Warner Sr. Bowls 300

Ron Warner lets one go at Valley Bowl in Randolph. He bowled a 300 game last week, about a month after his son had achieved the same feat. (Herald / Bob Eddy)

By Jill D. Montgomery

Bowling definitely runs in the Warner family’s blood. But with a slight twist to the saying "like father, like son," this time it was the father, Ron Warner, Sr. copying the son, Ronnie, Jr., with a perfect 300 game, Saturday, Jan. 19. Warner Jr. bowled his second 300 game in November.

The two Warners were bowling at Valley Bowl in Randolph, which is owned by yet another Warner, Wayne, who is Ron Sr.’s brother, and Ronnie’s uncle, in the Men’s Association Tournament in the doubles division.

"Ronnie was bowling with me and that makes it even more special," Ron Sr. said Monday. "The best I’ve done before is 10 strikes in a row, and I’ve done that four or five times."

A perfect game takes 12 strikes.

Warner said "the first shot in the 10^th frame was not a good shot, it was a Brooklyn shot."

For the uninitiated, as I was, this means the ball goes left of the head pin, in the case of a right handed bowler and doesn’t nail the pin head on. "The second shot wasn’t good either, but the rest were all good shots." Warner’s three game series started off with a 197, followed by the perfect game and ended with a 214 game.

Warner started off his day bowling with Bob Dean of Bethel in the singles division of the tourney. Dean asked Ron, Sr. if he had ever bowled a 300 game. Warner replied nope, and Dean told him "Well, today’s the day!" A pretty good prediction!

Ron Sr. said "It got real quiet in the last few frames, the people we were bowling against and the crowd up back, nobody made a peep. I was some nervous! It’s amazing!"

Warner has been bowling for 35 years. He started when Steve Dodge talked him into joining a league even though he had never bowled before. The whole Warner family bowls, besides Ron Sr. and Jr., including Ron Sr.’s wife Edie and their daughter, Tricia Maloney of Deerfield, N.H., as well as grandchildren, nieces, and nephews—the whole crew.

Warner, Sr. bowls two nights a week in the Sunday Night Mixed League and Monday night in the Green Mt. League. According to tradition, if anyone on the Monday night team gets his or her picture in the paper, they have to buy a round for the whole team. It looks like the perfect game could cost Warner a few dollars!

Since February 19, 2007 there have been three sanctioned 300 games at Valley Bowl: Randy Bradley, Ronnie, Jr. and Ron, Sr. There have also been two unsanctioned 300 games by Bradley and Trevor Tabor. Tabor has also bowled an 800 series.

Warner, Sr.’s take on this was "There are more 300 games all over. The equipment is better and people are more knowledgeable of the game."

Warner thanked his brother, Wayne, and sister-in-law, Karen, for keeping bowling alive in this area when the bowling alley had to move a few years ago. "For a while, it looked like we might not have any bowling in Randolph. But they came through, and their staff at Valley Bowl, too—it’s a great place."

Warner’s wife Edie was there Saturday to see the perfect game and there was plenty of hooting and hollering going on afterwards, and as Warner said, "There might have been a little celebrating as well!"

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