Mayer rolls toward a lifelong dream on Professional Bowlers Association tour
Kim Chaudoin |
Long before Ken Mayer began teaching students to navigate the complexities of computing and cybersecurity, he was learning to read a different kind of pattern … the oil laid across a bowling lane.
Mayer was 4 years old when his father introduced him to bowling. This began a lifelong pursuit that has taken the Lipscomb University faculty member from youth leagues to local tournaments and now to the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA).
Mayer, associate professor in the School of Computing in Lipscomb’s Raymond B. Jones College of Engineering, qualified this winter to compete in PBA events and is now part of the PBA50 Tour, where he is bowling alongside some of the athletes he grew up watching on television. He will compete in the PBA50 Akron Classic in Ohio July 11-14. The tournament, the second of his professional tour career, represents the fulfillment of a childhood goal for Mayer — and of a dream once held by his late father.
“My dad got me into bowling. This was his dream,” reflected Mayer.
Mayer’s father, Ken Sr., spent much of his career working for the Air Force. In the 1970s, the elder Mayer dreamed of going on tour himself, but a young family and a military career made that difficult.
“Working for the Air Force did not accommodate that in the ’70s,” said Mayer. “Then his son — me — came along, so that pretty much ended that dream.”
But the dream did not fade.
For Mayer, bowling has always been more than a hobby. It is memory, competition, discipline and connection. His father died in 2020 from complications of Covid-19, and in the years since, bowling has become one of the ways Mayer feels closest to him.
Photos that are side by side of Ken Mayer, right, and his father, Ken Mayer Sr.
“I feel like it’s a kindred spirit with my dad, now that he’s gone,” said Mayer. “And I love competition. If you make it to the tour, that means you’re bowling against some of the best in the world.”
Mayer remembers his father taking him to bowl during his lunch breaks at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. His mother would drop him off, and for that hour, father and son shared the lanes.
“My dad was such a good bowler,” said Mayer. “I did not have a normal bowling childhood, as my dad encouraged me to expand my skills. My dad pulled me out of youth league at 13 and put me in the men’s league.”
Later, when the family lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mayer recalls balancing practice with attending church services.
“Growing up, church was a priority. We attended Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night,” he said. “On Wednesday nights, bowling would start at 7:30 p.m. My mom would take us to church, and then she would rush me over to the bowling alley, drop me off and I’d run in to bowl with my dad.”
Mayer has bowled in many places since then. He estimates he has lived in seven or eight states and 12 cities. Each stop, he said, has had its own charm — and its unique bowling alleys.
Professionally, Mayer’s path has been just as varied. He earned his undergraduate degree from Harding University, an MBA from the University of Dallas and a Doctor of Science degree focused on privacy from Capitol Technology University. Before joining the Lipscomb faculty, he worked with several Fortune 500 companies, including Dell Inc., Mercedes-Benz North America, Wells Fargo and Chrysler Financial USA.
His academic work now focuses on cybersecurity, information technology, privacy and health care breaches. His teaching, he said, is driven by a passion for helping students grow in confidence and skill.
But qualifying for the PBA has filled another passion.
“The PBA thing has been absolutely an amazing experience,” said Mayer. “My friends asked me, ‘Is this better than getting your doctorate?’ When I was 8, I wrote down all my life goals on a yellow legal sheet. I wanted to get a master’s. I wanted to get my doctorate, even though I didn’t really know what those were. I wanted to be a professor and I wanted to be a pro bowler. And I have accomplished all of those things I wanted to as an 8-year-old.”
“(Making the pro tour) is something that people dream of doing in any professional sport,” he continued. “I’m having the time of my life.”
Mayer said he quickly realized the intensity and skill level of the PBA50 Tour in his first competition earlier this year. The bowlers were welcoming, he said, but the competition was serious. His first game, he found himself bowling alongside one of the top-ranked players in the world.
“I grew up watching all these guys, and all of a sudden I’m bowling against them,” said Mayer. “It was like meeting your childhood heroes. You get this shock.”
That level of talent can be intimidating, he said, even after decades in the sport.
“These thoughts get in your head,” he admitted. “Even though I’ve been bowling for 46 years, it’s still like, ‘Do I belong out here? Have I really earned it?’”
His wife, Keri, has helped him answer that question.
“My wife reminds me, ‘You’ve earned the right to be there,’” he said. “My buddies have said the same thing. It’s hard to think that way because I don’t want to be an arrogant person. But I have to learn that I’ve earned that right. That’s a really important mindset.”
His support system includes his wife; his mother, Cathy; his brothers, Robert and Mike; and his longtime bowling team. Mayer bowls every Tuesday night at Tenn Penn Alley in Columbia, Tennessee, with the same group he has bowled with for years. They also travel to local tournaments together and often practice on Sundays.
He credits his teammates, Justin Northcutt and Camden Gutshall, with providing him encouragement and coaching tips along the way. When he returned from his first PBA event, they met him at the bowling alley.
“When I need something during a tournament, I just text them,” he said. “I definitely have help. They’re my support group!”
For Mayer, competing on the PBA50 Tour also brings a new appreciation for the physical and mental challenge of professional bowling. A typical first day of competition includes seven games in a row, often over six or seven hours, with bowlers moving lanes throughout the day. Advancing requires consistency, stamina and the ability to adjust quickly, he said.
Now that he has made the pro tour, Mayer’s next goal is to “make the cut” for the final day of competition which includes the top 4 bowlers in the tournament. Typically, the finals are broadcast live on television.
“I have yet to experience making the cut,” Mayer said. “That is my one goal — to make the cut once. To make the ‘show’ would just be double cherries on top with whipped cream. To be on TV would be the most unbelievable feeling.”
There have already been small moments that have made the experience feel real: the jerseys, the bag tags, the PBA patches that arrived in the mail.
“I think the moment I realized the dream was becoming a reality is when I got my patches in the mail,” he said. “That was really special.”
With the excitement of qualifying to the pro tour, Mayer has also thought often about what his father would think of all of this — the travel, the tournaments, the competition and the chance to see his son live out a dream they both shared.
“I would give anything to have my dad back because I’m sure he would be traveling with me,” Mayer reflected. “He’s the one who got me started. This has literally been a lifelong dream that I really wanted to have happen “I wanted my dad to see that I lived his dream for him, even though he’s not around. It's been a blast.”