On The Lanes
At 82, Bill Santella is an unbelievable bowlling talent Now here’s a nice thing.
Last week, I happened to run into Bill Santella. I hadn’t seen him for a few months, so we had some catching up to do.
I’ve been privileged to roll with Bill in a couple of leagues over the years. He is an excellent bowler and a great competitor. He is so mellow to talk to that you could never believe the passion he has for the game.
We were actually teammates two years ago on Thursday nights, and I can attest to the fact that he rolled multiple 200 games in a night and shot quite a few 600-plus series during the season. He spent most of that time hovering around the 190 average barrier. He was probably the best leadoff bowler I have ever had on any of my teams.
Now, you might read this and think that there are quite a few players in the area with statistics similar to Bill’s, but you would be incorrect. You see, Bill is 82 years old!
This man is an unbelievable talent and even more so when you factor in his age.
I also found it interesting as we talked last week that Bill mentioned to me how last winter he just happened to be driving past Klondike Lanes one afternoon, and he noticed the parking lot was full of cars. When he went inside to check, he found an afternoon league was in session. So, he joined it. It was a mixture of ages, but for all intents, it was a mixed senior’s league.
According to Bill, one afternoon, a lady from the SPHS-Area Agency on Aging was at the lanes and was holding a tournament for all those present. The games in league counted for the games in the tournament. It seemed that different houses in the area were involved in what they called the Senior Games Bowling Tournament. And, to make it fair, the bowlers were separated into age groups.
Bill was in the 80-84 group.
A few weeks later there was another round with the highest qualifying players from around the area. Bill was asked to participate. He felt he bowled pretty well, but he wasn’t sure how he compared until he received a letter on June 2 from Diana Broggi, Program Coordinator. This is what she wrote:
“Dear Mr. Santella: Congratulations! You are the 80-84 men’s division winner of the 2008 Senior Games Bowling Tournament finals.”
Now, that is a nice letter to get.
And, as the champion, Bill has been invited to the Senior Games Victory Celebration and Awards Banquet that is to be held at the Summit Inn Resort. There is a dinner at 4 pm followed by an awards ceremony at which time trophies and medals will be presented to the winners. Bill is to receive a trophy for his victory.
Congratulations and Great Bowling to Bill. That is quite an honor.
And also, I wish to commend the Area Agency on Aging for having the competition that allows Bill and all the other bowlers an opportunity to compete and show their stuff.
I might also add, since I know Bill Santella very well, similar to boxing and wrestling, next year he should actually drop down into the 60-64 category to compete. There is no way he bowls like he is 82. I think he has a fountain of youth in his back yard.
The Ramon watch
Uh-oh, he did it again. Last week during the summer Payola League at Yough, Ramon Estrada went on a tear, and during his very first game of the night, he found himself with nine in a row. Having been there many times before, he probably didn’t feel the immense amount of pressure that most bowlers would feel just prior to throwing the 10th frame. I mean he threw a perfect game in the State Tournament, so he obviously handles the pressure pretty well.
But, in his usually quiet and gentlemanly manner, he waited until everyone around him had finished before he took his step up on the approach for that all-important tenth strike (the Big Banana ball). There were probably 30 people watching him when suddenly Mike Swink, the captain on the other team, inadvertently reset the computer and started the second game.
Unbelievable! There is Ramon standing there ready to go for his 300, and suddenly the computers are reset and everyone is ready for the next game.
Even the best of bowlers would probably have gone ballistic, but do you know what Ramon did? He started laughing.
There is Mike Swink banging around on the computer trying to set it so Ramon can throw that last frame, and Ramon is there with a big smile on his face trying to help him. After about 5 minutes, they figured out how to fix it so he could finish.
The chances are pretty slim after all of that frustration that anyone could actually toss a 300, but you know what? He actually did it.
Congratulations Ramon. That is great bowling. And in the process, you taught everyone present what patience, kindness, and good sportsmanship is all about.
The good old days
Carlo Ross was nice enough to provide me with a stat sheet from the Manor Majors League for the 1965-1966 season. I culled some interesting facts from it:
There were six 5-man teams. The league average for all the bowlers combined was only 174. Wasn’t that the days of wooden lanes and rubber balls?
The high average was 192 and it belonged to Rich Burgess. Rich had a teammate named Bob Doyle. Bob still bowls in the Majors forty years later.
Since there were six teams, I will assume that they all bowled each other 7 times for a 35-week season. With five fellows on a team and each of them rolling 3 games per night that would be 90 games of play each evening. And for 35 such evenings, we get a total of 3,150 games bowled during the season.
The document states that the league got a 10 percent return on the bowling fees, which was $157.50, so that meant they paid a total $1,575 to Manor Lanes for the cost of bowling.
So, doing the math means the cost of a game of league bowling back in 1965 was a whopping 50 cents per game.
Ahh, the good old days.
Bowling news
Uniontown resident Gary George writes a weekly bowling column for the Herald-Standard. If you have any bowling news, contact George, a member of the Professional Bowlers Association since 1997, via email at probowler48@aol.com or fax at 724-438-7290. Information is welcome from all area bowling establishments. Leagues that submit their scores directly to the Herald-Standard may continue to do so.