When Dr. Michael L. Boykins was hired as head bowling coach at Jackson State University in 2014, he embarked on his very first coaching assignment with a goal of helping to uplift the sport by helping to create opportunities for women on the collegiate level. Ten years later, he has taken giant leaps towards accomplishing that goal – and he continues to do so.
With nearly 980 victories to his credit, Boykins has brought a pair of Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) bowling championships to the JSU program, winning SWAC regular season titles in 2015 and 2016. The Tigers also won the program’s first league tournament crown in 2016.
“We’ve awarded over $1 million in scholarships to young ladies at JSU in order to pursue their careers,” said Boykins, who is as elated over that statistic as he is over any of his team’s accomplishments on the lanes. “Each of the last seven years, we have achieved the coveted GPA mark of 3.7 or 3.8 as a team.”
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Boykins is a 1980 graduate of the University of Detroit who later earned a D.P.M. degree from the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine in 1984. He did his residency at Southwest Detroit Hospital in 1985 and is certified by the American Council of Certified Podiatric Surgeons.
Boykins has worked at Kirwood Medical in Detroit (1986-88), Michigan Podiatry Centers (1987-97) and the Foot Care Center in Jackson (1997-present). He says his professional goal is to “cultivate the practice of medical and surgical care patients in podiatry,” and to “maintain a level of superior competency and knowledge of an ever-growing field of podiatric medicine.”
Boykins’ goals in the sport of bowling echo those in his medical career field – to maintain a level of superior competency. He has been an avid bowler for over 40 years and has 10 certified perfect games to his credit. He says the ability to coach and be an administrative asset to the sport are what motivates him each day.
A member of the National Coaches League, the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) and The National Bowling Association (TNBA), Boykins served as president of TNBA from 2008 to 2012 following stints as TNBA Media/Communications Director (2009-11) and Jackson Mid-South Senate President (2006-10). He has made presentations to national meetings of both the USBC and the TNBA and he has developed international training programs.
In 2021, Boykins was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the University of Detroit, where he was an All-American fencer. He is married to Vicky M. Boykins, who serves as his assistant bowling coach at Jackson State.
