Angus Quigley: All in the Family

Sept. 9, 2009

LAWRENCE, KAN –

Angus Quigley grew up in Cleburne, Texas with three women—his mom and two sisters. His 25-year-old sister Zantelle played volleyball at Paul Quinn College in Dallas, while his 21-year-old sister Philana currently plays volleyball and runs track at Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

Growing up in Texas, the three Quigley children all enjoyed sports, but didn’t always play together.

“It’s hard to get girls to want to play football,” said Quigley, who is majoring in African-American Studies. “I would go out in the front yard and toss the ball to myself, but the girls didn’t want to do that.”

Quigley also played basketball and ran track growing up, but he still found time to hang out with his sisters.

“We would ride bikes and go running at night together,” the senior linebacker said. “We would just go do those things for fun, like regular kids.”

The three Quigley children all stuck together, learning from and teaching each other. Quigley followed in Zantelle’s footsteps while Philana followed in his.

“My little sister pretty much followed me wherever I went,” said Quigley, whose post-college ambitions include owning his own clothing store. “If I would have told her to jump off a bridge she would have done it! But it was the same way with me and my older sister. I didn’t have any older brothers or cousins or anyone like that around, so I looked up to my older sister. She looked out for me and protected me on the school bus.”

When Quigley’s older sister left for college in 2002, he was inspired by her because she was the first one in the family to get an athletic scholarship. After Quigley signed on to play football at Kansas, Philana wanted to complete the trio.

“I was always pretty decent at sports, but seeing Zantelle go play sports in college kind of drove me to be better,” said Quigley, who enjoys fishing in his spare time. “I just worked as hard as I could to get better. Once Philana saw us do it, she had to do it too.”

Quigley and his sisters’ passion for sports and desire to do better came from the support from their mother.

“My mom was a big influence on all of us,” said Quigley. “She did everything. There were times when her car wasn’t working quite right, but she always made it. We always knew she would be in the stands and that played a big role in where we are today.”

Even though Quigley and his sisters are grown up now and doing different things in different parts of the country, they still keep in touch. They also continue to listen, learn and teach each other.

“My little sister will call me and ask me about how I manage my schedule or with any problems she may have, and I can always help her with that,” said Quigley. “I do the same with them, and they help me too.”

Coming in to his senior year, Quigley still credits his family and upbringing for his success.

“Growing up I never thought I would graduate from college because I never really liked going to school,” said Quigley. “I promised my mom that I would get my degree no matter what happened with football and now I’m seven hours away from doing that. I’ve had a great experience here at Kansas.”