Over the years it has been suggested to me to do a “Where Are They Now?” series. Not quite ready to do that yet simply because I don’t have the time to do the work. But when someone tells me of a story, I try to track it down.
I first met Carolyn Dorsey when she came into the Register office with her mother, Dee. The Dorsey family moved to Iola in the late 1990s when Dr. Robert Dorsey came to Allen County Hospital.
Dorsey was into hockey then. Her mother drove her to Kansas City every week to participate in a youth hockey league.
Basketball is Dorsey’s game now. In 2000 and 2001, Dorsey played point guard for Iola High’s Fillies. She was quick, athletic, could handle the basketball, shoot it, drive and was tough as nails.
All that paid off in 2009-2010 for Dorsey in her first coaching job. Dorsey had taken a teaching position at her alma mater, Emporia High School, and a coaching spot came open. She applied.
“I was anxious but also chomping at the bit to coach,” Dorsey told me last week in a telephone interview.
Dorsey’s first coaching position was assistant coach and head junior varsity coach of the Emporia High School BOYS’ basketball team.
“Coach (Rick) Bloomquist had a coaching opening and asked me if I wanted a shot at it. I didn’t care if it was boys or girls basketball, I wanted to coach. I enjoyed the whole season and had a blast,” Dorsey said.
Dorsey coached under the direction of Rick Bloomquist, who resigned following last season after 21 years of coaching at EHS. She said Bloomquist was great to work with and taught her a lot.
Dorsey played two years at Iola High, the first as a reserve under Van Thompson’s direction. The Dorsey family moved to Emporia and she finished her high school playing career at EHS earning second-team all state honors and league honors.
Dorsey then played basketball at Emporia State where she earned all-MIAA honors. In her junior season Emporia State was conference champion, regional champion and reached the NCAA Division II Elite Eight.
“I did my student teaching at Emporia High and knew a teaching slot in biology was coming open. I applied and got it. There weren’t any coaching positions on the girls’ side so I took Coach Bloomquist up on the boys’ spot,” Dorsey said.
“The boys responded well to me and I demanded respect from them. I ran practices and got after them and just talked to them. The only difference between coaching boys and girls is the pace of the game. We have great groups of really good kids here.”
Dorsey coached the Spartan junior varsity boys to an undefeated season last year. She even showed interest in taking the head coaching position for the boys’ team after Bloomquist resigned.
She didn’t get that job but landed an assistant’s job with the EHS girls’ basketball team this season. She said things were going well.
“I’ve learned a lot that I didn’t realize was behind practices and games. As a player, I just showed up and played. Coaches have to structure practices and plan and study.
“It’s teaching, just like I do in my biology classes. I get to coach with my mentor, Coach (Bill) Nisenstedt, this year, I’m learning aspects of the game I didn’t know as a player,” she said.
While teaching and coaching at EHS, Dorsey is working on a masters degree at Emporia State.
Dorsey: coaching is teaching
