King of the Alley
BUTLER TWP — Jeff Bridges' character in the cult classic film “The Big Lebowski” described his life as “ups and downs, strikes and gutters.”
Bill Fay, 69, of Chicora has spent most of his life in bowling alleys and has racked up more strikes than gutters both on and off the lanes.
That success has translated to a large family he cherishes and, most recently, a job as coach of the first-year boys and girls bowling teams at Butler High School.
“I'm really satisfied with my life. I have a great wife. The (high school) bowling team is filled with great kids and (Butler assistant coach) Jim Hepler and I work well together. I couldn't ask for more,” Fay said.
Growing up, Fay spent much of his time at the business end of the bowling lanes, setting pins at the Penn Bowling Alley on Main Street in Butler in the days before the process was automated.
“A lot of the time, someone is throwing their second ball, and you either jumped out of the way or got hit,” he said.
“I really didn't know what the game was about other than throwing the ball and hitting some pins.”
Fay, who graduated from Butler High School in 1959, said, “When I got out of school, I went to work at Armco and got laid off after my first year.”
Fay enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving from 1960 to 1964 as a machinist on ships that served throughout the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea, including port calls in France, Germany and Italy.
“When I was in Italy, I saw an Armco car there and was just amazed because I worked where it was built,” he said.
Following his military service, Fay went back to Armco, where he discovered his time in the military still counted toward his tenure at the mill.
He continued to work there as a journeyman roll grinder until his retirement in 1997.
“When I started working in the shop, my foreman came up to me and asked, ‘Can you bowl?' And I said yes I could.”
Fay, who was never coached, said his game carried a minuscule 120 average at the time.
“The more you watched other guys throw the ball and tried to do what they did, you found out what worked out and what didn't,” he said.
“My wife was very understanding. I started bowling one night a week, then two, and it shortly turned into five nights a week.”
Fay and his wife, Patricia, who he married in 1961, live in a house in Chicora, about a mile from where he was born.
Fay said she bowls twice a week, and they bowl together on Friday nights.
“I look forward to seeing her all the time. She's my buddy; She's everything,” he said.
The couple has three sons in Connecticut, Texas and Montana, as well as a daughter in Herman. They also have 10 grandchildren and a great-grandchild on the way.
Though none of his children bowl, Fay is teaching two of his grandchildren, in addition to his coaching duties at Butler High School, which introduced boys and girls teams last year into the 45-team Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Bowling League.Fay also used to fish, but now it interferes with his time to golf. He keeps busy off the links, too, working at Suncrest Golf Course on Brownsdale Road each summer.In his bowling career, Fay has rolled eight perfect games, but he is most proud of rolling an 843 series last year, an average score of 281 per game over three games.“If you would have told me I would roll an 800 series in my lifetime, I wouldn't have believed you,” he said.“There are guys who bowl for years and never roll an 800 series.”He has a ring on each hand, awarded by the United States Bowling Congress, to commemorate both achievements.Although he bowled the eighth official perfect game of his career last year, he said he cannot remember the date of the first, except that it was during Imperial League play at Sherwood Lanes.“The first nine (throws), you don't even think about it. then it starts dawning on you that you have a chance at a perfect game,” he said.“When you throw your 10th, you feel like you have a horse collar around your neck. The 11th, there's even more pressure, and by the 12th ball, you just want to get rid of it.”And that 12th ball can be tricky, as evidenced by the four 299 games and the 298 game also on Fay's resume.Despite his prowess on the lanes — and entering his 27th season of National USBC play — Fay said he never considered becoming a professional bowler.“It's too tight. There are so many young players who throw the ball sensationally,” he said.
