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| GOOD-BYE OLD FRIEND "A Stroll Down the (Bowling) Memory Lane" |
After 30 years as a business, my favorite haunt is about to close its doors.
Kentucky is about to widen the stretch of highway that Bullitt Bowl sits upon. My
hangout and my home are about to disappear forever. Since I actually live in
the building, yours truly not only has to find a new bowling alley, but a new place
to rest my bowling arm. Nearly thirty years ago my aunt Jackie Basham worked
the first day of business. I will be here to lock the doors on its very last day, April
30th, 2007.
When we were first told that there was a definite closing date, I felt as if I had
been kicked in the stomach. For I, and many like me, Bullitt Bowl has been our
place to go for friendship, fun, and oh yes, a few frames of bowling. Many of us
with unhappy home lives used Bullitt Bowl as a “safe place” to forget our
problems. Many of us used it as a place to have a few beers and meet new
people. Many of us used it as a place to put serious practice into our sport.
I thought I would take a few lines here to take a stroll down the bowling memory
lane, and revisit a few of the good times and great people that have come
through the doors over the years. My aunt Jackie worked here until she became
too ill to work, nearly 27 years. J. W., Betty Wales, and their kids have either
bowled or worked here since the center opened. I remember watching J. W.
shoot the first 300 game I ever saw back in the early 1980s, in the days before
the reactive resin bowling ball and walled (easy) lane conditions. Bill Noe has
been stopping by for coffee now for more years than I can remember. The
Tuesday Morning Ladies League is still here, all of these years later. Ervaline
and Shirley Arnold used to run youth leagues here, now they help run a league
on Saturday nights for the grown up versions of those same kids. Al Henning
and/or his family members have been bowling here since the beginning.
I remember getting my first kiss at Bullitt Bowl. I remember my first 200 game
when I was 14. I remember walking back in after 13 years of illness and deciding
to get serious about becoming a professional, chasing those dreams. I
remember my first 300 game 6 years later. I will always remember this as the
place I started my professional career. I will remember coaching 4 great Bullitt
Central teams. I will always remember this as the place where I met the lady of
my life, Jamie McCullough, down on lanes 15 and 16.
I started bowling in a 6-lane house in Pennsylvania in 1970, at age 4. In 1981
my mom and I moved to Kentucky and I remember how at age 14 I thought I had
just died and gone to heaven when I first walked in these doors. At the time, 28
lanes, overhead score keepers, under lane ball returns and the new AMF 82/70
pin spotters were the top of the line. There was always a waiting list for open
bowling. Leagues were 4 or 5 to a team with 20 to 24 teams per night. You
could get a game of open bowling for 50 cents. Or you could do as Thad
Bewley and I used to do, rent a lane for 3 hours for a whopping ten bucks.
Things have changed now. Instead of urethane finished wooden lanes we
have an advanced synthetic surface. We have the BOSS scorekeeping system
with its cute cartoons and intimidating keyboard. Most bowling alleys charge
over $3 per game. Bullitt Bowl has been running 99-cent games before 5 pm for
the last 10 months. It’s machinery, like most of us, is old and tired. Barry, our
lead mechanic is doing all he can to keep the “ladies in the back” running a few
more weeks. If we were going to stay open we could replace those machines at
around $50,000 per lane, but that would be pointless now. There is much
speculation about rebuilding the bowling center somewhere in Bullitt County.
Frankly the owner, Dennis Frederick, and his daughter Jessica (our current
manager) are not sure when or where. It is all a matter of economics.
These last few months we have once again returned to the days of waiting lists
and the “glow bowl” on the weekends sells out before it even starts. Sales are
way up and profits are the best in years. It seems the old girl we call Bullitt Bowl
wants to go out with one final blaze of glory.
My health has reached a crossroads, too. Side effects from medicines have
taken their toll on my major organs. I may still have a few more years of
professional bowling in me; you all know I have to try in my own final blaze of
glory. Jamie and I are moving to Graves County to be near my children, it is
where I belong at this stage of my illness. There is a small town with a newly
remodeled bowling alley there. Perhaps they have an open lane for the only
legally disabled/professional athlete in the country. Who knows what the future
holds?
The state takes possession of Bullitt Bowl May 1st. Our last day open to the
public will be April 29th. The leagues are winding down. Inventory is being
depleted. Jessica will be there to watch the desk most mornings. Jamie and I will
be working most of the nights and these last few glow bowls. Drop in and say hi,
or rather, bye, to us and this place we call home.
Be well,
Sponge Daddy
3/4/2007
Kentucky is about to widen the stretch of highway that Bullitt Bowl sits upon. My
hangout and my home are about to disappear forever. Since I actually live in
the building, yours truly not only has to find a new bowling alley, but a new place
to rest my bowling arm. Nearly thirty years ago my aunt Jackie Basham worked
the first day of business. I will be here to lock the doors on its very last day, April
30th, 2007.
When we were first told that there was a definite closing date, I felt as if I had
been kicked in the stomach. For I, and many like me, Bullitt Bowl has been our
place to go for friendship, fun, and oh yes, a few frames of bowling. Many of us
with unhappy home lives used Bullitt Bowl as a “safe place” to forget our
problems. Many of us used it as a place to have a few beers and meet new
people. Many of us used it as a place to put serious practice into our sport.
I thought I would take a few lines here to take a stroll down the bowling memory
lane, and revisit a few of the good times and great people that have come
through the doors over the years. My aunt Jackie worked here until she became
too ill to work, nearly 27 years. J. W., Betty Wales, and their kids have either
bowled or worked here since the center opened. I remember watching J. W.
shoot the first 300 game I ever saw back in the early 1980s, in the days before
the reactive resin bowling ball and walled (easy) lane conditions. Bill Noe has
been stopping by for coffee now for more years than I can remember. The
Tuesday Morning Ladies League is still here, all of these years later. Ervaline
and Shirley Arnold used to run youth leagues here, now they help run a league
on Saturday nights for the grown up versions of those same kids. Al Henning
and/or his family members have been bowling here since the beginning.
I remember getting my first kiss at Bullitt Bowl. I remember my first 200 game
when I was 14. I remember walking back in after 13 years of illness and deciding
to get serious about becoming a professional, chasing those dreams. I
remember my first 300 game 6 years later. I will always remember this as the
place I started my professional career. I will remember coaching 4 great Bullitt
Central teams. I will always remember this as the place where I met the lady of
my life, Jamie McCullough, down on lanes 15 and 16.
I started bowling in a 6-lane house in Pennsylvania in 1970, at age 4. In 1981
my mom and I moved to Kentucky and I remember how at age 14 I thought I had
just died and gone to heaven when I first walked in these doors. At the time, 28
lanes, overhead score keepers, under lane ball returns and the new AMF 82/70
pin spotters were the top of the line. There was always a waiting list for open
bowling. Leagues were 4 or 5 to a team with 20 to 24 teams per night. You
could get a game of open bowling for 50 cents. Or you could do as Thad
Bewley and I used to do, rent a lane for 3 hours for a whopping ten bucks.
Things have changed now. Instead of urethane finished wooden lanes we
have an advanced synthetic surface. We have the BOSS scorekeeping system
with its cute cartoons and intimidating keyboard. Most bowling alleys charge
over $3 per game. Bullitt Bowl has been running 99-cent games before 5 pm for
the last 10 months. It’s machinery, like most of us, is old and tired. Barry, our
lead mechanic is doing all he can to keep the “ladies in the back” running a few
more weeks. If we were going to stay open we could replace those machines at
around $50,000 per lane, but that would be pointless now. There is much
speculation about rebuilding the bowling center somewhere in Bullitt County.
Frankly the owner, Dennis Frederick, and his daughter Jessica (our current
manager) are not sure when or where. It is all a matter of economics.
These last few months we have once again returned to the days of waiting lists
and the “glow bowl” on the weekends sells out before it even starts. Sales are
way up and profits are the best in years. It seems the old girl we call Bullitt Bowl
wants to go out with one final blaze of glory.
My health has reached a crossroads, too. Side effects from medicines have
taken their toll on my major organs. I may still have a few more years of
professional bowling in me; you all know I have to try in my own final blaze of
glory. Jamie and I are moving to Graves County to be near my children, it is
where I belong at this stage of my illness. There is a small town with a newly
remodeled bowling alley there. Perhaps they have an open lane for the only
legally disabled/professional athlete in the country. Who knows what the future
holds?
The state takes possession of Bullitt Bowl May 1st. Our last day open to the
public will be April 29th. The leagues are winding down. Inventory is being
depleted. Jessica will be there to watch the desk most mornings. Jamie and I will
be working most of the nights and these last few glow bowls. Drop in and say hi,
or rather, bye, to us and this place we call home.
Be well,
Sponge Daddy
3/4/2007