Tenpin Bowling

If you're a baseball batter, too many strikes can be a bad thing. But in bowling, there's no such thing as too many strikes. And as many strikes as he can make is exactly the objective Ed Lanehart strives for every time he bowls. But the Ellicott City retiree will tell you, it's no easy task. "I like the challenge of hitting something that's 60 feet away," said Lanehart, a retired physical education teacher. "But that's not as easy as it seems." Lanehart has been trying to knock down those pins, frame by frame, since he was a child.

Duckpin bowling is up their alley It's Saturday night at Glen Burnie Bowling Center, and Ed Craver has warmed up his cowbell. Standing at a table behind Lane 23, he cheered on his teammates in the Saturday Night Fever duckpin league. He cheered, yelled directions to the ball such as "Go! Go!" and "Get there ... get there!" or just rang his cowbell. "I don't bowl to win or lose," Craver said. "I bowl to have fun and to have a good time. I like the people I bowl with."

The Young American Bowling Alliance welcomes all boys and girls 21 years of age and under to join a sanctioned bowling league.Trained coaches are available and YABA members compete on a team with children in their own age group: Bantams (8 and under), Junior (9-11), Major (15-18) and Senior (18-21).Both centers in Howard County -- Brunswick Columbia and Brunswick Normandy -- have YABA Saturday morning programs.At Brunswick Normandy in Division I, Justin Ross was Star of the Week for Week 4 and Tina Mortensen was Star for Week 5.Division II saw Theresa Rose capture Star of the Week for Week 4 and Nicola Liskovec became Star of the Week for Week 5.Mortensen, 11, lives in West Friendship.

It's Saturday night at the Glen Burnie Bowling Center, and Ed Craver has warmed up his cowbell. Standing at a table behind lane 23, he cheered on his teammates in the Saturday Night Fever duckpin league. He cheered, yelled directions to the ball such as "Go. Go!" and "Get there. Get there!" or just rung his cowbell. "I don't bowl to win or lose," Craver said. "I bowl to have fun and to have a good time. I like the people I bowl with."

It's Saturday night at the Glen Burnie Bowling Center, and Ed Craver has warmed up his cowbell. Standing at a table behind lane 23, he cheered on his teammates in the Saturday Night Fever duckpin league. He cheered, yelled directions to the ball such as "Go. Go!" and "Get there. Get there!" or just rung his cowbell. "I don't bowl to win or lose," Craver said. "I bowl to have fun and to have a good time. I like the people I bowl with."

Youths learn skills for life in Alliance leaguesThe Young America Bowling Alliance leagues at Brunswick Normandy are drawing to a close for the fall/winter season. The young bowlers, both Division I and Division II, continue to post impressive scores.The youth leagues at Normandy are divided into four groups: Bantams (8 years and under), Preps (9-11), Junior Varsity (12-14) and Varsity (15-21).The young bowlers are coached, not only in the actual skills of tenpin bowling, but in deportment, lane courtesy and good sportsmanship.

Consultant John Neral says the In-School Bowling program is probably the best-kept secret in bowling."It's a fantastic way to get youngsters interested in bowling and yet it's been ignored by many of the people that would benefit from it the most," he said.Neral, originally from Point Pleasant, N.J., resides in Cockeysville and does a lot of traveling."The territory I cover is Maryland, and the Washington, D.C., area," the former school teacher said. "My position with the In-School program is part time but I'm available to [all]

The third annual Carroll County Youth Tenpin Bowling Tournament drew 37 entries in two divisions to County Lanes last Sunday.Division I (141 and up averages) handicaps were 80 percent of 200; Division II (140 and down averages) handicaps were 80 percent of 140.Dave Brown Jr. of Taneytown, a YABA Saturday morning County Lanes youth bowler, won Division I's top spot in a eye-catching manner."I think he may have been the youngest person to ever throw a perfect game in Carroll County history," said Ken Frock Sr., manager of County Lanes.

The 12th Annual Maryland Tenpin Bowling Council Scholarship Tournament was held at Terrace Lanes in Frederick on Dec. 6, and the young bowlers from Harford County did just fine.* Chad Kornick won a $1,000 scholarship for his first-place finish in the boys scratch division of the tournament, which was open to students who will be graduating high school at the end of the 1992-93 school year.Kornick, 16, is a senior at Fallston High, lives in Joppa and started bowling when he was 8.A few months before his victory in the Tenpin Council tournament, he said, "I'd like to bowl for a college team.

This bowling doctor makes house calls.Your game is a little sick, face it. Your expensive urethane strike ball is hitting the pocket, but you're not carrying the tenpin. And then you're Bowlingmissing the tenpin. Not only that, you're rubbing the skin off your thumb.What can you do?You always could fight through it, like a bad cold.Or you could call the bowling doctor.Bernie Smith, 55, isn't actually a doctor, but to those who know him, he's a fine bowling instructor. He has helped quite a few people improve their bowling games over the years, including some local professional bowlers, including Marty Letscher of Bel Air."

A one-time bastion of duckpin bowling and birthplace of the Fair Lanes bowling chain is poised to become Baltimore's next loft housing development. The old Recreation Bowling Center, a four-story building at 602-610 N. Howard St. that became Fair Lanes' flagship, was acquired this month by a group that intends to convert it to approximately 50 residences. The building was constructed in 1922 as a multistory bowling and dancing emporium, with 100 bowling lanes and a top-level ballroom and roller rink where big-name bands performed in the 1920s and 1930s.

If you're a baseball batter, too many strikes can be a bad thing. But in bowling, there's no such thing as too many strikes. And as many strikes as he can make is exactly the objective Ed Lanehart strives for every time he bowls. But the Ellicott City retiree will tell you, it's no easy task. "I like the challenge of hitting something that's 60 feet away," said Lanehart, a retired physical education teacher. "But that's not as easy as it seems." Lanehart has been trying to knock down those pins, frame by frame, since he was a child.

YOU CAN call Jack Clegg "a man for all seasons," as long as that description includes "accomplished athlete" and "shrewd poker player."At 72, the Severna Park resident plays golf and tennis, and three days a week -- at the crack of dawn -- he's in the gym at Anne Arundel Community College, wrestling with the weight machines and practicing the ancient Asian art of tai chi.But he prefers to spend his time at the tenpin bowling lanes, and for good reason....

Lawrence A. "Larry" Beck, known to thousands of people by his self-proclaimed and well-publicized title as "the trophy king," died Wednesday at Greater Baltimore Medical Center of respiratory failure. He was 70.An engraver by trade and blessed with an infectious personality, Larry Beck parlayed a two-bench jewelry-engraving business left him after the death of his boss into a multimillion dollar trophy, fine jewelry and sales promotion operation in Woodlawn."I'll sell you anything from a lead pencil to an elephant," the Timonium resident once boasted in an interview.

The third annual Carroll County Youth Tenpin Bowling Tournament drew 37 entries in two divisions to County Lanes last Sunday.Division I (141 and up averages) handicaps were 80 percent of 200; Division II (140 and down averages) handicaps were 80 percent of 140.Dave Brown Jr. of Taneytown, a YABA Saturday morning County Lanes youth bowler, won Division I's top spot in a eye-catching manner."I think he may have been the youngest person to ever throw a perfect game in Carroll County history," said Ken Frock Sr., manager of County Lanes.

The Young American Bowling Alliance welcomes all boys and girls 21 years of age and under to join a sanctioned bowling league.Trained coaches are available and YABA members compete on a team with children in their own age group: Bantams (8 and under), Junior (9-11), Major (15-18) and Senior (18-21).Both centers in Howard County -- Brunswick Columbia and Brunswick Normandy -- have YABA Saturday morning programs.At Brunswick Normandy in Division I, Justin Ross was Star of the Week for Week 4 and Tina Mortensen was Star for Week 5.Division II saw Theresa Rose capture Star of the Week for Week 4 and Nicola Liskovec became Star of the Week for Week 5.Mortensen, 11, lives in West Friendship.

YOU CAN call Jack Clegg "a man for all seasons," as long as that description includes "accomplished athlete" and "shrewd poker player."At 72, the Severna Park resident plays golf and tennis, and three days a week -- at the crack of dawn -- he's in the gym at Anne Arundel Community College, wrestling with the weight machines and practicing the ancient Asian art of tai chi.But he prefers to spend his time at the tenpin bowling lanes, and for good reason....

"Why should (the official state sport) be any other sport but duckpins?" asks Joe Rineer of Mount Airy Lanes. "This is the only sport that was born in Maryland."Ken Frock of County Lanes in Westminster,who has been associated with tenpin bowling most of his life, still thinks "a lot more people in Maryland are involved with duckpin bowling than jousting. It just makes sense that duckpin bowling become thestate sport."Karen Wisner of the Hampstead Bowling Center said, "It would be great if duckpins were to become the Maryland state sport."

A lot of old tenpin bowling balls get thrown away. And, of course, there's a booming business in new bowling balls -- it seems at least one new ball hits the market every week.But not all old bowling balls get dumped and not all new tenpin bowlers rush out to buy a ball.Bev Butler and Rick Houck are "new" bowlers with "old" bowling balls, and they're doing just fine.They are the March co-champions at Thunderhead Westminster, each with 194 pins over average."It was just a few months ago that Elvis [her husband]

Consultant John Neral says the In-School Bowling program is probably the best-kept secret in bowling."It's a fantastic way to get youngsters interested in bowling and yet it's been ignored by many of the people that would benefit from it the most," he said.Neral, originally from Point Pleasant, N.J., resides in Cockeysville and does a lot of traveling."The territory I cover is Maryland, and the Washington, D.C., area," the former school teacher said. "My position with the In-School program is part time but I'm available to [all]