Weird But True

The Most Inspiring Bowling Story We’ve Ever Heard Ended Like This

Bill Fong is Michelle Obama’s old high school classmate, a former hairdresser, a former aspiring professional golfer, and the first man to make me think that bowling could be exciting. Read this and see if your blood doesn’t heat up a bit:

As he sent strike after strike down the lanes, he began to feel magical. Literally, the way he was commanding the balls to turn and burrow into the unsuspecting pins, it felt a little like he was moving heavy objects with only the power of his mind. In the fourth frame, both the seven and the 10 pins stayed up just a bit longer than he wanted. As he gestured with both arms, they fell. Something similar happened in the eighth frame.

“It was like Moses parting the sea,” he says. “I’d move my hands and everything would get out of the way.”

Soon the other bowlers began stepping back when he was up, taking extra precaution not to get in his way. “Nobody wants to mess up a streak like that,” Dunn says.

Fong is also notable because he almost became the 22nd bowler ever to bowl a perfect series — three perfect 300 point games, or 36 strikes in a row. Fong came close to the 900 mark, but he didn’t quite make it. His final score was 899, the last point was given up in the last frame of the almost-perfect series. Oh, and Fong had a stroke later that night (don’t worry, he’s better now).

Here’s footage of Fong’s final 3 frames from that night:

It is kind of amazing that bowling, one of least physically demanding activities that comes to mind, can still be a reminder of the way so many athletes give up their bodies in order to excel at their sport. And even after that almost perfect game and near death experience, Fong is still bowling, trying to get better, telling himself, “I’ve got to make adjustments.” Just something to keep in mind the next time we all go bowling and start to get a little smug with our friends about getting two strikes in a row.

[Via D Magazine]
[Photo by Tadd Myers]