Team-first superstars: Derek Sapp of Western Illinois and Amber Gazverde of Central Missouri State haven't let their individual bowling triumphs overshadow the accomplishments of their respective squads - 2001-02 Men's and Woman College Bowlers of the Year

Bowling Digest, August, 2002 by Larry Paladino

LIKE MOST GIFTED YOUNG bowlers, Derek Sapp and Amber Gazverde think about eventually becoming touring professionals. Surprisingly, though, neither bowler is consumed by that goal. Although that type of individual accomplishment certainly can be meaningful, both bowlers place a lot more emphasis on a simple four-letter word: team.

Sapp and Gazverde say they appreciate the honor of being named our College Men's and Women's College Bowlers of the Year for 2001-02, but they deflect much of the attention to the success of their teams, Western Illinois and Central Missouri State, respectively.

Sapp and his very talented teammates gave coach Randy Widger's Leathernecks their third men's IBC title in four years when they defeated surprise finalist Purdue, 2-1, in April in the best-of-three Baker System match at Transit Lanes in Buffalo. In that same tournament, Gazverde and her similarly talented teammates, coached by Ron Holmes, carried Central Missouri State to a third-place finish behind Morehead State and Wichita State.

"I don't bowl for myself. I just care my team does," says Sapp, a junior who was the IBC's Men's Most Valuable Player this year, as he was last year in Grand Rapids, Mich.

"Being the IBC's Men's Most Valuable Player helped the team accomplish our goal," he says of the title repeat. "I always have the team sense because that's all I think about. I don't really pay attention to how I'm bowling, just about what the team is doing."

The team aspect is even more in focus at the championships than during the season because Baker matches are used. Each bowler on a five-person squad rolls just two frames, so everyone's performance is vital to the game's outcome.

"It takes a total team effort to be successful," says Sapp, who in May was named Western Illinois University Athlete of the Year, a great honor "considering bowling isn't even considered a `sport.'"

As for her College Bowler of the Year designation, Gazverde, a left-handed sophomore, says: "This is really a surprise. There are a lot of other women bowlers out there who are really wall known. I feel like I performed well enough, but I'm pretty surprised. I did a lot better than last year and hope it continues. There's always room for improvement.

"I was really happy with how we played. We worked well as a team. You didn't see us pull together as much as we did at the IBCs. I can only see positive things happening for our team."

Positive things certainly have happened for Sapp. Widger calls him "a great player" who has "all the tools. Derek is one of the best clutch bowlers I have ever seen, and I wouldn't trade him for anything. He can move inside. He can play the one board. He can play anywhere he needs to play. He can slow it down or speed it up. He's a very good spare shooter. He's a go-getter.

"Some people don't like him because he's always pumped up and ready to go. He's a little hot-tempered, but you have to be like that to do what you want to do."

The 5'10" 155-pound Gazverde, on the other hand, is more quiet--off the lanes, anyway. "She will be very receptive to listening to what you say," Holmes says of the Dallas-area native. "She takes things in and goes at her business. Once she steps on the lane, I get surprised when she's not attacking the lane, because that's her game and her strength. She's kind of an in-between player, [which] allows her to open up when she needs to or go down-and-in when she needs to."

Gazverde "fits in as one of the top players we've ever had, and her career is not done here," says Holmes, who has been the CMS coach for 12 years. "She'll continue to mature and get better."

The school's most prominent player in recent years was Lisa Stack, who graduated in 2000 and was a four-time All-American. But Gazverde is turning out to be a worthy carrier of that flame.

Gazverde says she's dedicating her Bowler of the Year award and her All-American season to her late father, Lou, who died early in her freshman year. "It's for me and for him," she says. His death "pretty much crushed me. Me and Dad were close. He got me started in bowling. He went to every single tournament with me."

Memories of her father "also made me stronger" this year, she says, "because I wanted to bowl good for my dad. I know he's watching me." She was nine and "wasn't involved in anything," she recalls, when her father, who was a bowler, enrolled her in a league.

"At first I didn't like it, then I did after a while," Gazverde says. "Once I got good enough to bowl in tournaments, I started bowling in them and just stayed with it."

Last year as a freshman, "she played very well," Holmes says. "She was second-team All-American. She was a very solid player throughout the entire year. Unfortunately, [her father's death] had an impact on her. It was the second or third trip of the year, and we got a call from her mother [Betty] that her father had a heart attack and died. He was a very important person in her life. It impacted how she played the rest of the season. She was kind of feeling her way the rest of the year without having him around."