Either Sherry Bohl has the part of playing the always-smiling-when-the-cameras-are-on wife down pat or she was just incredibly happy.
She had a grin on her face for nearly 45 minutes the duration of Thursday’s press conference that announced her husband, Allen Bohl, as Kansas University’s new athletics director.
Making a good impression on KU fans probably had something to do with the smile. Her happiness with husband Al’s new job and the possibilities for both of them in Lawrence might have been the bigger reason.
Sherry will finally be able to finish her master’s degree in education something Al did in 1973 at Southern Mississippi.
“It’s been a dream of mine to get my master’s in education,” she said. “It’s been interrupted some because it seems every time I get some work done on it, Al gets a new job and we move.”
She said she had taught kindergarten through fourth grade for 30 years and that KU chancellor Robert Hemenway encouraged her to finish her degree at Kansas.
Al and Sherry married in 1968, but started dating in 1966, when they attended Vermilion (Ohio) High School.
“We started dating when we were juniors in high school,” she said. “But I had known him since we were in second grade, so I’ve really known him my whole life.”
Something she said she did not know, before Tuesday, is the beauty of Kansas’ rolling hills at sunset.
“I had never been to Lawrence before and we arrived at around 9 p.m. and saw as much as we possibly could of Lawrence and the campus,” she said. “It was absolutely gorgeous. I had no idea the rolling hills here were so beautiful.”
On Wednesday, while Al was with the search committee, she was “baby-sat by two people who showed me all of Lawrence.”
Early Thursday morning, she said she and her husband had planned to return to Fresno before they received a phone call from Hemenway who told them to be ready to meet for breakfast in 10 minutes.
“We hurried to get ready so fast that I don’t think I even ran a brush through my hair,” she said. “I think I might even have my nightgown on underneath these clothes.”
After breakfast, she said Al and the chancellor worked out a deal one that she completely supported.
“He’s my husband,” Sherry said. “I’m supportive of him and probably am his biggest fan.”
Their three children are fans of dad, too.
“They are all so excited for him,” she said. “Everyone is going to be here for Thanksgiving. We were going to have everyone in Fresno, but now we’ll have everyone in Lawrence.”
All of their children Brett, Nathan and Heidi have grown up and moved out of the house, but Nathan still lives in Fresno, Calif. He is also a big KU basketball fan, mom said.
Al said he was not able to talk a lot to his kids after he found out he got the job, but was able to give them a short phone call.
“Unfortunately, I have not been able to talk much to them since this morning,” he said. “But when they heard me say ‘Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk,’ they knew what it meant.”
