I am blessed. I am incredibly blessed.
For close to the last 20 years, I have had the opportunity to write about your kids, grandkids and I think even your great-grandkids. In fact, the more that I hear from the younger readers, I have had the opportunity as well to write about their parents, their grandparents and even great-grandparents.
The blessing comes from not only the people that I have written about but the things that I have witnessed in the sport.
As has been written, the birth of the column came with a battle between two of the best ladies ever in the game, Kari Miller and Shelley Ambroza, and evolved into some incredible moments.
Those moments would include state championship matches that predated the current OHSAA format.
I can remember the pain of Brian Garman having to withdraw in Wapak’s championship season more than a decade ago and how Toby Price rallied both the team and the crowd to that title.
The following year, there was the unique feeling of sitting right in the middle of the Coldwater and St. Henry crowd as the Cavaliers defeated their Mercer County neighbor for the first OHSAA title. It is a feeling that I will never forget.
Since that time, Coldwater has won another title or so, as have the St. Marys ladies and Wapak young men and women, clearly demonstrating the high school power of this community.
The impetus of the high school scene led Dr. Jeff Jarvis to step out and develop a bowling program for the University of Northwestern Ohio that is beginning to gain national relevance.
It has been an incredible ride, yet this past weekend things took a step forward with the evolution of the Lima Senior High Spartan Invitational Baker Tournament at 20th Century Lanes.
There is no other way to describe the time that I spent with the Shawnee girls after their victory than special. They were understandably happy, but it was bigger than that. There was a sense of family and more importantly a feeling of accomplishment and value.
It was very clear as well that they were united bowling as one collective unit. I honestly do not feel that they could tell you who did what in the event, they simply knew that they won as a team, as we reported this past week.
As special as the moment was with Shawnee, the St. Marys victory over Celina left an even greater impact in different ways.
The moment started with coach Stefani Lowry and the Roughriders cheering for the varsity boys, with Stef and a solid core of the group focused on every ball that was thrown, especially the intensity of the final shots of the final frame.
It was very reminiscent of the times that I had seen the young ladies of Coldwater and Wapak rooting their classmates to the aforementioned state titles.
There was Hunter Murphy grabbing the plaque and holding onto it for dear life after it had been presented to the team.
“We have just done something that we can be remembered for at the school,” he said. “Emotions are running real crazy right now. We have been improving but things have been like a roller-coaster ride. We made it to districts last year but this is great.”
The senior leadership of Murphy and the pride that he had representing his school was great to see,
It was not absent in his classmate Collin Vandever as well.
“He is right about the roller coaster ride,” he said.
He acknowledged his classmates as well.
“They were a big influence for us. They kept really helped,” he said. “We wanted to do well for them and our team.”
Austin Cook anchored the squad, entering the final frame needing at the very least one great shot, if not two. He managed to throw three strikes to close out the match against neighboring rival Celina.
He understood the role that he played,
“Like the team, I was really hyped and excited. I told myself that this was our chance to win this as a team and we got it done,” he said.
When asked what was the greater thrill, this victory or the fact that he qualified for state last season, his response was quick. “The state was great, but this is way better than anything from last year.”
There was also the team mugging of the normally reserved coach Scott Ross following the trophy presentation. We can all be happy that a tub of Gatorade did not get dumped on the new synthetic lanes at 20th Century.
Much like the OHSAA battle of Mercer County in that first year, it was a feeling that you had to be there to thoroughly appreciate and understand.
Interestingly it was another Hunter, sophomore Hunter Woods, who depicted the coach Ross mentality that will continue to make the St. Marys program strong. His parting comment to this writer, “Today was great, but it is time to get back to work and continue to improve.”
My parting shot today is to my friend Phil Austin, another person who has been an author of many memorable moments over the years.
Phil was an awesome DJ for the tournament but really rocked things even more this past week when he stroked his 50th perfect 300 game.
It was a goal that he has had for quite awhile. It could not have happened to a nicer guy.
See you at 20th Century Lanes this afternoon for the finish of round one of the City Singles qualifying and on these pages tomorrow for a wrap on that event and Tuesday for an update on the high school matches.
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