Mar 23, 2003 By Gary George For The 5 min read

It is probably not a generally known fact, but we are extremely lucky in this Fayette-Greene Association to have Big Al D’Andrea as our secretary. Here’s a perfect reason why I think this way.

Last October, I was rolling in a league at Suburban Lanes in Morgantown. That league fell into the Morgantown, W.Va., Association. On a very special night for me, I rolled games of 221, 278 and 300 to record my very first 300 perfect game, and also my highest lifetime series of 799. It was an evening to remember forever.

Over the next few weeks, I had the excitement of knowing that I had a 300 ring coming to me from the ABC for my game and a “150 over” patch coming for my series. The excitement turned into anticipation-the anticipation turned into irritation. By December 8, (eight weeks later) I had still not received either award from the Morgantown Association.

Finally, I decided to call the ABC to see where my ring was. It seems that the Association Secretary (who shall remain nameless) had never sent the ABC the order form for my ring. My perfect game was on file, but no ring had ever been ordered.

So, I ordered it myself and when I called back in two days, it was verified that it had just been shipped and that I should expect to get it before Christmas. That would have made the perfect (no pun intended) Christmas gift to me from me.

The problem was, it had to be shipped to the Morgantown Association so that the league secretary could give it to me.

Well, need I say that by Christmas day, I had still not received it.

I checked, but the Association Secretary didn’t have it, the league secretary didn’t have it, and even Keepsake (the manufacturer) didn’t have it.

It had just plain disappeared.

Finally, on Jan. 8, a women working in the shipping department of Keepsake found my ring. It had been returned by the Morgantown Post Office marked “refused” on the box.

Keepsake proceeded to send it directly to me “overnight” mail and two days later I had the precious thing.

When questioned, no one in Morgantown had an explanation. No one took the blame-no one even offered an “I’m sorry”.

As far as the “150 over” patch? Well, it is now March 23, 2003 and I still don’t have it yet! I’ve gotten a million and one excuses from everyone down in Morgantown, but I still have no patch.

So how does Al D’Andrea come into play in all of this?

Well, the week after I threw that great game in Morgantown, I rolled a 700 series here in our local Association, and Al gave me my “700” patch the very next week.

One of the fellows I roll with in a local league threw “150 over” for his series one night, and Al gave him his patch the very next week.

Rob Conchilla rolled 298, and Jody Greenwood rolled 300, and they both received their rings within less than four weeks.

Why is that? Because Big Al gets the job done.

And if you have ever earned an award from the ABC, you know how exciting is. You also know that Al D’Andrea will not let you down.

We are lucky to have him in that position of responsibility.

Ricky Van Buren

If you haven’t had a chance to watch and listen to the latest Championship Bowling TV show that we taped at Gudac’s last week, you owe it to yourself to make sure you do before it goes off the air.

I had Ricky Van Buren, Sr, work with me on the commentary and he was just plain superb. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had some great partners on my TV shows (Show, Umbel, Davison, etc.), but that mixture of southern drawl, down-home comments, and brilliant bowling knowledge makes Ricky unbelievably unique.

He was a delight to work with and I think you’ll find him to be the same when you listen to what he has to say.

Championship Bowling

We still have three more nights coming up this week at Brunswick 51 Lanes. Monday, Tuesday and the final night of Thursday with all the squads starting at 10 p.m.. Remember, the final night has a guarantee with it, and there is also a guaranteed spot open for a bowler who has never been on one of our TV shows before.

Schedule

We finally have the schedule worked out for the rest of the Championship Bowling season. I had hoped to have the Grand Championship at Gudac’s this year, but it just doesn’t work into Joe Gudac’s schedule. So the Grand Championship will move to the next house in the rotation and that would be Manor Lanes.

So here is the plan. When we leave Brunswick 51 this week, we will head to Fairbank (TV show taping April 13), then Manor Lanes (TV show taping April 27) and this includes an Easter night qualifier at 7 p.m., then Mt. Vernon (TV show taping May 11) with the doubles format again, and finally the Grand Championship (TV show taping May 18).

You can check here for the qualifying times or call the houses.

I’ll see you on the lanes.

Gary George is the Herald-Standard bowling correspondent.