Eleven Straight? Spare Me Cda Bowler Taylor Strikes Back After Slow Start For 290 Game

A spare. Not a bad start for Kathy Taylor’s last game of Nite Owls League bowling at the Cove Bowl in early January.

Eleven strikes followed, as the Coeur d’Alene native knocked down a career-high 290 game.

“I had a spare in the first, so you don’t even think about shooting a big game,” Taylor said. “I had already blown the 300. I had some kinda bad shots that fell, and I had some good shots.”

Taylor warmed up with games of 173 and 213 in rolling a 676 series.

Taylor’s mother, Mary Hanway, was bowling on the next lanes.

“There were six teams and little whispers going along,” Hanway said. “Somebody saw it, they let the others know. When she started stringing more than four (strikes), you’re more apt to keep an eye on it.”

A 16-year Cove Bowl veteran, the 42-year-old bookkeeper carries a 177 average in that women’s league.

Add another dozen pins to Taylor’s average in the Sawmill’s Mixed Scratch Trio League in Post Falls.

“It’s a fluke,” Taylor said of her 191 scratch average. “It’s kind of tapered. The last couple years I have ended with averages in the 190s.”

Bowling came easy to Taylor, who bowled four leagues for several years. Twelve years ago, she started to enter scratch events, where scores are not handicapped.

“My average went up real quick,” Taylor said. “It started in the 120s. Each year, it would go up 20 pins.

“I think it’s easier for a new bowler to raise their average. If you’re working on it, part of raising your average is getting consistent.”

”(Taylor) just seems to be a natural at it,” Hanway said. “It’s not like mother like daughter.”

Taylor throws a 15-pound ball, and keeps it straight.

Former Cove Bowl owner Marian Schenkenberger’s tips helped Taylor develop her game.

“She seemed to pick it up really fast,” Schenkenberger said. “She’s very confident. She was (already) throwing a straight ball. I helped her with timing - making her approach, the swing of the ball and the release. It didn’t take too long. She had a lot of natural ability.”

Taylor credits Schenkenberger with teaching her “how to make adjustments. Like if I leave a lot of splits, or if I miss the head pin a lot.”

The Coeur d’Alene Women’s City Bowling Association tournament concluded last weekend. Taylor shot a 627 scratch singles series. Final results are pending.

Taylor has served 11 years on the city association’s board of directors, including secretary for nine years.

“One change I’ve noticed is fewer women bowling,” Taylor said.

There were 2,000 local women bowling in 1984. Currently, there are 1,300. “I think it’s because a lot of them have to work now,” Taylor said.

Hanway, 67, quit bowling in 1972, but Taylor’s obsession with the game prompted her mother to return.

Taylor’s sons, Don, age 20, and David, 17, also bowl. Don averages in the 160s in a scratch league, and David averages 178 in junior league.

“They can beat the socks off me,” Hanway said of her grandsons. “They go their way, we go ours.”

Taylor and Hanway keep a busy tournament calendar.

Upcoming trips include the 1995 Washington Women’s Bowling Association state tournament in Bremerton during March, and the 1995 national women’s tournament in Tucson during May.

In 1989, Taylor shared prize money for a 269 high game at the national women’s tournament.

In 1988, Taylor won the scratch all-events title at the WWBA state tournament. She took the 1984 women’s city scratch all-events, and was a member of the 1993 championship Washington state mixed scratch team.

Taylor carries just one ball, adjusting game to game, rather than per lane condition.

“My theory is, I don’t want to have to think about a lot of things (like juggling balls),” Taylor said. “I’ve used the same ball for about 10 years. It looks like it, too. It has a lot of dings in it, a lot of chips.”

And a lot of good shots.