THE BE Almost every Spartan knows Dave Hawley. They know his voice, gregarious nature, easy laugh, big smile, and heartwarming hugs and stories. If you don’t yet know Dave Hawley – you should! Dave has been a member of the Collegiate family for forty years (with no plans of slowing down), and he just celebrated his 50th State Tennis Championship win – what a legacy! Here, he reflects on his time at Collegiate, his success in teaching and tennis, and his most rewarding and humbling moments while part of our community. Thank you, Dave, for sharing your stories and yourself with us!
KG // Your 50th State Tennis win in time for your 40th anniversary at Collegiate – how do you feel? DH // Frankly, it’s been overwhelming. I find myself looking back over the time I’ve been here and thinking of random things. It’s been a journey down memory road and really kind of cool to see things dovetail together. It’s been perfect timing, especially with the tennis – it means so much to our kids. That to me is really phenomenal. I’m just overwhelmed by how into it they’ve been. They want to be part of something big, too. I really didn’t get how it was going to resonate with people. Coming out of the woodwork, people calling and writing. Many players, coaches, and parents have called to wish us well. I had a girl, Claire Vanderpool, who graduated from here in ’83, who came out to see me. She read the article in The Wichita Eagle and brought me her copy of it and she’d highlighted the part where it talked about us not cutting kids and valuing every kid. So that meant enough for her that she got in the car, bought me some M&Ms, came out, and talked about it. So that was really cool, a nice thing. The collective joy people have in being part of it! Really good! Pleased! We’re making a shirt! KG // This particular team of boys – what set them apart from other teams you’ve coached before? 10
DH // I think it’s the here and now and the moment, but I also think they realized early that they had a chance to be part of something with the school that was pretty big. At least with some of them, that’s fueled their desire to get better. The most remarkable thing about these kids – these six, and a few more not in the top six – about two or three years ago, they really took a step to say, “We don’t want to be average players. We want to be beyond that!” And they’ve gone outside to other programs – to Genesis, to Crestview, to wherever – to play in tournaments all over the area. To see their investment has been huge. And they like each other. That’s a critical thing. If you dropped them in the middle of all these years, would I feel the same way about them? I think I would. But I’ve had a lot of groups, if they came along now… I might say the same thing. I was convinced that the group that graduated in 2010 and 2011 was going to be my favorite group ever. They still are incredibly meaningful to me for a lot of reasons. But other groups come along and you feel your heart kind of expanding. That’s a cool thing! This group – I love seeing their own self-determination to be really good players.
“We don’t want to be average players.We want to be beyond that.” KG // Do you have a favorite boys’ or girls’ team? DH // I always give this answer and it’s the safe answer, but any teams I coached that my own kids were on were my favorite teams. What’s my most talented? Team-wise, it’s my 1996 boys. They were so amazingly good. We had six incredible players, one of whom was my son. It also included Matt Wright, Chase Koch, Michael O’Shaughnessy, Jamie Rheem, Preston Jones, and Zach. They were incredibly good. In terms of talent level, trotting them out and never having to worry about winning or not, that’s a nice feeling once in a while. And they were great kids, too; I had a blast with them. Our road trips, we would talk about everything from Madrigals to other sports to NBA to this, that, and the other. I told this year’s team – “I think
