{"id":1402,"date":"2020-04-21T20:12:49","date_gmt":"2020-04-21T20:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/?p=1402"},"modified":"2025-02-07T16:05:32","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T21:05:32","slug":"two-sport-standout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/2020\/04\/21\/two-sport-standout\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Sport Standout"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kadence-column1402_89761d-b8 > .kt-inside-inner-col{padding-right:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-bottom:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-left:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);}.kadence-column1402_89761d-b8 > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column1402_89761d-b8 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column1402_89761d-b8 > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column1402_89761d-b8 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column1402_89761d-b8 > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column1402_89761d-b8 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column1402_89761d-b8{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column1402_89761d-b8 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}@media all and (max-width: 991px){.kadence-column1402_89761d-b8 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column1402_89761d-b8 dynamic-main-col\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\"><style>.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1402_16b146-e1, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1402_16b146-e1[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1402_16b146-e1\"]{font-size:1.5rem;line-height:30px;font-weight:500;font-style:italic;font-family:proxima-nova;color:#808080;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1402_16b146-e1 mark.kt-highlight, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1402_16b146-e1[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1402_16b146-e1\"] mark.kt-highlight{font-style:normal;color:#f76a0c;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;box-decoration-break:clone;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1402_16b146-e1 img.kb-inline-image, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1402_16b146-e1[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1402_16b146-e1\"] img.kb-inline-image{width:150px;vertical-align:baseline;}<\/style>\n<p class=\"kt-adv-heading1402_16b146-e1 p1 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\" data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1402_16b146-e1\"><span class=\"s1\">WilmU\u2019s assistant bowling coach <\/span><span class=\"s3\">Nicole Bower<\/span> <span class=\"s1\">is pumped to succeed in the two sports she loves.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Ask experts to rattle off the names of successful two-sport professional athletes and they will no doubt mention Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders (football and baseball), Danny Ainge (basketball and baseball), or, if they really know their history, the legendary Jim Thorpe, who dominated on the gridiron and also patrolled Major League outfields in the early 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Now, Wilmington University can lay claim to its own member of that exclusive club: <span class=\"s1\">Nicole Bower<\/span>, the school\u2019s assistant bowling coach. Bower not only excels in that sport, she\u2019s also a professional sprint car driver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">The native of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, comes by her bowling skills naturally: Her family has owned three alleys in Central Pennsylvania for 50-plus years; her father, Gary, is a United States Bowling Congress Hall of Famer; her uncle, Darryl Bower, is in the Pennsylvania State Bowling Association Hall of Fame; her younger sister, Brooke, won the Diamond Singles title at the 2015 USBC Women\u2019s Championships and is a regular on the professional circuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Says Nicole: \u201cI\u2019ve been bowling since I could walk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Even her sprint car passion is related to the 10-pin sport, as she explains: \u201cABC West lanes, my family\u2019s center in Mechanicsburg, was located beside a dirt track and my father and the owner of the track used to work together for kids\u2019 nights and other events. We would attend the races frequently and<br>I got the itch to start racing. My dad got me a 1\/4 midget when I was 12 and I worked my way up from there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Move up she did, from the quarter midget, with a Honda lawn mower engine, to 358- and 410-cubic-inch aluminum block engines, which can approach 900 horsepower. She\u2019s been driving those for the past 13 years with notable success, including being the first female to win a sprint car race at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Using her favorite adjective, she says, \u201cI\u2019m <i>super<\/i> passionate about racing,\u201d but adds that \u201cit\u2019s not a cheap sport.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">In fact, she calls it \u201ca money pit,\u201d with cars costing $100,000 or more to build. First place pays $3,000\u2013$5,000. \u201cOtherwise,\u201d she says, \u201cyou take home a couple of hundred dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Fortunately, she says, her parents have been \u201csuper supportive\u201d by sponsoring her. She admits, however, that her mother \u201cloves the sport but doesn\u2019t love that I do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">No wonder. Bower has slammed into a few walls on the track, suffering a couple of concussions. Seven years ago, she hit the wall going 130 mph. \u201cAfter the car and I stopped flipping, I got out, took four steps and fell down,\u201d she says. \u201cAfterward, things hurt that had never hurt before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">She\u2019s become a bit more cautious since then. \u201cWhen you\u2019re 18, you think you\u2019re invincible, but I\u2019m not that young and dumb anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">That same appellation might be applied to Bower the bowler. A standout kegler at Cedar Cliff High School in Camp Hill, where she also swam and played softball and basketball, she had no intention of going to college until she was contacted by Kim Kearney, then head coach at Delaware State University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Bower knew Kearney from the women\u2019s professional tour. \u201cWhen my sister and I were young and my dad hosted women\u2019s professional events, Kim took us under her wing,\u201d says Bower. \u201cShe told me, \u2018if I ever coach in college, you\u2019re going to bowl for me.\u2019 So when she called, I went.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Bower says she loved Delaware State, making \u201cmany friends and getting a great education.\u201d She stayed on as an assistant coach for one year after getting a degree in Business Management in 2013. Two years later, she got an email from John York, who had just been hired to coach women\u2019s bowling, a new sport at WilmU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">York had coached at Cheyney University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and had been a personal coach for many high schoolers in New Jersey, so he had seen Bower in action and was impressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cHe said he remembered me and asked if I would be interested in being his assistant,\u201d says Bower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">She immediately accepted, partially because WilmU is much closer to her Camp Hill home than Delaware State\u2019s Dover campus, but also because she was excited about being part of the inaugural season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Bower says she and York faced quite a challenge in putting together that first team. \u201cWe had one bowler, one cheerleader, two softball players and a basketball player,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Despite the cobbled-together lineup, the team had credibility, she says, thanks to York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cJohn is so knowledgeable, and he got uniforms and made sure everyone had drilled balls. That first year we may not have hit the head pin every time, but we looked like we belonged.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image1402_93885a-60.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .kb-image1402_93885a-60 .kb-image-is-ratio-size{max-width:300px;width:100%;}.wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image1402_93885a-60.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image1402_93885a-60 .kb-image-is-ratio-size{align-self:unset;}.kb-image1402_93885a-60 figure{max-width:300px;}.kb-image1402_93885a-60 .image-is-svg, .kb-image1402_93885a-60 .image-is-svg img{width:100%;}.kb-image1402_93885a-60 .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image1402_93885a-60\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"319\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.test.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/motiv-bowling-copy-319x480.jpg\" alt=\"Nicole holds a bowling ball\" class=\"kb-img wp-image-1403\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/motiv-bowling-copy-319x480.jpg 319w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/motiv-bowling-copy-166x250.jpg 166w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/motiv-bowling-copy.jpg 492w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 319px) 100vw, 319px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">It\u2019s been a steady upward trajectory since then. During the past season (college bowling runs from October to March), the Wildcats for the first time were ranked in the top 25 (No. 24) among all D1, D2 and D3 schools. They also won their first tournament \u2014 the Virginia Union Invitational \u2014 defeating 10 other schools. At this writing, they had an outstanding 31-13 record, although they had not yet started play in the East Coast Conference. (The Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, in which all other WilmU sports compete, does not have bowling.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">York gives his assistant much of the credit for the program\u2019s growing success. \u201cI was looking for someone who could bridge the generational and gender gap between myself and the players,\u201d says the 60-year-old coach, \u201cand also someone who could inspire them to expand their horizons far beyond what they initially thought they were capable of. Nicole&nbsp;sets the ideal example&nbsp;of this for the players,&nbsp;with her ability to&nbsp;compete, excel&nbsp;and win in two male-dominated sports.&nbsp;Just incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">York says Bower goes about her business \u201cwith a quiet, understated, yet firm approach, <\/span>befitting her character.&nbsp;Her competitive&nbsp;nature&nbsp;fits perfectly in our&nbsp;program, and she&nbsp;is always there to&nbsp;reinforce&nbsp;that&nbsp;winning attitude to the team&nbsp;whenever it&nbsp;may&nbsp;start to&nbsp;waver.&nbsp;She has the&nbsp;absolute respect of&nbsp;all the&nbsp;players, coaches and opponents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Right now, Bower has no aspirations to become a head coach. For one thing, the time commitment is daunting. \u201cJohn puts in so much time with recruiting, meetings and practices,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">And Bower has precious little free time. \u201cTravel for bowling, between college and personal, probably fills about half of if not more of the year,\u201d she estimates, \u201cand racing I do locally, but I race about 40\u201350 shows a year on the weekends, March through October.\u201d Oh, and she also manages the bar at one of her family\u2019s centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">She is not officially on the professional women\u2019s tour, but she\u2019s been bowling in professional events for the past four years and has eight 300-games to her credit. \u201cI\u2019m super fortunate to have Motiv Bowling sponsor me,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cI\u2019d like to go full pro,\u201d she says, although she realizes that may mean walking away from racing \u2014 while she still can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">It would be a difficult decision. \u201cI love (both sports) the same,\u201d she says, \u201cbut in bowling, I can pretty much support myself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Her mother no doubt would endorse that decision.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WilmU\u2019s assistant bowling coach Nicole Bower is pumped to succeed in the two sports she loves. Ask experts to rattle off the names of successful&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1404,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[135],"tags":[632],"class_list":["post-1402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","tag-magazine-spring-2020"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":135,"label":"MAGAZINE"}],"post_tag":[{"value":632,"label":"Magazine Spring 2020"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Nicole-race.jpg",720,478,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"Rebecca Slinger","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/author\/rebecca\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":135,"name":"MAGAZINE","slug":"magazine","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":692,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":431,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":135,"category_count":431,"category_description":"","cat_name":"MAGAZINE","category_nicename":"magazine","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":632,"name":"Magazine Spring 2020","slug":"magazine-spring-2020","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1189,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":17,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1402"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15255,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402\/revisions\/15255"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}