2025, education, Family, Gatherings, sports, Uncategorized

Bowl

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I see that today in 1520 is the anniversary of Henry VIII ordering that a bowling alley be installed in his palace at Whitehall. I imagine it was an outdoor lane for lawn bowling, but even so it reminded me of my bowling experiences.

I noticed last week as we were driving around Luverne that the bowling alley was still a going concern, although it is only open Thursday through Saturday these days. I never belonged to a youth bowling league, but the bowling alley was a place to go to have fun when I was in high school. I don’t remember it serving anything but snacks and simple beverages. My mother belonged to a bowling league, and I remember how heavy her bowling ball seemed to me when I was a child when I would take it out of its bag in her closet.

The bowling alley in Dickinson is a really busy place that doubles as a bar and restaurant. There are very active bowling leagues for adults and children. It also is the stop for the buses that run east and west across the state. The police have their hands full there. A work colleague’s husband was attacked and robbed in the parking lot by a couple of Montana guys recently who he met bat the bar and had a couple of drinks with.

One of my high school classmates had a dad who was a professional bowler who seemed to earn a living bowling competitively. I remember seeing him on TV in bowling matches. I don’t think that is a thing anymore. What a way to make a living!

When I started as a freshman at Concordia College in Moorhead. MN, we had to take two semesters of physical education. I opted for bowling for my first gym class. It was taught by Sonny Gullsvig, the college basketball coach, at a local bowling alley. I will never forget Coach Gullsvig instructing us in his coaching voice as though he was in the Concordia gym ” FIRST YOU TAKE THE BALL AND TOSS IT DOWN THE ALLEY….” I skipped class a lot and ended up with a “C,” in the class.

What are your bowing memories? Ever hang out at a bowling alley?

33 thoughts on “Bowl”

  1. There was a duck pin alley at the Manila Polo Club in the 1960s. Six lanes. Catty corner from the indoor badminton courts. I might have been 14 when I started playing.

    I was, in those days, absent of the influences that cause a young person to become athletic. Had it not been for the social aspect of the activity, I might not have moved at all.

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  2. I worked flooring at The Bowler in Fargo several times. The carpet was always an Axminister, woven heavily patterned requiring hand sowing. The casino area was stinky. The toilet rooms were REALLY stinky. Working after business hours…well.

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  3. I think I’ve probably mentioned here before that my mother was a jock. In college, she was on the bowling team (among other athletic teams) and won a trophy at some point; t was a bowling pin inscribed for her win. I do not remember what it said unfortunately. This bowling pin lived around our house for years and years and years. I don’t think she still has it in storage, but I don’t know for sure. But she never went bowling after that and so bowling wasn’t something that I ever really thought about growing up. I’ve probably only been bowling six times in my life. Nothing memorable.

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  4. I, too, took bowling to meet my phys ed college requirement. I, too, got a C, mainly because on the final exam, I added 8+5 in the second frame and got 14. My otherwise perfect score keeping was off by one for the remainder of the game. I should have taken math first.

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    2. I find it remarkable that you (and Renee) remember your grade from bowling in college. I don’t remember any of my grades- even in subjects I cared about.

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      2. I took juggling for two terms as part of my phy ed requirement college. But all the phy ed classes were graded past/fail. I did pass. I did pretty well, but I don’t think I could juggle now….

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  5. I knew a guy out here, a real simple kind of guy who was from a small town near us and who had sustained several head injuries in his work as a pin setter in a bowling alley. I guess his job was to sit at the pin end of the alley beneath the lane and manually reset the pins while dodging bowling balls. It is a good thing it is all mechanized now.

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  6. My dad belonged to a league when I was young – I remember his lime green bowling shirt with “Bill” embroidered on it somewhere… I think he was pretty good at it.

    We must have had a bowling class in high school, because I remember being taught. But I too have only bowled a handful of times in my adult life.

    Now, the roller rink – there I remember hanging out.

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  8. RIse and Shine, Baboons,

    My memories of a bowling alley are similar to the rest of your memories. When I was in my early 30’s during a family gathering, some cousins and I decided to go bowling. Our children, the older ones being about 7 or 8 years old, were there for it. I did OK that night, but I had not bowled for many years–I was never any good at it, and had to first master just getting the ball in the lanes instead of the gutters. The next morning I awoke in pain. I was stiff and sore with muscles which had not been used in years in that particular set of movements, screaming for mercy. I never bowled again, and it is my most prominent memory of bowling. As it turned out I developed arthritis in my neck and shoulders, so there was a vulnerability already demonstrating itself. But I associate bowling with pain. Who needs that?

    I did not ever enjoy the atmosphere of a bowling alley, so I have not hung out there. Noisy, smoky, fried food smells,drunks. Nope.

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  9. I spend every Tuesday night hanging out in a bowling alley these days. Daughter is part of Special Olympics bowling. It’s not her favorite thing to do unless she can use the bumpers and not get gutter balls. Well. Wouldn’t we all prefer no gutter balls. She goes bowling for fun sometimes and they use the bumpers. (did you know they’re automated now?? You can add them by the person automatically, and they pop up out of the gutters!)

    Yeah, I bowled a few times with my folks. It was one night after bowling when I was 16 and had my learners permit, and we left in the dark, and I drove across the highway (because I thought it was 4 lanes, not just 2) and down into the a ditch, and back up into the church parking lot. This was in a big ole Buick LeSabre. Mom got the giggles in the back seat while Dad yelled from the front and I was just trying to figure out what was going on…

    There are two bowling alleys in town. One is big and fancy and includes arcades and laser tag and party rooms. That’s the one I drove arcoss the highway.
    The other one is where daughter is bowling now. It’s not unusual for the lanes to stop working. The coaches frequently have to reset the lane. And a guy has to run back behind and send the balls back up because they get stuck. So all that is kinda frustrating. The fancier alley has windows in a hallway so you can watch all the pin setters. Kinda cool.

    Three cheers for the Big Lebowski!

    Kelly’s folks and grandma all bowled. Cleaning out her parents house, I laughed because in the bag under moms bowling ball was the rule book. Under dads ball was a bottle of whiskey. Well if that didn’t sum them up right there…

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    1. Another thing; watching all the people bowl on Tuesdays- I don’t know how come the floors are not dented!
      And the way the balls can spin is fascinating!

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    4. I still giggle at the image it conjures up in my mind, you and your parents ending up in the church parking lot. Good thing they didn’t have a fence around it. I can imagine that it happened so fast that all three of your were surprised to find yourselves there.

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    5. 4 cheers for The Big Lebowski. The last scene where Donny’s ashes are “cast to the wind” is amazing dark humor. Perfect Cohen brothers.
      “F…it! Let’s go bowling.”

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  10. Bowling was not a thing in Denmark when I grew up. I ‘m not even sure there were any bowling alleys there at the time, so I had no idea what bowling entailed.

    My first exposure to bowling was at the American Air Force base in Greenland. It didn’t go well. First off, because there were no women on base, they didn’t have women’s bowling shoes, and though I don’t know this for a fact, I suspect the bowling balls were also heavier than what a woman my size would typically use. Plus the holes where you insert your fingers to grip the ball were too large for my hand. Add to that that I have small hands and small feet (size 7 shoes), I had several strikes against me at the get go.

    Several GIs eagerly demonstrated how to hold the ball, approach the lane, and toss the ball toward the pins. As I made my first approach in my too big shoes, the ball slid off my hand on the backswing and rolled toward the GIs seated behind me. Much hilarity and merciless teasing ensued. My second attempt was a gutter ball.

    I somehow managed to complete all ten frames and accrued a total score of 29, committing every bowling faux pas in the process.

    After arriving in the US I did eventually learn to bowl, but I was never that good. The highest average I ever reached was 139, good enough to enjoy the game and have fun, but certainly not good enough to ever be an asset to a team. My highest score ever was 246; I was in the zone that night.

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  11. I have never had a custom ball, so every time I went bowling I went in search of one that fit my rather small hand. I was happy if I could find an 8-pounder; if not, I would settle for 9. 9-pound balls were manageable, but after awhile my wrist would start to ache.

    I never got good at bowling, but had a few lucky strikes.

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