By Joanna Chadwick
Over my 27 years in Wichita — 20 at the Wichita Eagle as a high school sports writer, and the past seven working with VYPE magazine — I interviewed Collegiate tennis coach Dave Hawley so many times.
When a coach leads teams and players to 59 state championships in a storied career, there’s plenty of reason for interviews and stories.
So when he wrapped up his final season of coaching on May 12-13 in the state tournament, I thought I’d give him a chance to talk about whatever he wanted.
He had the same idea.
“I think I’d just like to ramble some and talk about oddball things,” he said.
*****FAMILY*****
“I’ve said a million times that coaching my kids was the best thrill of my life,” Hawley said. “… I just love the fact that they wanted to do a sport that I loved. My boys played everything growing up and were good at other things. Zach played four years of college basketball, and Ben could have if he would have wanted to.
“But the fact that they both found a good amount of time for tennis and really kind of poured themselves into it when they did, made me feel good about it.
“And Meagan, she has the sweetest heart. She has talent… She was our alternate on our 1999 team and the hardest call I ever had between players.”
Ben and Zach Hawley both came along at good times in the program where they had a spot, Hawley said. When Zach was a freshman, though, Hawley told him him he wasn’t going to be in the top six, even though he could have been.
“He didn’t ever say, ‘that’s not fair,'” Hawley said. “He understood from the beginning what it was like to make the tough calls.”
Hawley admits to cheering against Ben during his freshman year.
“He and his (doubles) partner lost three times in a row against the seniors — the only time they beat them was in the state championship match,” Hawley said. “People never believe this, but I actively rooted against my own kid because I knew he had three more years…. Ben really did play pretty good.”
*****The last team*****
“I have to go back just a bit,” Hawley said. “I knew a year ago that we were going to be in a position of rebuild. The four great seniors I had a year ago were our four best players. I knew that we had a really great freshman (Charlie Gentile) moving up from eighth grade. Carter Drumright got third a year ago. Sky Fujinuma was fifth as part of a doubles team.
“But we were still young and inexperienced. The rest were kids who had never played at that level.
“This is our team right now. We were going to do our best. We were going to go after it.”
KC Christian was the overwhelming favorite to win — and did. Collegiate finished second.
“When we qualified everyone for regionals, it gave us an option to make a run at something,” Hawley said. “I wasn’t worried about our singles kids. They’re experienced under fire. Charlie is a freshman, but he played high-level tennis all his life.”
Gentile finished third, Drumright fifth and Jude Cunningham-Sky Fujinuma took fifth.
“We went 8-4 on the last day of the state tournament with a rebuilt team,” Hawley said. “They just played hard. All we’ve ever asked them to do is to play hard, give everything they have.
“We went to a couple grad parties that night and I said that we were runner-up. They looked disappointed. I said, ‘no, no, no. This is one of the best tournaments we played. The team willed themselves to the place they got. They battled every single point.'”
*****Favorite memories*****
The 2009 boys team title was one of Hawley’s favorite because of all the emotion that was wrapped up with it after his father died in the middle of April.
“I had not been with the kids very much over the first month and a half,” Hawley said. Janet Glaser (now at Andover Central) and Jeff Nordgren were there for this amazingly young team.
“We had one senior and three sophomores and two freshmen…. They had to do stuff on their own. We go to the state tournament, and we’re not the favorite. Conway Springs beat us in the regional. Independent had the best singles player. Claflin was loaded.
“And we just played great. It really was pretty special.”
*****Favorites*****
“My favorite girls match I ever watched was 2018 where we had the defending 4A doubles team and Ark City had the defending 5A team and we played them in the championship at Pratt. We happened to win, and I would have been just as proud if we hadn’t. It was that good of a match.
“My favorite boys doubles match was at Riverside when we beat KC Christian (in 2021). They had three match points on us in the last set, and we won it on a tiebreaker.”
At the same time, Nick Grabon was playing Rossville’s Alex Sherrer in a three-set match. While Grabon lost, it “fueled his epic senior season the next year,” Hawley said.
“And the single greatest player, either boys or girls, was Matt Wright from 1993-96. He never lost a match. Our No. 2 player was Chase Koch. Matt was 110-0 and Chase was 108-14, and every loss was to Matt.
“The single greatest girls player was Brooke Withrow. I’ve been fortunate to have so many kids who were not just great players but great champions in the way they conducted themselves.”
*****No regret*****
“I’m not regretting the decision to back away,” Hawley said. “But little moments will catch me. I happened to see our girls, who were doubles champs last year as sophomores, in the hall and it hit me. Someone else will be leading them. I know it will be fine. I love the fact that they acted like they will miss me.
“I know they’re going to be fine.
“It’s going to be interesting to go to tournaments and, if I go, sit back and let it be someone else’s deal, someone else’s show.”
The thought has crossed his mind about running a state tournament.
“Maybe that would get me away from not coaching,” Hawley said. “Maybe that’s an idea.
“It’s just a good time to walk away. I’m still healthy. I’m on the court all the time. I’m looking forward to doing things at my pace. If I don’t want to, I won’t.”
*****Collegiate*****
“I love my school,” Hawley said. “… My kids sometimes think I love my school more than them. I’m so proud of it…. I know I landed at an amazing place in an amazing city with incredible people who work around me and gave me an opportunity.
“The kids we have do well because they’re coached to do well. Not because they’re recruited to do well.
“… These kids have been here since third grade, another moved in from out of state.
“Our coaches, we’ve built a culture — this is how we’re going to coach, and if you want to join this, we won’t stop them. But we don’t go looking for them.”
*****Text messages.*****
Conversations with Hawley can go on and on until you suddenly realize 30 minutes has passed. He’s so engaging, has incredible stories and his memory of the most minute details is phenomenal.
There’s no good way to end a conversation because you know you’ll be enthralled by whatever else he has to say.
But my son was at a friend’s and was waiting to be picked up, so I asked coach to send me a text if he thought of anything else.
No surprise, he did.
“I had viewed hosting state this year as a colossal mistake after agreeing to it, but a mom pointed out (Tuesday) at our end-of-season party how perfect it was because it allowed our people from the past — players, parents, coaches — a chance to come by and say goodbye,” Hawley wrote. “So meaningful in retrospect.”
He wrote that his favorite state sites were Kossover Tennis Center in Topeka, Winfield’s tennis courts, Harmon Park in Prairie Village.
As for his favorite memory, that was after the Spartans won the 50th title in 2017.
“The stories from my boys came tumbling out about why ALL of them went to the girls state that fall to root our girls on, partly because they loved our girls but more because the boys wanted to be No. 50,” he wrote. “That tournament rarely left my mind all summer.”
There’s experiences, too, that Hawley won’t forget.
“Opponents who have come to our TOC and willingly put themselves into the fire against the best in the state — this year we had 3/4 of the state singles champs in the field, and the fourth WANTED to come. Incredible tennis,” Hawley wrote.
“I’m done. I’m blessed.”
Nine hours later, he responded to a question on getting a photo and how to spell his daughter’s name — and had another memory to share.
“I thought of another thing,” he wrote. “A couple years back, our fifth grade English teacher came to me (she is a baker extraordinaire) and she said, “what if I bring you five cookies every Friday, and you tell me something about each of your teams that won a title … from one to present.
“Well, I love cookies, and I love my teams, so I said ‘yes.’ And the best thing about that deal was it made me go back and look at every team all over again, and it rekindled some great memories that had laid dormant. So kind of her.”
