Dunbar Senior Thrives on a Challenge
KU Scholar Athlete of the Month: Adam Talwalkar
School: Dunbar High
Grade: 12
Sports: Baseball
Academics: Adam is a 4.8 student, No. 2 in his class and scored 34 on the ACT
Parents: Susan & Vish
Call it destiny, fate or just good training, but Adam Talwalkar, the Student-Athlete of the Year at Dunbar High, seems ideally suited to follow his father and become a surgeon.
A hard-hitting catcher, Adam, 17, will play baseball and be a pre-med major at Vassar College outside of New York City.
His father, Vish, was an All-State quarterback at Lafayette High, before embarking on a career as a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Shriners Hospital in Lexington.
Adam’s uncle, Janak, played baseball at UK and is an orthopedic surgeon at Lexington’s Baptist Health Hospital.
Starring in sports and pursuing a medical career just seems part of the Talwalkar pedigree.
Adam certainly has the academic chops to carry on the family tradition. He graduated Dunbar with a 4.8 GPA, scored 34 on the ACT and took seven A.P. classes. Math and science classes dominated his course load.
He was a National Merit Scholarship Finalist and U.S. Presidential Scholar semifinalist. He’s a National Honor Society and National German Honor Society member, and he was Academic All-State three straight years. Plus, dad brought home interesting stories of life in the O.R.
“He always had dinner time stories that made being a surgeon sound appealing,” Adam said. “He enjoyed being a surgeon and made it sound like fun.”
Dad also brought home props, like the time he showed the family a life-size 3-D model of a spine to demonstrate a particularly complicated spinal fusion surgery.
Adam interned his senior year at Shriners Hospital and witnessed numerous surgeries. Plus, he enjoys studying math and science because they are complicated subjects.
“I like the challenge,” he said. “I like the long, hard problems and the satisfaction of getting them done.”
“He learns things quickly and easily,” his mother Susan said. “I’ve never seen him stress over a math assignment.”
A catcher since he was 10, Adam at Dunbar played behind Brendan Hord, the Scholar Athlete in June 2018 who attends UK on a baseball scholarship.
As a designated hitter in 11th grade, Adam batted .330 and led the team with 11 doubles.
As a senior, the 6-foot-2, 200-pounder was the starting catcher with a .312 batting average until he suffered a broken finger after 16 games. His injury came on a slide after he doubled in a 3-2 win over Tates Creek, this year’s State champion.
Team captain and a natural leader, Adam directed traffic from behind the plate for the Bulldogs.
“As the catcher,” he said, “I’m in contact with every player on the team, and there is always a way to help.”