(Fun fact: the picture features Ben Groll and Jake “The Tank” Kundirt standing in the birthplace of the Olympics: Greece. Although Bowling never became an official Olympic sport, bowling was an exhibition sport during the 1988 Seoul Olympics. And what is even more cool, the top three placers still received Olympic medals.) If you are involved with campus life or are just a social butterfly, you might be familiar with the tapestry that is being displayed in the picture above. The picture features the co-founder of the CUW Bowling Club, Ben Groll (right), and head of Bowling Club security, Jake “The Tank” Kundirt. Everyone who has gone to a Bowling Club event – or even heard murmurs about them – experiences great times and holds a great deal of respect for the club’s ability to be inclusive and bodacious, but the club’s success did not come overnight. Let’s look into how Ben Groll was able to turn nothing into one of the biggest things that CUW club life has known.
In 2021, Ben was in an education class with Matthew Alcala. Ben and Matt both bonded over the fact that they were bowlers in high school. Over Christmas break, Matt asked Ben if he wanted to start a bowling club with him. Coming back from break, they went around campus collecting signatures for SGA’s approval of the club. Following the club formation process, they went to the SGA’s finance committee to go over the budget. Next thing you know, they were able to get a unanimous approval by the entire Student Government. The rest is history and the spring of 2025 will mark the 3rd year that Bowling Club has been an actual club.
In those three years, in Ben’s words:
“It has grown a lot more than I thought. When we did our first couple of events, we did them on weekdays, like Thursday nights and we would get anywhere from 10 to 15 attendees. The people that attended were people that we were close with. But as we transitioned to doing those events on Fridays, we started to do themes… My junior year it blew up. Events would average over 100 people, lanes would fill within 15 minutes, and it’s grown a lot more than expected. We started selling merchandise. People have bought flags and T-shirts.”
Like any great dreamer, Ben could not achieve this all by himself. He hand-picked a bunch of great staff members to help uphold the integrity of Bowling Club. The Vice President, Zach Leahy; The Treasurer, Noah Ertel; The Secretary, Kyle Steiner; and The Head of Security, Jake Kundirt. In the past, it was Ben that had to do all of the heavy lifting and minor tasks. Now he has a trustworthy team to help him carry out events. Recently, he and his team took on their biggest event thus far.
The event was called “Bowl for Berto” and it was a fundraiser for a CUW student, Humberto Barraza, who suffered a heart attack at the beginning of the school year that put him in the hospital for weeks. The event was a massive success, raising hundreds of dollars to contribute to the $9,000 that was raised prior to the bowing event by other donors. This exemplifies the power of the CUW community coming together to serve and support others.
The CUW Bowling Club will not stop there. Even when Ben graduates, the club will continue to reach new heights because it has built such a solid foundation. If you have time on your hands and want to stay updated on the club’s upcoming events, check them out on Instagram @cuw_bowling. And if you want to help Humberto on his road to recovery chick here.
“A bad day at the lanes is a better day than anywhere else”.
Ben Groll
— Peyton Smith is a writer for the Beacon. He is a senior mass communication major graduating in may 2025 with a minor in political science.