Scott Toland’s recitation spelling of the longest word in the English language is rapid at first.

“P-n-e-u-m-o-n-o-u,” Toland, the Iola freshman, begins. “l-t-r-a-m-i-c-r-o-s-c-o-p-i-c-s.”

He slows his pace, thinks for a moment, and wraps up the 45-letter word.

“I-l-i-c-o-v-o-l-c-a-n-o-c-o-n-i-o-s-i-s.”

The word means lung disease caused by inhalation of volcanic gasses, and Toland smiles as he finishes the spelling. This is the life of a spelling bee champion.

Toland, who covers intramural sports for The Kansan, was recently accepted as one of seven students to work for the Scripp’s National Spelling Bee from May 26 to June 2 in Washington, D.C., this year. The process is selective, and he said it was an honor to be chosen.

“This is a dream for me,” Toland said. “It’s what I’ve always wanted to do in spelling.”

Toland’s road to spelling was started by his older sister. Carol Toland, who is a second-year School of Law student at the University of Kansas, won the school spelling bee when Scott was in grade school. The next year, his older brother Mark won the bee. Soon, the family spelling gene made its way to Scott, the third oldest of four children.

He won his school bee in both sixth and seventh grades, which advanced him to the state spelling bee.

The state bee goes in alphabetical order by county. Iola, which is in Allen county, landed Toland as the first speller.

“I was just nervous I was going to be the first one out,” Toland said. “I just kept hanging in there, though.”

Toland hung in not only to avoid being the first speller eliminated, but managed to finish 12th of Kansas’ 103 competitors. He studied the next year for sometimes as long as an hour each night. Toland said friends and family helped him throughout the process.

“Anybody I could find to give me words to spell, I would do it,” Toland said. “They were pretty helpful with that.”

The next year he returned to the state bee and won, earning a spot at the national bee. When his spelling career ended in eighth grade, Scott began coaching his younger brother, Kent, who qualified twice for the national bee. While Scott and his family were in Washington D.C., for the bee last year, his mother Karen was forced to fly home to Iola to care for Scott’s father John, who had cancer. Scott stayed alone with his younger brother to coach him in the nationally televised bee. After Kent was eliminated in the final rounds of the bee, the brothers flew back from Washington. On May 2, just hours after they arrived, their father passed away.

“Their father loved the kids’ spelling ability,” Karen Toland said. “We’ve been so blessed, and spelling has been a great relief for us.”

Karen Toland said she was thrilled when she found out Scott had been chosen to work on this year’s staff, because it was a full circle for the family.

“I knew he was the person for the job,” she said. “I was so happy for him. All his work really did pay off.”

Today, spelling is taken as seriously by parents as any other sport or activity. The Scripps National Spelling Bee is one of ESPN’s most popular events and is broadcast annually. Toland said some kids were forced to go to spelling camps. He said knowing that angle of spelling made him appreciate the support he had received from his parents to do whatever made him happy.

“They never pressured us to study, and they never made us do it.” Toland said.

At the beginning of his first year in college, some of the Grace Pearson Scholarship Hall residents searched Google for one another’s names. When they discovered Toland’s spelling prowess, they were surprised.

“I don’t just go around telling people, you know,” Toland said. “They sent out an e-mail letting everyone know, though.”

He said his friends occasionally found words and tried to trip him up, but they were usually not successful.

He said his understanding of spelling didn’t affect his everyday life.

“When a teacher spells a word wrong or something on the overhead, it stands out,” Toland said. “Normally though, I don’t think about it much.”

Kansan staff writer Erick R. Schmidt can be contacted at eschmidt@kansan.com.

— Edited by James Pinick