Thirty-nine years ago, Doug Chung ’82 (PHARM) brought a national championship trophy home to Storrs.
Along with a ‘random draw’ partner named Bill Albert from Alfred State College – part of the New York State University system – he won the national doubles bowling championship sponsored by the Association of College Unions International (ACUI). He narrowly missed bringing home another trophy, as he finished 4thoverall in the entire tournament.
Although its initials may not be as recognizable as the NCAA or NIT, the ACUI is the largest organization representing student activity centers and student unions in the U.S. Founded in 1914, it is also one of the oldest associations in higher education.
When Chung was a student in the UConn School of Pharmacy, the other teams in UConn’s ACUI region included the likes of the Coast Guard Academy, the US Military Academy at West Point, the University of Rhode Island, the University of Massachusetts, and Bryant College, among others. Bowling was a big deal.
For Chung, it’s still a big deal. An avid bowler since his father introduced him to the sport when he was five years old; he joined the UConn bowling team as soon as he arrived on campus. The year he won top honors, he was captain of the UConn team – one of three years in which he held that position — and after winning the New England regionals, he headed to the nationals in Tampa, Florida in April of 1979.
“I was a pharmacy major and it wasn’t easy to get time off from school,” Chung says, “but I went to the school’s Dean, Karl Nieforth, and he gave me permission to go. When I got back with the silver trophy I took it into his office to show him that I really had been competing in a tournament!”
In fact, not long after word of his expertise on the lanes spread, Chung was ‘recruited’ by professor of pharmacy science Anthony P. Simonelli to bowl on his recreational league team. “No pressure there,” Chung says with a smile. “And I bowled on his team for a couple of years until I graduated
As a pharmacist, Chung has spent his career working in the southeast part of Connecticut. From Mystic to the Borough of Stonington, to Willimantic and Colchester, he has worked as both a staff pharmacist and as a pharmacy manager. At one time, he owned a pharmacy in his hometown of Ledyard, and he has worked in various capacities for CVS since 2003.
All this time, he has never stopped bowling.
Chung explains that bowling is the number one participant sport in the world, and says that he has bowled at least once a week for the past 54 years – ever since that first time when his father took him to the lanes and put a ball in his hands.
There have been a number of highlights in his bowling life, including two perfect games of 300 – the first when he was 18 and the second when he was 52. Chung was also selected to host a visiting team of bowlers from Great Britain when they visited this country in 1988, and he subsequently received a Presidential Sports Award from President Ronald Regan in recognition of his role as an ambassador of the sport.
He was inducted into the Southeastern Connecticut Bowling Hall of Fame in 2004 and last year he was given an award for having bowled in 30 consecutive United States Bowling Congress Open Championships. In all but two of these years, Chung has walked away with at least a small check signifying his expertise.
These tournaments are the largest in the world, attracting many thousands of bowlers over a six month period. This year, Chung will head to Syracuse, NY in June for his 31st consecutive appearance.
The honors are significant, but perhaps the biggest achievement with a bowling connection involves Chung’s luck in meeting his future wife, Stacie.
“I was bowling in a men’s league,” he says, “and Stacie was bowling in a mixed league at the same lanes. We started talking, played a game of pool, and ended up getting married. We’ve been married for 26 years and she is still an avid bowler.”
Chung is also active in the Rotary, having received the Outstanding Leadership award from Rotary International in 1997 and having served as president of the Ledyard Rotary Club – where he has had perfect attendance at meetings since he joined the organization in 1991.
He and Stacie are also active volunteers with Guiding Eyes for the Blind as ‘puppy-sitters’ for young dogs in training to be the guide dogs of the future. So far, they have welcomed 52 puppies into their home for stays as brief as one day and as long as several months, with more to come.
Chung says he owes a lot to his father, his role model and the person who introduced him to the sport that has been so important to him over the years. “He taught me how important it is to find your passion and do what you love in every facet of your life,” he says, “and I’m lucky that I’ve been able to do that.”
NCAA Sports now include bowling. UConn does not yet have a team. Perhaps it should.
