Within weeks, my father was averaging 180 on Monday nights and still averaging 110 in the Wednesday/Thursday candlepin league. Some joker somewhere along the way challenged Dad to take up "big balls," the REAL man’s game. Dad was averaging 100 when they still had wooden pins and no one knew what silicone was.īut back to ten pins, and Dick Weber. I averaged over 110 a few times, peaking at 116, and even rolled a couple of 400 series, but that was after they started using plastic pins and started spraying the pin decks with silicone. I did my best to follow in those bowling shoes, but never could quite match Dad’s polished skills and unflustered manner. He was the first there to roll a 400 series and his personal best 419 was the alley record for more than 20 years. He was the first in Woodstock to average over 100 and the first to crack the 110 barrier. He rarely missed a single pin, perhaps the single most crucial skill in high level candlepin bowling.ĭad bowled at the Woodstock Recreation Center’s 4 lanes and later at the Twin State Bowl in West Lebanon-where he reigned as "King of the Hill" for months-and at a few tournaments elsewhere. He was to candlepin bowling what Tim Wakefield is to baseball, except Dad knew precisely where the ball was going. He was never one of those guys who heaved it a hundred miles per hour. A right-handed, corner-to-center bowler, he rolled a straight ball that he released so smoothly you could hardly hear it touch down on the lane. Relatively speaking, that’s like being a big frog in a medium sized pond. In my childhood, my Dad was a very good candlepin bowler, perhaps the best in all of Vermont. Those who average over 100 are considered to be pretty good. The best candlepin bowlers average over 120. Those who average over 180 are considered to be very good. The best ten pin bowlers average over 200. In candlepin competition, even at the highest level, you can win even if you never get a strike, as long as you convert your spare opportunities, and get "good count." If you don’t strike, you don’t have a chance of keeping up with the better bowlers. On the contrary, ten pins-big balls, we used to call it-puts a premium on strikes. It puts a premium on count-that is, using the third ball to pick up a precious extra pin or two. It leaves the fallen pins (deadwood) on the pin deck where bowlers can try to use them to pick up otherwise impossible spares. Why better? Candlepin bowling uses a ball that even a child can manage. ![]() ![]() I remain convinced to this day that candlepin bowling is the better, more challenging sport, even though it is an activity that has pretty much died out across Vermont and much of New Hampshire. But whenever I got the chance I watched those shows at my grandparents’ house, beamed out of the Boston area, and sometimes even on Channel 9 out of Manchester, NH or Channel 8 out of Poland Springs, Maine. We lived on a back road in West Woodstock, so there was no cable and therefore, no candlepin broadcasts. I don’t know how many of my childhood Saturday afternoon hours I spent watching Weber spin magic with his sixteen-pound ball, but there were plenty.Īs much as I enjoyed watching the events of the PBA tour, the bowling that I really got a kick out of was candlepins. He helped to put the PBA (Professional Bowlers Association) on the map in an era when color televisions were still rare and prize funds were miniscule. Weber was the greatest ten pin bowler-rivaled by Don Carter, and later Earl Anthony-of my youth. ![]() It’s a name that probably doesn’t ring too many bells in the Northeast, but hearing it took me back in time.
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