Brunswick Columbia

Brian Semmel, a tenpin bowler for well over 10 years, threw a 300 game at Brunswick Columbia last month.Semmel bowls in three leagues, the Friday Newtowners and the Monday and Wednesday mixed at the Columbia lanes.It was on March 18 in the Newtowners league that he captured that elusive 300 game.The first and second of the three game set were nothing special, both 183, close to his average but nothing to celebrate.The last game was different. Twelve strikes in a row and were any of them tainted?

Paula Gibson, Delores Jason, Linda Murphy and Sue Slebodnik were among the few tenpin bowlers who were able to achieve the Triple Crown for high game, high set and high series by a single bowler in one league, and they're trying to do it again.Gibson of Mount Airy limits her competition on the lanes to a single league, the Monday Night Mixed at Brunswick Columbia."I've been bowling for about 13-14 years," she said. "After winning the Triple Crown for the 1991-92 season, I didn't even think about repeating."

Things will remain pretty much the same at the Brunswick Columbia bowling center when the new season opens in a few weeks.There will be adult leagues, senior leagues, the youth bowlers on Saturday, tournaments and colorama and a lot of familiar faces.And one new face.Shawn McDowell is the new assistant manager at the center.The Lakewood, N.Y., native began his training with Brunswick Recreation Centers on June 1 with his first assignment: Brunswick Columbia.Living now in Columbia, McDowell is fresh from the college ranks of tenpin bowlers.

In just six days, the winter Young American Bowling Alliance league will start at Brunswick Columbia."And don't forget that the meeting for the Sunday Night Pinbusters leagues will be held on Sunday [today]," said Barbara Deming, sales director at the Columbia lanes. "That league starts on Aug. 22."With the new season upon us what's happening at Brunswick Columbia?For one thing, the concourse has been leveled so the approaches are handicapped-accessible. And there's new seating at the lanes.

Jeffrey Taylor, bowling for about half of his 14 years, won the Division II title in the Tournament of Champions at Brunswick Columbia bowling center to win a $500 college scholarship.The Tournament of Champions drew its competitors from the ranks of the Young America Bowling Alliance Saturday morning league at Columbia. The Bowlers of the Week for the past season earned the right to bowl against each other in Division I (Bantams, aged 8 and under, and Preps, ages 9-11) and Division II (Junior Varsity, ages 12-14, and the Varsity, ages 15-21)

2/3 TC Buddy Weber, director of The Young America Bowlers Association at Brunswick Normandy, tries to make bowling fun for youngsters.Weber has been bowling since he was 7, so he knows the problems facing the youth program from both sides."

Rodes Gregory, a native of Kentucky, has lived in Columbia for 22 years. He's retired twice, the first time after 20 years with the U. S. Army and the second time after 14 years with General Electric.Last year, Gregory and his wife Regina began bowling in the Club 55 league at Brunswick Columbia.Regina, averaging 87, shot a game that was 118 pins over her average the first month of the season to become Bowler of the Week.It took Rodes a little longer to claim that honor, but in Week 29 of the season, he did it."

A 245 tenpin game is good, a second 245 is very good, a third 245 is excellent. A set of three 245 games is. . . "It's odd," Percy Mack said.And Mack was the guy who fashioned the 245 triplicate score at Brunswick Normandy on March 10 in the Funtime Anytime league.Mack, a retired physical education teacher from the Baltimore City school system, bowls tenpins, teaches tenpin bowling, coaches the Catonsville Community College bowling team and is the District 6 vice president for the Greater Baltimore Bowling Association.

Leander Derr, a native of Hickory, N.C., lives in Columbia and bowls in the Club 55 League at Brunswick Columbia.Retired from Equity Funding Corporation, he found retirement too confining and is a sales representative for Grempler Realty.A late comer to tenpin bowling (he started about six years ago), he carries a 135 average with a high game of 191 and a high series of 525.In week 16 of the season, in the Tuesday Club 55 league, Derr tied with Wallace Cook for Bowler of the Week by posting a series 88 pins over average.

"I thought she was kidding me when she got home from bowling and said she shot a 733 series," Steve Gibson said. "I mean, she's a good bowler, but 733?"Paula Gibson wasn't kidding. In the Monday Nite Mixed league at Brunswick Columbia, the Mount Airy resident started slowly with a 211 game, posted a second game of 233 and then in the last game pounded out a 289 game.Gibson carries a 169 average and has been bowling for more than 13 years (she and Steve met at the Twinbrook bowling center in Rockville)