There is always a story behind great athletes, something that creates their passion to succeed and strive for greatness. Great examples of these people are like San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Marquise Goodwin, who became an outstanding NFL player due to the encouragement of his sister, Deja Goodwin, who has cerebral palsy, or former NFL defensive lineman Devon Still, whose daughter had cancer and that motivated him to be a star player in the NFL. Their stories are important to their success, and senior Dakota Dudley’s father, Robert Dudley, has been substantial into helping Dakota to compete at his full potential. Due to his inspiration, Dakota is going to be inducted into the USBC Texas State Hall of Honor in May 2019.
Robert Dudley, Dakota’s father, lost much of his hearing at the young age of three due to high fevers, and now he has been wearing hearing aids for the last 50 years. Later on, Robert developed a passion for bowling, and he has made sure to teach his son, Dakota, all he knows. In order to fully help Dakota to get better at bowling, five years ago, Robert decided to step away from playing bowling, and now he has become a teacher and mentor to Dakota.
Dakota has been inspired by his father because he has shown determination and dedication to succeed through times of pain and hardships.
“He is an inspiration for me to keep going despite all the problems he has had in his life,” Dakota said.
Dakota developed his love for bowling around 10 years ago, and this has led him to many successes as a bowler. Over the span of 10 years, Dakota has been able to eclipse 300 points in one game five times. Also, Dakota was named the 2017 Pepsi U20 champion, and he has finished first place multiple times in city and state tournaments.
Another huge accomplishment and honor to Dakota is that he is the leader and captain of the Cy Woods bowling team. By being captain, Dakota also has many responsibilities as the leader.
“My responsibilities as captain are to lead my team and greatly represent Cy Woods,” Dakota said.
As captain, Dakota is at the most critical and crucial spot in the lineup: the anchor. He is counted on to finish up the lineup for the team.
With all these accomplishments that Dakota has accomplished, he will be adding another to his already amazing resume. In May of this year, Dakota will be inducted into the USBC Texas State Hall of Honor. This grand honor that Dakota will be getting is very rare for student athletes. Only about two to four people are inducted in the nation each year.
Due to Dakota’s outstanding skills at the bowling alley and his great motivation to succeed given by his father, Dakota has been very successful at bowling and he will be working towards being a better bowler and an even greater person.