ARLINGTON, Texas – For the last two years, Shannon O’Keefe of O’Fallon, Illinois, has been at McKendree University, coaching the bowling program and serving an unofficial parental role, and she loves it.
Whether she’s leading the players as the women’s head coach, or on the lanes competing on the Professional Women’s Bowling Association Tour, they push each other to work hard and succeed. The two-way support system has changed O’Keefe and her goals.
When she takes the lanes at The Orleans Bowling Center in Las Vegas for the stepladder finals of the Nationwide PWBA Sonoma County Open, her team will be on her mind. The players have served as her inspiration, and she wants to make them proud.
There is little doubt the McKendree Bearcats will be gathered around the television watching CBS Sports Network on Tuesday at 9 p.m. Eastern to see if their “Momma Bearcat” can claim her second PWBA title, and even that will be a teaching opportunity for O’Keefe, who hopes to give her bowlers a lesson in resilience and redemption.
“They inspire me and push me every day to want to be better,” said O’Keefe, who led the McKendree women to third-place finishes at both the 2016 NCAA Bowling Championship and the Intercollegiate Team Championships and supported the McKendree men to a win at the 2016 ITC. “The things they’ve been able to do and bounce back from, especially this year, have been amazing. I thought about them more than anything else during the tournament, and I am excited to share this all with them.”
Anytime O’Keefe gets a call or text from her players, or anyone for that matter, she’s reminded of a low point in her career that could’ve crushed her confidence. Instead, she uses that moment, and a photo of it as the background on her cell phone, as motivation.
The photo is of O’Keefe, her head in her hands, moments after leaving and missing a final-frame washout that ultimately cost her the 2015 U.S. Women’s Open title to United States Bowling Congress Hall of Famer Liz Johnson, 190-189.
Also the runner-up to Johnson at the 2007 U.S. Women’s Open, O’Keefe could’ve earned redemption with two strikes and seven pins in her final frame. After she left the washout and failed to convert, Johnson covered a 4 pin and got seven on her fill ball to escape with the win.
Now, the 37-year-old O’Keefe wants to replace that picture with a snapshot of triumph, and the Nationwide PWBA Sonoma County Open finals will provide that possibility.
“Every moment of failure or defeat is an opportunity to learn or grow from it, and the photo is just a reminder of something I never want to feel again,” said O’Keefe, whose lone PWBA title came at the 2015 PBA/PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles with Bill O'Neill. “I never want to let my team down, and I want to teach them that you can grow from something like that. If they could learn from my mistakes, I would feel that 100 times over for them.”
After making the finals at the Nationwide PWBA Sonoma County Open on May 7, O’Keefe returned home to Illinois in time to celebrate Mother’s Day with her McKendree family.
She may not really be their mother, but the feelings they’ve instilled in her are as real as can be.
“People say your life changes when you have children, and even though they’re not my own, they’ve changed my perspective on a lot of things,” O’Keefe said. “Now, I want to help their perspective on life and competition. You put yourself in position to succeed, and that’s all you can ask for. Sometimes, it’s not your day. That’s sports. But, when it’s my time, I’ll enjoy it. And, I’ll replace the picture on my phone.”
The qualifying, match play and group stepladder portions of the event took place May 5-7 at Double Decker Lanes in Rohnert Park, California, with Kelly Kulick of Union, New Jersey, claiming the top seed for the TV finals. O’Keefe qualified in the No. 2 position and will face the winner of the opening match between No. 3 Hui Fen New of Singapore and No. 4 Jennifer Higgins of Westerville, Ohio
