ASU athletics have produced names like Bonds, Tillman, Mickelson and Nassberg. If one of those names isn’t ringing any bells, you’re probably not alone.

Jordan Nassberg is the coach of the ASU bowling club, and if you didn’t know that ASU has a bowling team, again, you are probably not alone.

It’s true, ASU has a bowling program, and it’s pretty darn good, too.
For the past 23 years, the ASU squad has made it to the
Intercollegiate Team Championships every single year, a feat bested only by Wichita State University.

The team has made it to the national championship three of the last four years, and on Thursday, it leave Phoenix at 6 a.m. to travel to Rockville, Ill., for another national tournament.

So why such little attention on one of the most dominant Sun Devil athletic programs? Nassberg said it’s probably because unlike many of ASU’s less accomplished, more expensive programs, the bowling program receives no money from the school or the athletic department.

“It costs us about $30,000 a year to fund our program, and we don’t receive a dime from the school,” Nassberg said. “We are pretty successful at getting sponsorships from companies like 900 Global and Verve energy drink. No kid has not been able to play for me because they couldn’t afford it.”

Originally from New York, Nassberg, an accomplished bowler in his own right, came to Arizona for a job opportunity. In 2001, Nassberg said the team needed a coach, and it came to him.

Given his passion for the sport, Nassberg was happy to take the reins of one of the premier collegiate bowling programs in the country.
“It’s a great sport, and we have brilliant kids. I have a great team,” Nassberg said. “On my A-team, we have a full squad of players who can win and probably two who are capable of making a living bowling after college.”

People may wonder what a bowling coach does. To those unfamiliar with the sport, coaching bowling is a little more complicated than leaning in a bowler’s ear and saying, “Listen, this time I want you to try and knock down all the pins.”

Nassberg recruits players, sets up tournaments and leads two 3-hour practices a week.

Junior Brian Makan, the team’s captain from Akron, Ohio, said that bowling is the only thing that has kept him at ASU.

“The people I’ve bowled with the last two years are my best friends at school,” Makan said. “I bowled in high school, and I didn’t really plan on doing it in college, but I’m happy I came here and did it.”

Makan said that since he is studying electrical engineering, and given the state of the economy, he would probably take any job he can get when he graduates, but hasn’t ruled out a career in bowling.

“Everyone dreams of doing something that they love, and if I’m in a position where I can compete professionally, I’d love to do it,” he said.

Nassberg said that while the team has done fine without the help of the school, if it wins the National Championship, he plans to ask Michael Crow to open up his check book.

In the interest of the ASU bowling program, and in the words of Jeffery Lebowski from the 1998 film “The Big Lebowski,” let’s hope that “the dude abides.”

Reach the reporter at jaking5@asu.edu.