If I've bored the board broadly before with this bowling story, apologies in advance, but my greatest personal sports accomplishment was making the NorCal State Junior finals in 1976.
I had been bowling in leagues for years but hadn't been able to bowl a 200 game or carry an average over 140 until my friend and I -- on a lark -- saw there was house qualifying for the state juniors that spring. In fact, even better, we were the only two graduating seniors at Walnut Bowl, so that automatically qualified us for the regionals in San Leandro, no matter what score we shot. Not expecting much, I somehow cajoled my mother into driving us through the Caldecott Tunnel and down to the lanes, and she went off shopping for a couple of hours.
Well, it was a six-game set in the 9 a.m. wave, and damned if I didn't roll 206 right off the bat, finishing with a 1070 total PLUS 150 handicap pins for a 1220! That was the top score in the morning group for that division, and suddenly I'm getting the attention of the junior coach from our house, who had no idea who I was two hours previously.
I made it to Stockton and promptly crashed back to earth. But finally getting over that milestone really improved my game.
With a new Ebonite Gyro-Balanced ball (which is now a garden ornament in front of the cabin), I averaged 175 in league play at Fresno State with a high game of 233, then averaged 187 with a 258 high game in 1981. (The trophies are gathering dust on a shelf in the basement.)
However, the equipment was changing even then -- and my flirtation with scratch bowling was quashed rather nastily when I joined a league in 1982 that included Hall of Famer Nikki Gianulias (who just happened to win BWAA Bowler of the Year that season) and several other Bay Area pros. I was literally out of my league at that point, and haven't done anything but some recreational bowling since.
