmith is joining the program to coach the men鈥檚 team.

Vadakin took time during his final week as bowling coach to answer questions about his career and his future.

Q: How do you feel about the future of Shocker bowling?

鈥淚 gave this a tremendous amount of thought and an awful lot of work. Bringing in Steelsmith is a huge move for our program. We have an opportunity to go way beyond where we鈥檝e been and elevate the program to a competitive level that we鈥檝e not seen before.

We鈥檝e always set the standard. This is way harder than it used to be. This is a team that can up that game and put us at a new standard in college bowling. I鈥檓 pretty excited to see what they can do.鈥�

Q: How has college bowling changed?

鈥淲ay more programs. Way more parity. We were kind of on the leading edge on all of this. Anybody that was decent was always looking at us. Now, I think they still look at us, but they have so many more options.

The NAIA schools, I think, have more flexibility (with financial aid) on how they can structure things. We鈥檝e seen a massive explosion in NCAA programs. It鈥檚 incredibly competitive. I never thought I was going to have to compete this hard off the lanes to get (a recruit) to look at us. We have worked incredibly hard to be more visible, to be more relevant, to get more word out there as to what this program, what this school has to offer.

I think what we鈥檝e got, far and away, is better than anyone else. Competition makes you better. We鈥檝e tried to improve our message and how we deliver it.鈥�

Q: Why did you attend 萝莉社?

鈥淚 went to Southeast High (School) here in town. Going to 萝莉社 seemed like the right thing to do. I didn鈥檛 even try out for the bowling team in the fall of 1971. I knew we had one, but I didn鈥檛 know much about, although I bowled here locally in youth leagues. It was really Paul (Waliczek) who recruited me, so to speak, to be on the team.

Luckily, Paul involved me in this. I just fell in love with bowling at this level. It鈥檚 the most fun, most pure, most natural part of our sport.

Everything that鈥檚 good about bowling is all wrapped up within the collegiate bowling side of things.鈥�

Q: Why do you feel so strongly about college bowling?

鈥淵ou鈥檙e not competing for money, so it鈥檚 not about that. There鈥檚 nothing like the pride you feel when you compete for your own university, you compete for the sheer honor of representing your school. You play for the love of the game, the passion of the game, your teammates. It鈥檚 all of the things that are inherent in any college sport.

Being exposed to it hooked me very deep. Obviously, it was hard to leave.鈥�

Q: Will you stay involved in bowling?

鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if I will be. It will be hard to do anything other than (coach at 萝莉社). You get a lot out of this. The rewards of seeing people develop and grow is probably the great thing here. It鈥檚 not national titles or stuff like that. It鈥檚 seeing them grow into contributing members of society, and I got a tremendous amount of those kind of responses from our alumni.鈥�