STORY PAGE
The Problem Bowler
Setting pins was big part of my early life. I set pins about four years. The friends I formed there were closer than any from school. I also realized the enjoyment of doing a job well, learned a game I was proficient at, and gained stomach and arm muscles that have lasted through the years. (Until Arthritis)
With the advent of semi-automatic machines a decent pinsetter could easily set two alleys keeping one bowler waiting while another bowled. It had its danger however. With good, fast paced bowlers, they had to keep the rhythm. If a bowler used two balls and did not follow protocol he could throw his second ball while the pinsetter was in the pit. Having a 16-pound ball fired by a man could ruin a pinsetter's leg for life. If it hit him in the head while bending over it could easily kill him.
I had one such person substituting one night. After his first out of rhythm use with his second ball I held the next two bowlers ball. I walked up to the two teams and explained the danger. They apologized. The man was new. Not long after it happened again, this time with a chuckle from the bowler. I again held the next two bowlers balls while I asked my boss, Bert, to talk to the man. He did. He even hung around and things again went smoothly.
In the beginning of the last game it happened again. Bert had gone upstairs to his office. I was about ready to take this guy on. I was on the inner lanes and the other pinsetters stopped me. That caused all bowling to slow down and Bert quickly returned. The guy must have been feeling his alcohol, because he did it again. This time he almost hit my leg. If I hadn't kept looking up to check on him he would have hit me with the ball. I stopped both alleys for a while and then let the game continue.
On his next time up he through his first ball. As soon as I jumped into the pit he grabbed the second ball. His teammates yelled for him to stop. He didn't. He had quickly grabbed the ball and in one motion tried to place his thumb and fingers in the ball. It didn't work. It dropped on the side of his foot. I had placed some salve from my school gym bag in his thumb and finger holes. I had assumed it would render his 2nd ball useless for the night and with only one ball, I could control his rhythm. I was sure he did it on purpose, and didn’t feel bad at all that he “almost” received a broken toe for his efforts. He was finished for the night. The team he bowled for took a loss for that game and total. His teammates however, bowled the last game out.
Bert came down and said that it was my last night. I could finish the night out, but then I was done. (There was a second league following). I was pissed. He should have tossed the guy out the second time it happened and he knew it. I told him I would finish this game and he could get someone else for the next shift. The other two setters then told him that if I went, they went.
I told Bert To have my money on the weekend, I was finished. After, the games were over the two team captains caught me in the pinsetters room and apologized and gave me my tip. I told the two other pinsetters not to walk out because of me. I thanked them for their support and left. I walked home early that night.
All the way home I wondered if didn't act too quickly. Bert would have cooled down. These people were my close friends. The bowling alley was part of that. Well it was over, time to move on. The print shop that I worked for before bowling was asking me to work longer hours. I would talk to them tomorrow.
Shortly after I returned home my mother came to the door to tell me there was a man on the phone, but he didn't say who he was or recognize his voice. What now?
It was Bert. He apologized. More than a few of the bowlers had joined the pinsetters in voicing their opinion. He asked if I would I please return tomorrow night as usual. I did. It was the last season of pin setting for me. The following spring I joined the Coast Guard. At my going away party, most of the pinsetters were there. It was the end of our little dynasty. Bert died of a heart attack that year.
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