PRINCESS ANNE, Md.- Sharon Brummell took over a-then young women's bowling program at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in 1998. At that time bowling was not considered an NCAA sport. The Hawks and other colleges and universities competed in the Intercollegiate Bowling Program, which evolved into College Bowling USA.
UMES, an HBCU (Historically Black College and Universities) in Princess Anne, envisioned women's bowling to be another avenue that provided black athletes an opportunity to compete in sports. However, as the program grew and became more competitive, Brummell noticed the make-up of her roster began to change and she faced a challenge. Many of the top black bowlers were not interested in attending college on the Eastern Shore.
"They did not want to be at little small black college even though they were minorities themselves. They wanted to go to the big programs like Nebraska, Vanderbilt, and Central Missouri," Brummell said. "They wanted to be at bigger programs. The team is getting better getting better but the color of the team was starting to change."
Now with a diverse roster, the Hawks were ready to establish themselves as an elite program by the time the NCAA made bowling a championship sport prior to the 2003-04 season. Four years later, Brummell had UMES bowling for the championship in 2007. The Hawks lost in the finals. In 2008, they went one step further. It was an 11-woman roster that season consisting of one African-American bowler, one from Germany, and two from Columbia. On April 12, 2008 history was made. With wins over Arkansas State and Vanderbilt, the Hawks won the National Championship. It was the first in any sport for the university at the Division 1 level and the first in any sport for a women's D1 HBCU program.
Yet, despite those accomplishments, there was a sense of disrespect for the Hawks.
"The college bowling world was not used to having a black female coach and especially one with a good team," Brummell recounted. "We come from this historically black college and we've got this great bowling team so it was a little discouraging in 2008 when we finally did win the national championship, ESPN did not interview my young lady who was the player of the year (Jessica Worsley) and they did not interview me. It hurt and we saw something that we probably did not want to see or feel. It changed by the time we won in 2011, but it is just amazing that something that was so noticeable about this little black school having this awesome bowling team."
2011 produced a second national championship. Following that season, Brummell accepted a position at Georgetown University. The Hawks defended that title in 2012 with Kristina Frahm as head coach.
Current head coach Kayla Bandy took over prior to the 2013-14 season. It is a unique situation for Bandy, who is white, and finds herself working in a predominately African-American setting.
"It was a learning curve," Bandy said when reflecting on the start of her coaching career. "I think that everyone should experience being a minority at some point in their life to fully understand and appreciate life in general. Coming to an HBCU as a Caucasian coach I faced a lot of challenges being the minority. It was very humbling because my eyes were open to the injustices of the world for African-American student athletes."
The model that Brummell created, Bandy has continued. On the current roster, six woman are from the continental United States, one from Puerto Rico, and two are from Mexico. For those who do not speak English as their primary language, attending an American university was at first intimidating.
"My English was not very good," senior from Puerto Rico Paulina Torres said. "I may have been getting better with the years ,but it was kind of hard at first. The team made me feel comfortable and so I was able to adapt to his new culture."
Bandy believes that blend of cultures and languages has contributed to the continued success of the program.
"I think that is one of the reasons why we are consistently ranked in the top eight in the country is because they are so strong together as a team as they figure things out off the lens," Bandy said.
COVID-19 has put this season on hold. It is expected the Hawks will return to the lanes in early 2021. When they do so, they will be ranked as the number six team in the nation.
It is a sports program that began at UMES in the mid-1990s without NCAA recognition. More than 25 years later, it was grown to become one of the nation's powerhouses in college bowling.
