The RoundHouse | 3/15/2019 11:40:00 AM

Where are they now:
 
Angela Buckner – women's basketball (2000-04)
 
All those rebounds and baskets made an impression on Wichita State women's basketball fans. 
 
"Wichita has been supporting me since I was a kid," Angela Buckner said. "I tell kids all the time that you don't have to go away to be a star. Shocker fans will support you when you're playing and after you're playing. They still support me now."
 
Buckner's basketball career was worth supporting. 
 
Wichita State inducted her into the Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame in 2010 and she is a member of the Missouri Valley Conference's All-Centennial team. She entered the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.
 
She scored 1,382 points in her career to rank 11^that Wichita State and averaged 12.9 points. Her 1,297 rebounds rank first and her average of 12.1 second.
 
Buckner claimed MVC Freshman of the Year honors in 2001, All-MVC honors three times and earned a spot on the MVC Scholar-Athlete team in 2004. 
 
At Kapaun Mount Carmel, she earned All-State honors in 2000 from The Wichita Eagle.
 
"I stayed here because I had a great opportunity," she said. "I got to network and I ended up finding a great opportunity right after I finished playing basketball. I've had other opportunities to leave. I continue to see the growth that we have here. I love it. I'm a hometown girl."
 
Status update – Buckner is recreation director at three recreation centers for the City of Wichita.
 
"I program classes, activities, I hire instructors to program classes for kids and adults," she said. "You name it, I want to try it. I try to create unique programming."
 
Those programs include dance and sports such as basketball and track and field for 1- and 2-year-olds and music for ages 6 and up. She is considering courses that feature climbing walls and obstacle courses.
 
"It gets them socialization skills, mobility and it gets the parents out and about," she said. "The 1- and 2-year-old program has been a big hit. We'll do a max of 10 in a class, that way it's not too overwhelming. What's unique is that the parents participate. It gives the kids and the parents a chance to participate together."
 
Buckner started this career path with an internship in the parks and recreation department while working on her master's degree at Wichita State. She learned to swim at Edgemoor Recreation Center and played basketball at Lynette Woodard Recreation Center. Returning to those places as a leader appealed to her.
 
"I loved it," she said. "Being able to go back and contribute and work on different programs with the kids while I was still playing basketball at WSU was a cool experience."
 
Her marketing projects at Wichita State included developing the same type of classes – and budgets – that she now works with.
 
Walk, bike, enjoy – Buckner enjoys being a part of her department's growth as quality of life becomes more of a priority. Parks and Recreation organizes Open Streets ICT, for example, and that event will expand to two days in 2019 where busy streets are closed to vehicles to encourage walking and biking.
 
"We're starting to see the benefits of having parks and rec," she said. "Enjoy the outside – you'll see that in bigger cities. Wichita is starting to do that, and, hopefully, you'll start to see that on the river front."
 
The Arkansas River is a civic asset that Buckner expects more programs to feature.
 
"I see us doing more canoeing, paddle-boating on the river," she said. "A lot more activities with families."
 
Buckner said the department has been revitalized since some of its facilities and programs were cut back around 2010.
 
"They realized that we need these things," she said. "Now everybody is flocking back to them, wanting these things. That's why you see all the dog parks now, the bike trails, the bike shares. People want that healthy lifestyle. That's what Parks and Rec does."
 
Assist to Buckner – Shocker women's basketball seniors Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage and Cesaria Ambrosio are working with Buckner for their internships.
 
"I get to interact a lot with WSU still," she said. "I tell kids all the time that the best thing I got to do was an internship with the Parks department. If you're majoring in (sport management), go do an internship with the Parks department. You'll get to do a little bit of everything."
 
Movie nights – Buckner's hobby is movies. She keeps her tickets and estimates she said she has more than 1,000 in frames displayed in her home.
 
"Grease" and "Dirty Dancing" are two of her favorites. Popcorn and strawberry soda are her movies treats.
 
"I'm always at the movies," she said. 
 
Coach in Black – Buckner played three seasons at Wichita State for coach Darryl Smith and she hasn't forgotten his influence.
 
"He was the best thing that could have happened to me," she said. "I knew that if I could make it with him, I could make it in anything in life. He made me the best person I could be."
 
Buckner's connection to Wichita State women's basketball remains strong. She was impressed when current coach Keitha Adams made a point to contact her.
 
"That meant the world to me," Buckner said. "You're a part of the family, a lifelong family."
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.