The Best Time Was...

CYO Bowling - The year was 1979. During those years, Queeno had two bowling teams at Ideal Lanes CYO League. The older kids from Queeno were Jimmy Voll, Richie Stryeski, Eddie J. Sponholz, and I think Dawn Sponholz. Our team from Queeno had boys who were a couple years younger - Joey D'Amico, Jimmy Cavanaugh (PC, President Cavanaugh), Edwin Velez, and me (Jim Shiz). Every year there was a CYO Bowling Tournament at Southside Lanes for the diocese-wide playoffs. For Ideal Lanes, the top 2 teams out of 16 would be invited to the tournament. And that year it turned out that both teams from Queeno made the cut. On our team, Joey D'Amico was by far the best bowler; his average was nearly 160. Jimmy Cavanaugh's and Edwin's averages were in the mid 130s. By the end of the season, my average was just over 130. At the tournament, I was bowling my best game ever; I had 7 strikes, but only a single spare and I ended up with a 209 in that game. And in my second game I had 6 more strikes but no spares. My 3 game total was a 506 without handicap and 626 with handicap (again, my highest ever). Edwin Velez bowled above average. And even though Jimmy Cavanaugh had two bad games, he ended up bowling his average. But, Joey D'Amico probably had one of his worst bowling sets. He ended up with a 417 set. I can only guess that the unfamiliarity with the lanes, or too much oil, or excitement of being in the tournament effected his game. The 1st and 2nd place teams would get a trophies. We missed 2nd place by 12 pins and we missed 1st place by only 23 pins. If I would have picked up just one more spare in my first game, we could have had a team trophy. Or if Joey D'Amico could have bowled his average, we would have taken the whole tournament. I did however get a trophy for high set with handicap. I still have many of my trophies and even some of my score books (see below). Even though our team lost...That was the best time!