May 11, 1999 — At first, all you notice are the sounds.
It is a random refrain.
Simultaneously heavy balls strike lanes, roll down alleys, pummel pins — and occasionally scrape along gutters.
Over. And over.
After a while, you no longer notice the sounds at the Gainesville Bowling Center.
They fade into a soothing soundtrack, one that beats regularly for the 650-some individuals that participate in the center’s bowling leagues throughout the year.
Last Tuesday, shrill laughter from lanes 23 and 24 cut through the din of balls and pins. Sharon Rich’s Lanier Florist team was playing. And they always have a good time.
“That’s called a wiggle and a want,” chortled Rich after neither her ball nor her body language could fall the lone wobbly pin. “It wiggled, but it didn’t want to go down.”
Sharon’s love for her sport, and the folks she plays it with, is obvious.
“It’s a whole ‘nother family,” said Rich, 42, who lives in Oakwood. “I mean, how many sad faces do you see around here?”
None. The Gainesville 48 league was indeed smiling.
The 48’s come from all walks of life. Men and women. Old and young. Blue collar and white collar. Thin and thick.
It is a laid back league. Smiles and laughs matter more than strikes and spares.
But if competition is your thing, the Gainesville Bowling Association and the Gainesville Women’s Bowling Association have a league for you too. This summer there are ten leagues in all, spread throughout the week.
“Some leagues are what we call high rollers, people that consistently roll in the 200s,” explained Gainesville’s J.C. Gerrells, 38, Lanier Florist bowler and president of the 48 league, who, by the way, bowled a couple 200s himself Tuesday night. “We’re pretty much here for the fun of it.”
Just ask Irene Shuler, a 60-year-old who retired in April. She last bowled in a league 30 years ago … that is, before joining the Lanier Florist team Tuesday.
“I’m having fun; I think I’ll come back,” cackled Shuler after improving 49 pins, 75 to 124, from game one to game two … and purchasing the winning ticket for the $36 Half-and-Half pot.
And scores do level out, even with the various skill levels, because handicaps are involved. However you can encounter the occasional “sandbagger” — who purposefully rolls for a low average one week simply to enjoy a high handicap the following week.
Rich, Gerrells, Shuler and 32-year-old Robby Dean, of Oakwood, the final member of the Lanier Florist squad, were matched up with a team named I Don’t Know on this night.
But it was difficult to tell which team was which. A strike or a spare merited high fives from all. A missed mark, too, was met with seven handshakes — and a good-natured jibe or two.
Sixty-two-year-old Gainesville resident Claudette Price, of the I Don’t Know team, dishes out and receives a good many of those jibes. She wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Some of the guys are serious,” said Price, who bowls in three weekly leagues. “But I’m not here for serious. I can be serious at home.”
The Gainesville bowling associations are serious, however, when it comes to philanthropic endeavors. According to Rich, secretary for the women’s association, the leagues have raised more than $15,000 for veterans’ hospitals over the last three years.
After Lanier Florist and I Don’t Know had bowled their final frames, exchanged the final handshakes and laughed at the final jokes, it was my turn to roll a game with Rich and her crew.
After repeatedly warning them that I hadn’t bowled in more than a year, I proceeded somehow to bowl strikes in my first three practice frames.
“We have a sandbagger over here,” quipped Rich before I went on to prove her wrong on the 10 frames that counted.
I finished with a 155 and just two strikes. Not bad, but definitely not a sandbagger score.
By the way, Lanier Florist defeated I Don’t Know two games to one. But, then again, who really cares?
It’s easy to get used to the random refrain of the Gainesville Bowling Center.
I walked outside and the sounds of silence were unbearable.