All’s Well That Ends Wells For Bowler

Lanes 1 and 2 at the Sunset Bowling Center aren’t favorites of Darrol Wells, a 30-year men’s-league bowler.

“It seems like the lanes next to the wall are different,” Wells explained. “One will be one way; the ball hooks more on one than it does the other.”

But Wells mastered those lanes the first night of 1994-95 Majors League on Sept. 8, shooting a perfect 300 game.

A long summer of bricklaying left the 64-year-old Wells in “real good physical condition.

“I got pretty good hits,” Wells reminisced. “I think I had one Brooklyn strike, and the rest were on the right side. Toward the end, like the 11th and 12th (frames), I don’t quite remember them. I was too excited.”

But his Yates Funeral Parlor teammates probably do. “They were all standing around real quiet,” Wells said. “Nobody would talk to me. I didn’t get too nervous. I was afraid of throwing the ball away or just leaving a 10-pin or a 7-pin.”

One month later, Wells again brushed the perfect game. After 10 consecutive strikes, he left the 7-pin in the 11th frame and finished at 289.

Wells averages 192. He is one of an estimated 1,000 local men’s-league bowlers, and one of five who have hit the elusive 12-strike, 300 game.

The others are Bill Betts, Ron Tietz, Randy Wade and Bill Miller.

“We’ve been getting a few more (300s),” longtime city bowling representative Kathy Taylor said. “The nationals have changed the rules on how they can oil lanes. It does make it easier for people to shoot a 300.”

In the past, lanes were oiled side-to-side in a gradual curve.

“Now, it just has to have a minimum of three units of oil across,” Taylor said. “A lot of houses tend to have lower amounts of units on the sides, then it sets up a block. Board to board, there’s a lot more oil. When the ball gets past the oil, it’ll break in.”