Just rolling along
This is the first in a series of articles profiling the 2019 inductees into the Butler Area School District Athletic Hall of Fame
BUTLER TWP — Bill Fay just keeps on bowling.
At age 79 and with both hips replaced, the 1959 Butler graduate still bowls three nights a week and carries a 190 average.
Only now he's rolled his way into the Butler Area School District Athletic Hall of Fame.
Fay will be inducted Jan. 3 during a reception in the high school cafeteria. Other 2019 inductees are Jared Farabee, Jason Cherry and the late Calvin Littlejohn.
Besides putting together a bowling career that includes an 843 series — one of the highest in Butler County history — and 11 perfect games, Fay was the first head bowling coach in Butler High School history.
“I was retired from Armco and had the time to put into it,” Fay said of coaching high school bowling. “I saw that one of the guys who applied for the job had an average between 150 and 160.
“I was averaging 214 at the time and believed I could help the kids, so I decided to apply.”
Butler's first high school bowling season was in 2009-10. Fay coached the girls and boys team for four years. The girls went 40-0, winning a state championship in 2013. The boys finished 36-4.
Fay called coaching the 2013 girls state title team, “my proudest time in bowling.”
He continues to privately coach young bowlers. Fay worked with sophomore Natalie Coughenour — a member of this year's Butler girls team — this past summer.
“My hip was getting bad (prior to replacement) and I was having trouble with all those bus trips and getting around,” Fay said of his reason for vacating the coaching job after four years. “I just couldn't do it anymore.”
His bowling career began in 1955, setting up pins at the Penn Bowling Alley on Main St. in Butler. A member of the U.S.Navy from 1960-64, Fay then went to work at Armco and got involved in bowling leagues.
“I wasn't very good at first, but things came around,” he said. “Other bowlers worked with me, pointed out my flaws and I began doing better.”
A league bowler for 55 years, Fay has served as president and secretary/treasurer in many of those leagues. Besides his 11 perfect games, he has rolled four 299-games and seven 290-games, getting a spare in the first frame and strikes the rest of the way.
His 843-series did not include a 300. Fay rolled games of 287, 269 and 287 on Dec. 26, 1980, at Sherwood Lanes.
“As far as my own bowling goes, that's my proudest accomplishment,” he said of the 843.
Fay bowled in five leagues a week — Monday through Friday — at one time in his life. Now he bowls in a husband-wife league at Meridian Lanes, a non-sanctioned teachers league and in the Fox's league at Sherwood Lanes.
This will mark Fay's third Hall of Fame induction. He served on the board of directors for the Butler County Bowling Association for 10 years, bowled in the National USBC Tournament for 33 years and was inducted into the BCBA Hall of Fame in 2011. He also received the Michael Pawk Bowler of the Year award in 2004.
Fay pitched horseshoes for more than 50 years in the Butler County Horseshoe League and was inducted into its Hall of Fame this year.
Jim Hepler and Jeff Suchonic were Fay's assistant coaches with the Butler High School team.
“Those were outstanding young people,” he said of the kids he coached. “Those teams had so much talent and the kids listened to us. They wanted to be coached. They wanted to get better.
“They really made me look good.”
