A Dream

Erie Comes Down with “LinSanity” Fever

The Erie community is passionate about sports. It’s a passion for something they love to watch. It’s a community with sports fever, a community all about “LinSanity.”

Jeremy Lin poster at the Erie Civic Center.

Jeremy Lin played for the Erie Bayhawks, a National Basketball Association Developmental League team, for only one game. The game was an out of town game; so many people in Erie did not see Lin’s performance. His performance made Bayhawks fans go crazy, which is known as LinSanity, for Lin memorabilia. They gave away Lin posters, New York Knicks hats and t-shirts, etc.

Jason Vaughan, Manager of
promotions and client services
for the Erie Bayhawks.

After Lin played one game for Erie, signed with the Knicks, and started making history in the NBA, Jason Vaughan saw this as a perfect way to get people to come to more Bayhawks games. Vaughan, manager of promotions and client services for the Bayhawks said, "We wanted to ctach the wave and get right on top of that stuff, so we did a LinSanity night March 3rd. Basically if your name had any form of 'Lin' in it you got in for free. Like Kaitlin or Colin. If you were a Harvard graduate you got in for free. If you were 17 you got in for free because that was his number. If you sat in section 17 that day, we gave giveaways."

Jeremy Lin's Erie Bayhawks replica
jersey.

To draw more people to the games, Vaughn thought it would be a good idea to sell Lin’s Bayhawks jersey and practice gear on eBay, a website people use to buy and sell items. “It brought in all together close to $20,000, which was ridiculous. I was sitting at home and the jersey expired at 4 p.m. on a Saturday. We didn’t play that day so I was watching the bidding with my wife and kept hitting refresh and it was at $4,000 to start the day. Then with an hour left it was at $7,000,” Vaughn said, “then inside a minute I hit refresh and 45 seconds left it went up to $10,000. Then at 12 seconds left I hit refresh again and it was at $12,500. So I hit refresh again and it was over and it was at $13,800.”

A LinSanity t-shirt.

On their Facebook page, a social network people use to communicate online, Vaughan would post different promotional events and questions. “Once I would tag @JeremyLin and would hit refresh we would have 15 new friends right away,” Vaughan said. Season ticket holder, Melissa Smith said, “We follow Jeremy Lin on Facebook and actually bought a Jeremy Lin t-shirt. I mean I’m not a huge fan of Jeremy Lin, but it’s pretty cool he played for Erie for a game. When we came to ‘LinSanity’ night it was insane. We saw people fighting over different Lin things, it was nuts.”
The community is passionate about sports in the Erie area. When it comes to the Bayhawks, Erie thrives for Lin merchandise. People will go to all costs to get their hands on a piece of the memorabilia. It’s a “LinSanity” fever.

A Childhood Dream Come True

Karen Bukowski's certificate for Harbor
Ridge Golf Course.

For some, passion captures images of relationships. It is a love for something you always wanted to do. For others passion implies an internal drive. For people like Karen Bukowski, passion is everything. It defines her life and her career choice; golf. The 54-year old is a member of the Ladies Professional Golf Association and Professional Golf Association.

Bukowski’s passion for golf developed at an early age. “I was kind of a daddy’s girl. And on Saturday mornings my dad would go out for his one round of golf a week and I would be running behind the car going, ‘dad, dad take me with you.’ Back in the day girls didn’t play golf,” Bukowski said.   She says her father didn’t buy into that, he would take her anyway. After going with her father, Bukowski would play golf with the boys in the neighborhood.

Karen Bukowski's business cards.

With many friends insisting she try to become a professional, Bukowski did just that. “I applied to the LPGA, flew out to Phoenix and had to shoot a certain score and if you do you’re in and if you don’t you’re out. I was lucky enough to get in, so I started through that whole process,” Bukowski explained, “now I’m actually a member of the class A member of the LPGA and PGA and I’m certified in instruction for both organizations. So it’s fun.”

Bukowski became an adaptive golf instructor and has worked with many disabled people in her career. Adaptive golf is making any modifications to how the game is learned and played using some form of a modified swing technique, equipment used, and the delivery of instruction. Bukowski’s interest in adaptive golf came from her father. “It was my dad. Seeing how he loved playing the game and because of his age he had to step away from it. I believe golf is universal. You can start at any age and play at any at any age. Just because you acquire a disability, that joy should not be taken away from you. I didn't want anyone to be excluded from the game and I think because those doors were shut for mefor different reasons," Bukowski said, "my dad is now using a walker, he's 90 years old and we havea little jelly beanchip off every year. We put a little net up in the house and we hit the jelly bean into the net. Golf is very inclusive and I'm glad to be apart of that."

Karen Bukowski and Patrick Leighton at the Bayfront

Convention Center event.

Golf is a passion, a passion that captures many images of different relationships. For Bukowski, golf is her passion. For her, passion is everything. It defines her life and her career choice. Bukowski has impacted many people’s lives by teaching them the different skills of golf she has learned. She has made her childhood dream come true. “You’re outside in this beautiful location and you make people happy. You can’t even call it work sometimes,” Bukowski said.

 

Wilwohl Rises



Kayla Wilwohl's trading card
in the 2011 State Finals.

The clock winds down. 46 seconds left. The Mercyhurst Lady Lakers are down by three points to the Villa Victors, a rival basketball game being held at Mercyhurst University to a sold out crowd of 1,600 people. The Lakers run a play to try and score, but the play doesn’t work. Kayla Wilwohl, a senior shooting guard for the Lakers, has the ball in her hands. 37 seconds left. She shoots from outside of the three point line and scores. Tie Game! Overtime!  The Lakers pull out the win 45-39.

The Mercyhurst Lady Lakers
head basketball coach, Dan Perfetto.

Wilwohl scored a game high, 20 points in the Lakers win over the Villa Victors. "Her shot generated a lot of excitement; we knew that she was going to have to score in that game. It was a broken down play, and Kayla being the senior she is stepped up and made a play. After that shot, you could see we had a little pep in our step in overtime," Dan Perfetto, The Mercyhurst head basketball coach said. Not only did Wilwohl have an impact on that game, but she has impacted every game throughout the entire season, in spite of a prior shoulder injury.

After four shoulder separations, Wilwohl stepped up for the Lakers to make big plays in big games. It wasn’t like that at first. “My first game back I was scared and that’s completely changed I’m actually kind of fearless now.” Wilwohl said. “This is my last year as a senior and I got to go all or nothing. I’m hoping that (my shoulder) will stay in and thus far it has.” Wilwohl is focusing on her senior year and thinking about her future.

Wilwohl will attend Allegheny College in the fall. Where she plans to study pre-med. She also plans to play basketball. “I think going D-III and being able to still do school and everything it’s perfect, and I’m still close enough to my family.” Wilwohl said.

The Merychurst Lady Lakers 2011-2012 basketball team

After seeing what she can do for her team and coaches through a tough senior year, Wilwohl fell back in love with the one thing she never truly wanted to give up; basketball. Finishing her senior year as one of the tops players for Mercyhurst, Wilwohl will pursue her dream of becoming a doctor, as well as play basketball for Allegheny College in the fall.

Professor by Day, Eerie Roller Girl Roller Girl by Night



Penn State Behrend's Professor,
Elizabeth Fogle

 A professor by day and Psycherella by night,“At first I was seeing it more like a super hero thing, a Clark Kent during the day, Superman when I go to roller derby,” Elizabeth Fogle, a Women's Study professor at Penn State Behrend said. During the day she gives many lectures to students about Women's Studies, but at night is a completely different story.

It’s 7:00. Roller Derby time! Walking into the skating rink it’s surprisingly filled with an awkward silence, with a bit of chatter from the Eerie Roller Girls. Middle-aged women covered in tattoos fill the rink. Each and every woman start skating around  track to play "Roller Derby."

Roller Derby is a sport with very many rules and different positions each player can play. “It can be very confusing,” Fogle said as she pulled up her five inch thick black pads. “We are actually having a test on all the rules and positions coming up and I am nervous about passing it,” said Fogle. Even though Roller Derby may be complicating, Fogle is more confident than she has ever been, “It’s all about beating these bitches around the track,” Fogle said while gazing out into the skating rink, “I just love it.”



Eerie Roller Girls skate around the track
at Evan's Skateland

 Roller Derby is a contact sport played by two teams consisting of five skaters on each team. Four of the skaters form a, in roller derby terms, “pack.”  The fifth skater is a “jammer.”  This skater’s main objective is to skate around the track and lap all the rest of the skaters. Each time she laps the skaters, that team gets a point. The blockers in the “pack” try not to let the “jammer” through. Roller Derby is a complicating sport, but a sport Elizabeth Fogle has fallen in love with.



One of Eerie Roller Girls
 logos



Sitting at a desk waiting for students to arrive. Tying up the laces to the skates. Writing e-mails to other professors. Strapping on the helmet. Starting a lecture on the Introduction of Women. Putting on the knee pads and elbow pads.  6:00, class dismissed. The sound of the whistle, start skating. Gathering up the books and papers on Women’s Studies. Boom! Crash! Pow! Each and every skater falling to the ground as they get rammed by “Psycherella,” a woman who lives an unexpected life.