VICKSBURG — After winning a state championship last year as a junior, Jordon Butler was excited about his final bowling season as a Bulldog.

He had an unexpected delay in getting started this winter, but it was for a good reason.

Butler was a left guard/nose guard for Vicksburg’s football team that made school history, advancing to the MHSAA Semifinals for the first time.

Meanwhile, Vicksburg bowling co-coach Ed Mullins had to regroup.

“It threw me off because our state champion was on the football team along with another good bowler, (senior) Brett Hess,” he said. “We pushed out our tryouts another week. We almost had to do a second week if they had won their last game. Fortunately for us, we didn’t have to do that. Unfortunately for the football team.”

The Bulldogs did fall to eventual Division 4 runner-up Hudsonville Unity Christian, 45-17, in that Semifinal matchup. But Butler is now a part of Vicksburg athletic firsts in two sports. He not only contributed to that program-best football playoff run, but last winter became the first Vicksburg male bowler to reach the MHSAA Finals – and win the Division 2 singles title.

“It’s never been much of a struggle for me to switch over mentally (from football to bowling),” Butler said, adding, “But my body’s definitely aching still from football.”

The aching definitely disappears once Butler picks up the bowling ball. Then it’s total concentration.

Since winning last season’s singles title, he has a new goal:

Getting the entire team to the Finals.

While the Bulldogs did not qualify as a team last year, teammate Xavier Hart was there as well.

“My friend dressed like a bodyguard in a suit and sunglasses,” Butler laughed. “He was there the whole time.”

Catching up quickly

Butler’s mother, Danielle Wiggins, was instrumental in his high school bowling success.

When he started bowling his freshman year, “She said if I was going to do it, I had to get some practice in,” said the reigning Finals champ.

That is when his career got a boost.

“I was bowling and there was an older gentleman next to me,” Butler said. “He had a bunch of balls on the rack, and he saw me bowling. He asked me what grade I was in and if I was trying out for the team. I was like, ‘Yep.’ Then he asked me to choose any ball I wanted. I chose one, and he said, ‘It’s yours now.’ I was like, ‘Sweet.’”

Butler started bowling with that ball his freshman season. Then former teammate Isaac Adams, son of the co-coach, gave up bowling and gave his ball to Butler.

“So I had two,” the senior said. “Then I just started buying bowling balls. I have six now.”

Butler started out teaching himself by trial and error, but then “Coach Ed and Coach (Chris) Adams, they taught me how to keep my hands under the ball and then they told me to work on slowing down and speeding up my speed.

“Now I’ve got great speed control and can control how many revs I put on the ball. I listen to the coaches.”

Rolling next to Olivet

One unexpected bonus emerging after that MHSAA Tournament was a bowling scholarship from University of Olivet.

“When you win the D2 state championship as a junior, you’re going to get noticed,” Olivet men’s varsity bowling coach Brandon Grice said. “I had seen some video, and one of my current bowlers (Nick Suemnick) who bowled against (Butler) at state Finals reached out to Jordon and reached out to me and hooked us together. He said, ‘Hey you really need to get Jordon at Olivet. He can help us.’”

After they met, the Grice said he knew Butler was a “great talent but an even better person. He is a better human being, great personality; he’s a leader.”

Another plus is that the senior plays multiple sports, including baseball in the spring as well.

“I love athletes,” Grice said. “I love coaching athletes in bowling because they have a little bit different mentality, and he’s got that mentality that I want. 

“When I did his signing, to have the entire football team there for a bowling kid spoke volumes about him as a person, as a teammate. He’s exactly what we’re looking for as far as a culture fit at Olivet. He’s that kid.”

Before heading to Olivet, Butler has one more season of high school bowling, and Mullins is excited about this season with so many trying out for the team.

“Chris (Adams) and I have discussed it,” Mullins said. “If we had the opportunity to have two varsity teams, we would.

“We have some talented young kids here, and it’s getting difficult to choose or figure out who’s going where and when.”

The coaches have the hopefuls narrowed down to eight.

Besides Butler and Hess, seniors are Brady Gibson and Emmett Bostocky. Hart is the lone junior, Carson Bowling and Anthony Foote are sophomores and Chase Williams is a freshman.

Butler was a shoo-in to make last year’s team when he threw a non-sanctioned 300 on the first day of tryouts. That is his only perfecto so far, but he did bowl a 299 in a summer bowling league.

“It definitely made me a lot more confident,” Butler said. “I knew I could bowl that high, but I just had to actually do it.”

As for the effect of Butler’s Finals title on this year’s team, “I think, we’re going to be more disciplined,” Mullins said. “I’m trying to get the kids to Regionals.

“What they do beyond, is really, really up to them. I feel our job is to get them to Regionals and qualify (for Finals).”

Added Adams, “From my perspective, I want to try to keep it as stress-free and pressure-free as we can.

“There are two or three kids who have stated they want to take the team to state, but outside of that, I don’t want to put more pressure on any of the kids.”

Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.

PHOTOS (Top) Teammates and friends surround Vicksburg’s Jordon Butler as he signs his commitment to bowl collegiately at University of Olivet. (2) Vicksburg boys bowling co-coaches Ed Mullins, left, and Chris Adams. (3) Butler, right, and “bodyguard” Xavier Hart take a photo after Butler won the Division 2 singles championship last season. (4) Olivet men’s bowling coach Brandon Grice. (Top and championship photos courtesy of the Vicksburg athletic department. Vicksburg headshots by Pam Shebest. Olivet headshot courtesy of University of Olivet’s athletic department.)