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By DAVE KONOPKI [email protected]
Sunday, May 22, 2005 Page: 9C
WILKES-BARRE – Mike Wanchisen was expecting his 83rd birthday to be like
most of the other 30,000-plus days he’s been alive.
Nothing special. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Instead, it turned out to be one of the best days of his life.
Wanchisen shocked his friends – and himself – by bowling a perfect 300 game
on his 83rd birthday Friday afternoon. The Wilkes-Barre resident accomplished
the feat during play at the Tuesday-Friday Senior League at Chacko’s Family
Bowling Center.
“Heck no, I had no idea that it was going to happen,” says Wanchisen during
an interview at Chacko’s less than 90 minutes after bowling the 12th perfect
game of his life. “You never know when you’re going to bowl a 300 game. They
just come. You need some skill, but you also need some luck.”
With the exception of the first ball on the 10th frame – when the No. 10
pin remained perilously standing for a little while before eventually falling
– Wanchisen recorded solid strikes throughout the game.
After bowling 11 consecutive strikes, he approached the line with a shiny
blue ball in his powerful right hand – and not a lot on his mind.
“To be honest, I wasn’t thinking about anything,” says the member of the
Wyoming Valley Bowling Hall of Fame, recalling his thoughts before rolling the
final ball of the game. “I treated it like it was just another ball. At that
point, I think it’s just a matter of concentration. You concentrate on your
mark and you let the ball go.”
Before the start of play, league president Andrew Kundrat and the other
members of the league celebrated the birthday with cake and coffee. And
Wanchisen kept a tradition alive by having a little something extra.
“I always have a very small glass of (Carlo Rossi) wine before the games
start,” said Wanchisen, who went to dinner with his wife Mary on Thursday
night to celebrate his birthday. “It calms you down. I’ve been doing it for
the last eight to 10 years.”
Even before the first ball made its way down the lane, Kundrat and other
league members kidded with Wanchisen about bowling a perfect game.
“We joked around how nice it would be for him to bowl a 300 game on his
83rd birthday,” says Kundrat, 76, who bowled a 300 game in January, the last
perfect game during the league’s play.
“As a bowler, somewhere about the seventh or eight frame you have a pretty
good idea that it could happen. You have the alley figured out. If you have a
perfect game after the eighth frame, then you really start thinking about it.”
And the people around you start to act a little differently, as Wanchisen
experienced Friday.
“We were really rooting hard for him after the sixth frame, but we stayed
back a little bit and didn’t say too much to him later in the game,” says
playing partner and longtime friend Ben Drogalis of West Wyoming. “You don’t
want to get in his way or do anything to interfere with his concentration.”
“Today was an exceptional day,” added the 77-year-old. “To bowl a 300 game
on your 83rd birthday is a great accomplishment. Watching him do it was a lot
of fun. He’s a great guy.”
Wanchisen, who has a 212 average, noticed the difference in those around
him as his history-making game progressed.
“Everyone got quiet,” he says. “For me, that’s no good. I’d rather the guys
stay the same and make some noise. I know the guys were talking about (a 300
game) in the sixth or seventh frame, but I really didn’t start thinking about
it until the 10th frame.”
After bowling his career 11th perfect game nearly 18 months ago, Wanchisen
set a goal of recording the feat at least one more time in his life.
“I really wanted to bowl my 12th 300 game,” he says. “I’ve been going after
it for the last year and a half in the worst way. I don’t know why. I just had
that number in my mind. And because I did it on my birthday, this one is
always going to be very special to me.”
And remembered by everyone who witnessed it, says Kundrat.
“This was really nice,” says the Swoyersville resident. “This is something
he’ll remember – that we’ll all remember – for the rest of our lives.”
“Heck no, I had no idea
that it was going to happen.
You never know when
you’re going to bowl a 300 game.
They just come. You need some skill,
but you also need some luck.”
Mike Wanchisen After bowling his 12th perfect game