Rick Schroer

Rick Schroer was born August 31, 1947, in Wichita, KS. He was the son of Gerald (Bullet) and Elsie Schroer. Rick passed away April 23, 2026, at the age of 78 in his home after a courageous battle with cancer. He was proceeded in death by his parents, Gerald and Elsie Schroer, grandparents, Albert and Alice Schroer of Lost Spring, KS and Henry and Mable Melcher of Americus, KS.

Rick was a true baby boomer. His father served in the Army in Japan during World War II and his mother built airplanes at Boeing for the war.

Following the war Gerald and Elsie married and made Wichita their home. Gerald got a job at Southwestern Bell Telephone where he worked until he retired at 65. Elsie went back to teaching in Wichita. When Rick was born, she became a stay-at-home mom.

Rick’s entire schooling was in Wichita graduating from Southeast High School in 1965. Since this was one of the first classes of baby boomers his graduating class was huge. Rick loved sports and tried out for about every sport that came along. He played Biddy basketball at the Salvation Army through middle school and little league baseball through high school.

Rick discovered golf when he was in middle school. He started shagging golf balls then caddying. He then began playing golf himself and he was really pretty good at it. He went out for the Southeast High School Golf Team, made the team, and lettered. In his senior year, the Southeast Golf team won the state championship, and Rick was on the team.

His next sport was bowling, and Rick joined his first youth league at Boulevard Bowl when he was in elementary school. He never stopped bowling after that.

As soon as Rick was old enough, he was hired by Boulevard Bowl to be the clean-up boy. He advanced to desk person, pin chaser and later night manager. He did almost every job there was to do at a bowling alley.

Rick enrolled at WSU in 1965, worked at Boulevard Bowl as a Night Manager and bowled. He then joined the Air National Guard and went for basic training in Texas at the age of 18. When he came home from training, he went to work for the Air National Guard as a civilian employee. He also went back to college and bowled in leagues.

Rick’s National Guard unit was then activated to South Korea during the Vietnam War. His military ranking at that time was Staff Sergeant E5 and his job was a crew chief. He had four airmen working under him. Their job was to be sure the plane was safe and ready for flight along with the pilot. Rick’s final job was to recheck the plane for safety and strap the pilot into the plane. He was very proud that he never lost a plane or pilot.

After serving in South Korea for about 18 months, Rick’s unit returned home to Wichita. He was happy to have served his country.

Upon returning home from Korea, Rick left the Air Force and Air National Guard to go back to civilian life. He enrolled in college at WSU and got a full-time job at United Distributors. His job was to service and fill cigarette vending machines throughout Wichita in clubs, bars and convenience stores. Of course he went back to bowling leagues. He had turned 20 in South Korea.

In 1975 Rick got a new job offer to go to work for Reynolds Tobacco with the support of his good friend John Birchfield. Rick took the job and really enjoyed it. He delivered cases of cigarettes to grocery and convenience stores and set up displays. It was a great job and he worked there until December 1980.

In 1976 Rick graduated from WSU with a degree in Business Administration. It took him a while, but he never gave up.

Rick had a busy life, but he decided to buy, manage, and run Wichita Carnival Supply as a second job. This was a company that sold items that could be used as prizes and rewards for children. He set up and ran carnivals that included booths, games and prizes in elementary schools and churches. He also sold New Year’s Eve supplies. He did this for many years.

Then in 1979 the opportunity came along for Rick to purchase Rose Bowl East in Wichita. Owning his own Bowling Alley was a lifetime dream for Rick. In 1980, at the age of 33 Rick purchased Rose Bowl East and took on the total responsibility of the business. He was the owner, manager and the do whatever needed to be done man. He had been preparing for this since he was old enough to bowl.

Rose Bowl East was a great place to bowl. Everyone liked each other. It was like a neighborhood bar that was a bowling alley. There were lots of leagues during the day and every evening had a 6:00 to 8:30 league. It was a busy place.

Saturday mornings were usually full of youth bowlers learning to bowl. They always had lots of coaches and fun activities to do during the season.

Rick continued bowling after he purchased Rose Bowl East. In fact, he had started attending the National Bowling Tournament in 1974. He bowled in it for 51consecutive years with his Rose Bowl East team. Rick was proud and happy that he bowled all 51 years with his good friend Dwight Henry. Their teams call to fame was that they took 13^th place for team event two different years. This was out of a total of 8,000 teams each year.

During his career, Rick sponsored many bowlers in tournaments and events.  He said the most exciting and fun time he ever had was when he sponsored Justin Hromek and Rick Steelsmith on the Pro Tour. He said he enjoyed every minute of it and they were great guys. Rick remained very good friends with both of them for the rest of his life.

In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, Rick was president for the Bowlers Proprietors Association of Wichita. He decided to take on the task of bringing high school bowling to Wichita Public Schools. After much debate and negotiations both sides agreed. So, during the 1999-2000 school year High School Bowling started in Wichita as a collegiate sport where bowlers could letter and have all the honors of other sports. This was very important to Rick, and he worked very hard on it. Look where High School Bowling is today. It is all through Kansas and most other states. To think it might have all started right here in Wichita.

After being in the bowling business for 24 years Rick was faced with a new challenge which was called the road construction on Kellogg. It was going to affect his business at Rose Bowl East for the next 8-10 years.

On June 12, 2003, after much debate Rick sold Rose Bowl East and the center was closed This was something he really did not want to do but felt he had no choice. So, at the age of 56 he retired but went on bowling, golfing, going to WSU Shocker games and even went on a vacation to Germany.

Rick had many accomplishments during his bowling career. He always averaged a score of 210-220. His highest yearly average was 225. Rick bowled twenty 300 games and many games with 11 strikes in a row, mostly scoring at 298 and 299. He as put in the Greater Wichita Bowling Association (GWBA) Hall of Fame in 1995. He was also awarded the Wichita Bowling Association Presidents Award in 2002.

Rick was an avid WSU supporter. He attended Shocker basketball games for over 70 years starting at the Forum downtown with his father. He had season tickets for 49 years. He enjoyed following the Shockers to tournaments, especially to their NCAA games. It was Great Fun.

On December 7, 2024, Rick was selected to be the Fan of the Game at the Shocker’s home basketball game. He got to go out on the court to be introduced and then he led the crowd in his favorite cheer, 2Bits-4 Bits-6 Bits a dollar all for Shockers stand up and holler. The crowd went wild. Rick said he really enjoyed it and it meant a lot to him.

Rick was a good man and willing to help anyone in any way he could. He lived a full and busy life with many adventures. He will be greatly missed by his family and friends.

Rick is survived by his sister, Donna Schroer of Wichita, KS and many cousins and close friends.

Funeral Service will be at 10:00 am, Saturday May 2, 2026, at Downing & Lahey East Mortuary. Burial will follow at 2:00 pm at Grant Township Cemetery. A meal to follow the burial will be at Hebron Lutheran Church in Burdick, KS.

Memorials have been established with: WSU Men’s Bowling, 1845 Fairmount St, Wichita, KS 67260; Victory in the Valley, 3755 Douglas Ave. Wichita, KS 67218; and Hebron Lutheran Church, 2147 S. 2900 Rd. Burdick, KS 66838.