Rising to the top
Call them the Super Seven.
Since Ralph Henry became the first Butler County Bowling Association member to average 200 over a full season in 1961, only seven bowlers have held the record for highest single-season average.
Henry, Jack "Bo"Ordy, Ron Brandon, Tom Fry, Dee Crowe, Kurt Huff and Wayne Giesler Jr. have held the record. Fry owns the current mark of 241, set during the 2005-06 season at Sherwood Lanes.
"That's averaging a 723 series over a full season,"Brandon said. "That's crazy. I can't imagine such a thing.
"But as crazy as it is, there are a couple of bowlers out there today capable of breaking that record."
"It could fall again," Henry said. "No record is safe."
Six of the most recent seven records were set at Sherwood Lanes. The one exception is Fry, who averaged 217 in 1984-85 at B&WLanes.
Ordy is the only bowler to hold the BCBAhigh average record on three occasions:200 in 1961-62, breaking Henry's record by 12 total pins, 207 in 1962-63 and 212 in 1972-73.
"The game was a lot tougher in the 1960s,"Ordy said. "Everybody used one rubber ball and that was it.
"You used to have to track your ball. Now it's all 'area' bowling. The way they oil the lanes today, power balls just drive right through the pocket."
Henry and Fry both owned the record 20 years apart. After becoming the BCBA's first bowler to average 200, bowling on a two-man team at Lyndora Lanes, Henry averaged 215 for a five-man team at Sherwood in 1980-81.
"Some people believe you have to bowl on a five-man team to get this type of record because it's easier to get into a groove bowling on a two-man team,"Henry said. "But averaging 200 in 1960 was a big deal to me."On the last night of the season, I got to the lanes late and could only bowl the third game. I knew I needed to roll a 205 to finish with a 200 average. I rolled a 210 and got it with five pins left over,"Henry added.Fry, 46, broke Henry's 215 record by averaging 217 in 1984-85. He set the current record in 2005-06."Every year, any bowler seems to hit a slump where he doesn't do well for four weeks or so,"Fry said. "I kept waiting for my slump to hit (in 2005-06) and it never did."That was just one of those years when everything clicked. I always felt like I was dialed in."Back in 1985, Fry said that "a lot of guys had the ability, but you had to be able to read the lanes. That was something I was pretty good at.'As the equipment got better, bowling became an easier sport."Equipment has that effect and impact on any sport,"Fry said. "In golf, guys who could drive a ball 300 yards used to be rare. Now there's a lot of guys who can do that."The golfers haven't gotten better. The equipment has. It's the same with bowling."Brandon said the early records were set by bowlers in their early 20s. He held the marks at 208 and 210 in 1963-64 and 1964-65."I was 21 or 22 at the time," he said. "All of the top bowlers were a young group at the time."Henry, 72, still bowls in the Ten Pin League and has been a league bowler for 57 years."I never felt pressure like I did trying to bowl that 205 in 1961,"he admitted. "It (averaging 200) was something I really wanted to do."To have the first one ... I knew it'd be special. I knew there would be plenty more to follow."
