By Gustav Hollnagel–
Imagine that, Morningside is extending its athletic realm by bringing Rob Casper to campus to show interested students and future prospects how to roll a shiny ball into a triangle of pins. Yes, bowling has arrived at Morningside.
During one of his holiday gatherings, President John Reynders announced that such a program should get started and asked if anyone had bowling background. Casper said he received a text message that very night, soon interviewed with former athletic director Jerry Schmutte (now AD at Hastings College), and started building Mside’s bowling program on August 1, 2012.
Casper said his expectations for this year are not extremely high. “Obviously we’re in the very early stages of it. This year we want to go with the students on campus and kind of build a club team,” he explained. To get the feet wet for a hopefully blossoming bowling future, the focus will certainly be on regional club competition.
Usually, bowling programs are traveling all over the US and attend whatever tournaments their funding allows for. The season starts mid-September and lasts until the end of April. For now, Casper wants to focus on creating a varsity program for next year, as he will start recruiting actual bowling athletes throughout the year. He also realizes that for the future, “travel will be our biggest hurdle.”
However, Coach Casper looks ahead opportunistically: “Bowling is what’s called an emerging sports status in the NAIA. There is no national tournament. There are hopes within the next 2 to 5 years to have this opportunity.”
Morningside appears to have brought in the right guy for the job. Casper’s family has been in the Bowling business for several decades, but then sold their facility called “Plaza Bowl” in 2006. Casper grew up playing hockey but obviously wasn’t going to keep his hands off the bowling ball. After his time in hockey, he participated in some competitive bowling throughout the Midwest.
Casper accepted the 10-month-annually coaching job at Morningside as his second job. He works in sales for a company called Xpedx, which ventures in the area of industrial packaging materials. Casper’s son is a Freshman at Morningside, which might have catalyzed his decision to take the coaching position and to create a sustainable bowling program on campus.
Morningside’s home lane will be “Rush Lanes,” which used to be Lewis Bowl, located next to the baseball field of the Sioux City Explorers.
If you didn’t contact him but you have been thinking about it don’t hesitate to give Rob a call at 712-253-8585 or shoot him an email (casperr@morningside.edu). There will be scholarship money available next year. Don’t wait to test your skills.
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