The Post-Journal

Sue Golen, Bowler Deluxe, Has Best And Worst Season

Most men agree that nothing a women says or does is impossible, no matter how implausible it sounds. So no one fell of his chair when Sue Golen, Jamestown’s reining bowling queen, recently said, “I had my best and my worst season last winter.”

“It’s true,” she explained matter of factly. “I had the most 600’s, but also the most 400 sets I’ve ever bowled in one season.”

The “most 600s” number, 18, is the most ever registered in one league campaign by a local girl. That total also included a 689 - the highest series on record for area women.

The 32-year-old redhead, wife of Moon Brook golf pro Ed Golen, began forging her record chain of high series at Fountain Bowl with a 616 link on November 15, in McFadden Ford’s Ladies All-Star Doubles League, of which she is secretary.

Follows with Double-Header

Following that one with a 1,220 pin doubleheader 603 in Moon Brook Ladies Loop and 617 during the second shift Shea’s Deluxe Classic on November 23, she added four 600s in December, a pair in January, four in February, four more in March and closed it out with a 637 in the McFadden circuit on April 18.

The record series was tossed March 1 in the Moon Brook League, with games of 243, 214, and 232. It came on the heels of a 618 during second shift McFadden Ford’s action the night before. Previous area highs were a 682 in sanctioned play by Bea Chandler Parsons and a non-sanctioned 684 by Ginny Lenna, both in 1964.

Sue turned in a 1,205 pin fall Nov. 15, rolling a 589 in the Shooting Stars circuit prior to the 616 series on her birthday Dec. 20. It marked the fourth straight year she celebrated her birthday with a Super Six.

Top Average

The rollin’, bowlin’ Golen showed little preference for leagues, gunning a half dozen 600s in the Ford loop and four in each of the Stars, Shea’s and Moon Brook leagues.

Sue also compiled her highest average ever, a 188. Her previous top mark was 183, posted each of the three previous seasons.

Adding lustre to her league campaign, she placed ninth in Flamingo Lanes’ annual Handicap Singles & Doubles tournament with a 600 scratch, competed in the Women’s International Bowling Congress tourney at New Orleans and fired a 644 in a meet at Binghamton.

The Buffalo Savings Bank team, with which she bowled, at last report held down seventh place in the International with a 2,655. Sue’s 644 in the Binghamton meet, sponsored by Midway Shopping Center and held in conjunction with the NYS Women’s tourney, topped the singles field at the time. Final results haven’t been released.

Has Teacher

Sue credits her husband, who posted a 180 average himself last season while bowling on a one-night-a-week basis, with teaching her the art of clobbering pins. “Eddie taught me how to bowl when we were dating; he showed me how to throw the hook; where to stand on the approach; and how to release the ball.”

It was Ed, she points out, and who talked her into completing in the International.

Sue, who would like to travel to more tournaments except for the fact it would mean leaving two-year-old Mary Sue behind, is still chasing two big bowling “rainbows”- a 700 series and perfect game. But, after last season, who will say how long it will take her to find them? The new season is less than four months away.


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