More than 67 million people bowl in the U.S. every year and there are 1.2 million who participate in leagues. Bowling has been traced back to Egyptian times over 5,000 years ago. Those first games involved stones for pins and a stone ball to knock them down. A similar game was discovered in Polynesia, in which the target stones were 60 feet away, which is still the standard today.
Bowling at pins reportedly originated in Martin Luther’s Germany. The game grew in popularity, moving through Europe and finally to America. Washington Irving made a reference to bowling in his “Rip Van Winkle” story in 1818. In 1895, the official rules of bowling were made.
In those early days, pins were made of wood. A plastic coating was applied to pins in the 1950s, which made them livelier and last longer. Modern bowling balls were first made of wood, then hard rubber, plastic, urethane and now resin. Up until the 1990s, bowling lanes were made of maple and pine. Synthetic lane surfaces emerged then and these modern surfaces are almost as hard as a diamond.
Well, here we are in 2022 and the newest iteration in the game is string pins. All 10 pins are each attached by a string to the pinsetter machine. There are fewer mechanical parts in these new machines, so they don’t break down and the strings on the pins are what is used to stop airplanes landing on aircraft carriers. They are incredibly sturdy and last a long time. Pin action looks just like always.
Orchard Lanes has just installed string pins in the party room. They are really fun to watch. Come on up to the Heights and try the latest thing in bowling, right here in Hood River!
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Now, what about those league bowlers at Orchard Lanes? We’ve got a great group of them who get to have all the fun and last week was no exception. Scores were outstanding. Our Team of the Week which is made up of the top five scorers, is once again, a dandy.
TEAM OF THE WEEK:
1. Levi Phelps 747
2. Bernie Keys 687
3. Nancy Asai 681
4. Lynn Spellman 674
5. Roger Montavon 666
3,455 total pins
Young Levi Phelps, our newest hard throwing, tight line, all-star pin buster led all scoring last week as he is doing often now that he’s become one of the best bowlers in Hood River. Levi crunched a stack of sticks in the high scoring Fraternal league, blasting a 10-strike 277 game which propelled him to a great 747 three game series.
It’s interesting to note that even though Levi bowled great, his hot-shot MWB team that has won this league an unprecedented number of times, was only able to win three points in their head-to-head match from the current league leading BB trio. The BB boys won 22 points from MWB. Great competition like this is what league action is all about.
Our next two slots on the big five are filled by Bernie Keys and Nancy Asai, two of our top women bowlers who are both having great seasons. Nancy is just a titch ahead of Bernie right now in the average department. Nancy is carrying a top average of 196 and Bernie is at 194. It’s still a toss-up for tops as there are many weeks of league action to go.
Last week, Bernie got the better of the battle, edging Nancy by six sticks in the series department. Bernie pounded the pins in the Fraternal with a beautiful 687 series, whereas Nancy racked up a super 681 set in the Tuesday Nite Mixed. Folks, those are impressive numbers which translate to 229 and 227 pins per game, pro-like stuff!
These two right handed all-stars play the lanes like bookends, on the right side, down and in between the first and second arrow with a small but controllable hook that puts all 10 pins in the pit with machine-like regularity. This is the best scoring angle to get strikes and these two talented ten-pin topplers make it look easy! Ladies, take note.
To reiterate, this elite Team of the Week of bowlers who posted the top scores at Orchard Lanes last week has two women on it! This shows that women can bowl and bowl well; these two prove it every week. Don’t use that old excuse that you’re not good enough to bowl league. Come on, get involved, join a league, put something into it, you will get better and when that happens you will have tons of fun. It’s a kick to slap those pins around, it helps gets your daily frustrations out!
Lynn Spellman is another regular repeater on our fab five. Let’s face it folks, he’s got it, he’s a darn good bowler. This past week, “Spelly” did it again, piling up pins in the senior league like no body’s business, as he fashioned a fine 674 three gamer. That track area strike ball of his works mighty good, doesn’t it?
Roger Montavon anchors this squad of big shooters because he had a devilishly good evening in the Fraternal, posting a 666 set. That soft rolling finesse curve that he rolls from deep inside sure found the target last week!
Let’s Go Bowling everybody! Come on up to the Heights and try those string pins!
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