blind bowling

When I was a kid, Seattle had the Ironmen, what you might call a triple A hockey club.  My best buddy and I became die hard fans.  We both took up ice skating, believing we'd some day join the team.  Trouble was, I couldn't see well enough to track that rock hard puck until it took my face off. 

I played pretty good basketball, out on the playfield court, in the bright daylight.  But in the old gyms of those distant days the lighting was not good.  I learned that even though the ball was big enough to see, my timing was impaired and I caught most of the balls on my fingertips or on my nose.  Baseball looked better.  I knew I couldn't see the ball from the field, but what if I became a major league pitcher?  Not bad with the old soft ball on the play field, but have you ever leaned over the plate when a  hard ball comes roaring past you at something approaching 100 miles per hour?  Okay, maybe in high school it was only traveling at 65, but it sure seemed faster. 

The baseballs, like the tennis balls, were already past me by the time I could see them. 

So I took up bowling.  Bowling is the perfect sport for the visually impaired who wants to be a World Famous Sports Idol. 

In the 50's and 60's bowling really took off.  The sport moved from the 8 or 10 alleys in the local taverns into vast palladiums.  24, 36 and more lanes(no longer alleys).  I used to bowl in three leagues each week and substituted in at least three or four others.  The neat thing about bowling is that when you throw the ball away, it always comes back in exactly the same place.  I never had to duck a flying ball.  Well, there were a few times when my girl friend swung her arm back and the ball flew off her fingers and dropped on my toe.  I learned never to stand behind her. 

So, I got pretty darn good.  And I was a South Paw, to boot.  My averages ran around the 190's and I was in fair demand in the scratch leagues. 

Then, in 1959, I returned to the University of Washington for a couple of quarters.  When I learned that the U's traveling team had all expenses paid, and went to exotic places like Pullman. Stanford and Moscow, Idaho, I decided to turn out.  I figured I'd at least make the second team.  I qualified with a 197 average and didn't even make the tenth spot.  Every single bowler was over 200. 

So much for becoming the next Earl Anthony. 

Today my competitive nature has to be satisfied with a deck of Braille cards and a game of Liverpool.  

 

Carl Jarvis