If you were watching the Professional Women’s Bowling Association Tour last August, you likely noticed a 22-year-old Arkansas State graduate named Jordan Richard.
In a fierce rookie class in 2018, Richard was flat dominant at times and outdistanced her challengers to capture the PWBA Rookie of the Year award. Her powerful physical game, with a rev rate that demolishes pins and often makes fans stop and stare, was on display when she made her pro debut at the 2018 USBC Queens.
She captured her first title at the PWBA Greater Harrisburg Open in June before stepping into the national television spotlight by qualifying for each of the four shows on CBS Sports Network in August.
While she was not able to grab her second PWBA title during the four-week run of “The Jordan Richard Show” in August, she showed she has the talent to challenge for a title, week in and week out.
But that wasn’t always the case.
Richard hails from Tecumseh, Michigan, a relatively small town. For context, it’s approximately 25 minutes away from Ann Arbor, home of the Michigan Wolverines, and has a population of about 8,400.
As a youngster, Richard essentially grew up with her twin sister, Haley, in Ten Pin Alley, owned and operated by the Richard family since 1976, and learned the game from her dad, Kenny. She bowled against many of Michigan’s best youth players in the Michigan Junior Masters Association, the state’s standout youth tour, where she accumulated 16 MJMA titles, fifth all-time in the girls division. She also won two individual state titles for Tecumseh High School.
But, nationally, she had to seek out opportunities to bowl against the best and, during her early teenage years, she flew under the radar on a national level.
“I’m from a small town and I only bowled local events,” said Richard, who knew she wanted to become a professional following the relaunch of the PWBA Tour. “There weren’t many additional opportunities that I knew of at the time that existed outside of Junior Gold or other events that exist now, like the Storm Youth Championships. I didn’t bowl Junior Gold until 2012.
“My parents wouldn’t let me bowl certain events until they knew I was ready. They basically told me they would not take me to Junior Gold because I wasn’t going to take it seriously and it wouldn’t be worth it. So, that drove me to get better because they would take (her twin sister) Haley to tournaments, but they weren’t taking me, and it drove me crazy.”
Raising twins can be difficult, especially when they possess opposite personalities and are uber competitive. As an example, while Haley often did everything necessary to be prepared both on the lanes and off, Jordan would wait until the last minute to prepare for everything. If the two were practicing, Haley, a right-hander, would practice with her dominant hand, while Jordan, also right-handed, would practice with her left to see what would happen.
As parents, Jody, her mother, and Kenny challenged Jordan by simply not allowing her to compete at events if she wasn’t going to take her preparation seriously.
“When Jordan was little, if she didn’t throw strikes, she was going to get a different ball,” Jody said. “She might have 15 different balls in the settee and still didn’t care about shooting spares. So, I told her until she put in the time to be better, I wasn’t taking her.”
After showing improvement, 16-year-old Jordan feverishly asked if she could attend the 2013 Team USA Trials in Las Vegas. Her parents obliged and the event became sort of a momentous event. She finished 54th overall but it was the experience that made everything click for Jordan.
The “switch flipped” is how she described the experience.
The moment also was eye-opening for Kenny, who realized they were a bit behind in the information department. The talent level of the field, along with items like surface preparation and drilling layouts, were a bit foreign for the daddy/daughter duo in 2013.
“When we got there, we found out we were behind the 8-ball,” Kenny said. “We didn’t know as much as we thought we did because there were a lot of players with Jordan’s capabilities competing when we got there. It was impressive to see her hang with the people she was hanging with. We were both learning on the run, regarding what to do out there. So, it was a great learning experience for both of us.”
With the help of some outside coaching, Jordan and Haley saw their games take bigger strides with Jordan making the top 16 at the 2013 Junior Gold Championships.
With their high school careers coming to an end, it was time to look at college options. They looked to follow in the footsteps of their older sister, Kara, who was competing at Central Missouri. But, there was one issue – Jordan was a non-Division I qualifier.
“I hated school,” Jordan said. “I didn’t take it seriously as a freshman and it ended up costing me. Haley is super smart, and she could’ve gone anywhere. But, because I didn’t qualify, I didn’t have many options.”
Jordan’s high school grades improved vastly after her freshman year, once she began to understand the possibilities that bowling could provide. After a 2.0 grade point average to start, she ended her high school career with GPAs of 3.5 and 3.8, respectively.
Though the early mishaps did have an effect, Jody was right there to make sure Jordan stayed on track.
“Her freshman year was tough,” Jody said. “Once we started talking about bowling and going to college, she brought her grades up. It definitely made things difficult early, but for whatever reason that was the path she was supposed to take. I remember talking to Jordan later while in college and telling her I think they both learned a lot of good lessons.”
Since Jordan was unable to immediately attend a Division I school, Haley and Jordan decided going to a school together was the best for both and decided on Central Missouri, since Kara was staying around to be a student-teacher as part of her graduate studies. But, once on campus, neither twin thought the fit was right. After a year, they were looking for a different option.
Enter Justin Kostick and Arkansas State. After learning about the program and coaching staff, they took one visit, felt at home in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and committed to Kostick while on campus. And, as they say, the rest is history.
“What drew me to Jordan and Haley was their extreme competitive natures,” Kostick said. “You could see they were extremely competitive, especially having to go against each other all the time. When I heard they wanted to transfer, I was pretty much all in.”
Jordan, already a National Tenpin Coaches Association Second-Team All-American and a Division II Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, became a three-time NTCA First-Team All-American with Arkansas State. She earned Division I Player of the Year honors in her final two seasons, which set herself up for success on the PWBA Tour.
Haley, an honorable mention selection at Central Missouri, finished her career at Arkansas State as a two-time Second-Team All-American.
Kostick certainly had a special player in Jordan and described her as being a complete player.
“Jordan has the will to win, combined with extreme power and pretty close to a perfect fundamental game,” Kostick said. “She heel-toes every step for footwork. The swing is extremely loose and her ball placement doesn’t get behind her as her follow-through is going towards the target.
“A lot of times when someone has that kind of power, they don’t have the rest of the physical package. She can also go dead straight, go around it or loft it. She can pretty much do anything with a bowling ball and can do it effectively.”
As the saying goes, “blood is thicker than water,” and that couldn’t be truer when describing Haley and Jordan’s relationship. Jordan’s journey has been filled with a few obstacles but one variable that hasn’t changed has been her relationship with Haley. Their college experience only cemented their bond.
“I loved every second of it,” said Jordan, referring to their time together. “People have asked us would we rather have gone our own ways because some people say she’s stuck in my shadow. And, I really don’t like when people say that because Haley is amazing.
“But I was happy we got to stay together because we got to share all of the success we had. Unfortunately, we never won a national title but I wouldn’t trade the four years I had with her in college for anything because our relationship grew because of it. I love how close we are.”
The journey for the young phenom will continue as Jordan now looks toward the 2019 PWBA season. Besides a couple of titles, one of her goals is to win the 2019 PWBA Player of the Year.
It would not be surprising to see her win the award and don’t be surprised to see Haley helping her celebrate.
