BOWLING: Ninety-two-year-old Bob Morgan inspires Mesquite bowlers with another 600 series

Bob Morgan may not realize it, but if he had a “Ben Franklin” for every bowler in Mesquite who hopes to have his good health and be able to bowl like him at age 92, he could throw one heckuva of a party in Sin City.

Humor aside, I’ve heard countless comments expressing that sentiment from bowlers, and after this baby goes online, no doubt that hope will grow even more.

And his most recent gem readers and bowlers will be talking about is his latest 600 series at the Virgin River Bowling Center. Competing in the Mesquite Merchants League for his Mesquite Chiropractic team which has been sponsored by Dr. James A. Davis for 13 seasons, Morgan fired 19 strikes during games of 215, 212 and 192 for a 619 series and raised his average to 172.

When Morgan first moved to Mesquite from Seattle in April 2000, he recalls only seeing one or two traffic lights, and he’s been bowling and playing golf ever since.

Now were gonna make a quick pivot back to his days in Seattle where he enjoyed tremendous success coaching youth baseball teams, and one year fell just one game shy of going to the Little League World Series.

Also, back in the Emerald City, he was big in classic cars and enjoyed showing them at shows. His favorite auto was a 1963 Chevrolet convertible and this day has regrets over selling it.

But one thing he doesn’t regret from his life in Seattle is the two days he was able to spend with Dolly Parton. What? It’s true! So let’s quickly add here it was all about business, and as one of the top limo drivers for his company, he was assigned to take Parton all over the city for the two days she was in Seattle promoting a book she had just written. And he was blown away by how gracious and down to earth she was, and still has a copy of her book she gave him with her autograph and thank you note.

In other scintillating pin action, Mike Saldivar put on a clinic with great shot execution in rolling a clean 752 series on games of 268, 259 and 225 which included 25 strikes and marks on 9-of-9 spare attempts, and Sal Diaz with his two-handed delivery also put together a standout performance with just one open and 23 strikes in a 728 set with games of 279, 246 and 203 which raised his MMM League average to 196.

Austin Finster joined the 700 series party competing in Kings & Queens League action by throwing 26 strikes with only two open frames in a 707 with a pair of clean 257 games along with a 203, and John Hollaway is another top-notch bowling talent out of the state of Washington now bowling in Mesquite and cruised to a 707 with games of 258, 235, and 214 which raised his MMM League average to 211.

Meanwhile, joining bowlers from Mesquite in mowing down pins at the VRBC included the Evans brothers from St. George. First, Chance averaged an eye-popping 228 over his six games with a 695 including a 254 game on Thursday, and just 24 hours earlier he chalked up a 674 set in Wednesday’s MMM League action. And his brother, Chase, who has a 300 game on his resume and throws rockets to the 1-3 pocket with his two-handed delivery continued the drubbing of the VRBC with a first-rate 684 series and 254 game.

Larry Willis will be the first to agree he frittered away a 700 with a missed 10 pin leave in the 3rd frame of a 267 game with 11 strikes in a 693 series raising his City High Rollers League average to 206 from 205, and when Dean Baum remembers to bring his strike ball to the party, i’ts not surprising at all that he averaged 226 between his two league outings (686 & 670).

And like Hollaway, two other outstanding bowlers from The Evergreen State, Al Gans and Scott Mattingly navigated the lanes with some good scoring production. For starters, Gans snapped what for him was a recent scoring funk with a  676 and 258 game, while Mattingly who tore his meniscus in a high school football game also pounded out a 676 with a high game of 248.

And the winning bet of the week is to look for a return to even higher scoring output from Koa Paka Ned (651-230), Milan Carr (647-245) and Ernie Kala (638-223) as all three have thrown much higher scores earlier this season.

Nick Paul continued a nice scoring run with a 627 and 234 game that included 15 strikes, Dale Davidson’s 17 strikes and marks on 12-of-14 non-split spare attempts paved the way for his best outing this season, a 624 on games of 218, 209 and 206. He was an outstanding baseball player in high school and competed in marathons all over the state of California.

Steve Serrano (616 & 601) had a nice string of at least one 600 a week, but may just have launched a new streak of two a week, former rodeo star Britt Kesl (615-212) tossed another 600, Ken Meacham is a huge L.A Dodgers and Utah, Utes fan who fired a 606 including a 229 game with seven strikes, and Beaver Dam resident Dan Johnson  popped a 603 in TGIF League action.

Dennis Craft fired a 245 game in a 601 set, and Chris Westwood blew away his previous high 550 series with a superb 601 series which included a clean 245 game along with 12 total strikes and also raised his Early Risers League average to 162 from 160.

In single game play, James Hartley (656( threw a season-high 265 gem, Orlyn Meyer ((621) smacked a 258 in the ER League, Dave Pershing (542) racked up a 256, while Josue Mendoza who’s game has improved tenfold in the last two years popped a 253 with a 7-bagger, and Angel Hernandez (621) fired a 252.

And in case you didn’t know, Mike Gentry (663) is a very talented artist, and you also just found out her uncorked a 246, Bob Monson Sr. a UPA driver for many years rolled a terrific 244, Harry Uncles (608) who’s played lotsa softball in the past tossed seven strikes in a clean 241, and Norm Ritchie (630) who drives in from St. George for his 9:30 am Wednesday league also shot a 241.

Southpaw Jerry Bundy in a U.S. Air Force veteran and booked a 236, Gary Smith bagged a 234 and Miguel Soto hammered out a 232, but if you’ve ever seen him throw a bowling ball you know he’s capable of much higher games and they will happen.

Frank Burdett who’s into classic cars big time tallied a 214, Javier Delgadillo is in his freshman season of bowling and posted a 213, and Brent Young merits merits ink for a season-high 210 game which blew away his previous high179, and his impressive 551 series left his previous high 469 eating lotsa dust.

Finally, Doug Heiden, Mike Foote, Robin Drury, and Stan Benally logged scores of 204, 203, 203,and 202, respectively.

In women’s bowling, Lee Ann Harmes set the scoring pace with an darn nice 585 set with 14 total strikes, including clean games of 223 and 187, Kim Marshall (578-210) continues consistently putting up good scores, and Sandy Sheppard (556-193) chucked the next best series.

Meanwhile, Linda Holloway booked her first 500 of the season, a nice 520 set which raised her CHR League average to 144 from 143, and Kerri Roberts began league play with an anemic 138 before engineering a super turnaround with competitive games of 185 and 183 for a 506 set. Now truth be told, given her athletic ability, her past impressive success in softball and volleyball, along with her really good bowling mechanics in terms of arm swing, foot work, balance at the line, and the like, 500s should be almost automatic. Uh, oh! No, I won’t have to delete that because I’m optimistic I can mention that without getting in trouble because I’m totally confident another person who’d concur with that analysis is her husband, Steve.

In other league action, it was great seeing Barb Field toss a season-high 502 set with a 188 game, and Pat Harger, competing in the Early Risers League also captured her first ink for a season-high 502 series on games of 176, 176 and 150 which included a total of nine strikes, 14 spares and raised her Early Risers League average to 128.

In single game play, Reiko Schultz (551) took high-game honors with a 236, Jane Burgoyne (512) punched out a 212, and Ronnie Tsuhako delivered a 204 in a very competitive 540 effort.

HIGH GAMES

Michael “Smurffzzz Ramirez 643-238; Dave Johnson 638-245; Gil Niimi    633-219; Dylan Kesl 631-228; Darrell Moffatt Jr. 618-224; Mike Yoder 611-212; John Martin 610-233; Jerry Holloway 616-215; Bob Wells 605-235; Todd Mulholland 600-217; Skip Hayzlet 233; Doug Love 237; Dave Cirbo 235; Jim Webb 235; Gary Smith 234; Bill Funk 225; Bob Marget 225; Ted Mickelson 223; Jack Northover 222; Jacob Martinez 222; Marty Roper 216; Brian Collins 215; Bryan Pierce 215; Dean Sheppard 215; Fred Emmons 215; Bob Ballard 212; Bob Robbins 212; John Gerger 212; Red Powell 212; Larry Moultrie 211; Jeron Linge 208; Tony Zaccheus 208; Darren Simonds 205; Darrell Moffatt Sr. 204;  Jon Fjeld 203; Dan Aslin 202; Tim McNees 202; Diane Marget 529-194; Gayle Parison 523-190; Debbie Hansen 523-188; Georgia “GG” Godfrey 503-180.