competition in April at Northrock Lanes in Wichita.
Wichita State bowling has had more than its share of colorful characters the past 30 years — but George Lambert IV might be the most intriguing person to roll strikes for the Shockers.
He’s a Canadian who passed on that country’s national sport, ice hockey, in favor of bowling.
He’s a textaholic who once exchanged 30,000 messages in a single month. (Just to see if he could.) An old man by typical collegiate athletic standards, he earned his degree in business administration at age 28.
And if you need a diesel truck repaired — and doesn’t everyone, at some point? — Lambert is your man. He learned how to work on the big rigs while at Centennial College in Canada. Obviously, Lambert is a bit eccentric. He’s also a national champion. Building on its reputation as the most prestigious bowling program in the country, the Shockers won their record eighth U.S. Bowling Congress Intercollegiate title in April at Northrock Lanes in Wichita.
The championship, the first for WSU’s men since 2003, was a satisfying conclusion for a senior-laden team that experienced bitter disappointment after an upset in last year’s tournament. “Having persevered through that heartache and be able to experience absolute sheer joy this year … it was just awesome,” Lambert says.
Lambert’s story stands out, but there were certainly other interesting personalities on the team this season. Jesse Buss was an intimidator from the leadoff spot, a 6-foot-4 native of Freeport, Ill., who fired the ball down the lanes with authority.
Chris Drewes was an impact transfer, switching to WSU from Western Illinois for one expressed purpose. “The only reason I came to Wichita was to learn more about bowling and to win a title,” says Drewes, a native of Sioux Falls, S.D.
Will Barnes was the silent, intense technician, a Jersey boy so locked in during matches that sometimes he didn’t even realize who the Shockers were bowling.
And then there was sophomore John Szczerbinski, a New Yorker and the youngest player on the team. “It was a diverse group — a lot of different personalities, a lot of different backgrounds — but they did a good job of embracing those differences, and it made us a stronger team,” coach Gordon Vadakin says.
Making a winning team out of strong individual players has been his strategy for a long time. Each year, more than 50 students from some 20 states and several foreign countries are drawn to the program, which has 15 national championships: seven men’s and eight women’s titles.
WSU’s 2008 march to the finals came in dramatic fashion as the Shockers, the nation’s No. 2-ranked team, were forced to defeat powerhouse Saginaw Valley State, top ranked and two-time defending champion, twice in the semifinals.
The Shockers won 4-3 and 4-1. “It was,” Vadakin says, “some of the finest bowling that any team has ever done at Wichita State.”
Thus, the championship match was rather anticlimactic as the Shocks dispatched University of Nevada-Las Vegas 2-0 in the best-of-three series. WSU trailed briefly in the first game, until Lambert, Buss and Barnes reeled off consecutive strikes. In the second game, a double by Barnes and Buss helped WSU clinch the title.
“This was a great season capped off in the most perfect of ways: a title in our hometown, in front of our hometown fans,” Vadakin says.
Lambert’s season, too, concluded perfectly. He was named a first-team All-American and runner-up national Player of the Year. The team title, though, was by far the most meaningful. “It’s been a long, somewhat draining road for me,” Lambert says. “But now I feel I have it all. I have my degrees, a close-knit group of friends — and a national championship.”
