New Year’s Eve in Paris was a blast

McHenry Bowl had lanes 7 to 52 filled with 209 seniors rolling in the no-tap New Year’s Eve in Paris party.

Bellevue Bowl’s gals showed up its guys. Bellevue’s best was a 300 game and an 806 series by Jim Mullings, a 277 by Julie Wescott, Kim Deathriage’s 276 and Dave Egleston’s 263.

There were four divisions broken down by average. Gals bringing home a few bucks were Verna Fellows, Phyllis Wallbaum, Wescott, Judy Simpson, Lynnell DiFrancia, Mary Eckes and Deathriage. Among the men, it was Mullings leading the pack, followed by Keith Hunter, Egleston, Bill Simpson, Lee Almeida, and Ed Rowen.

The colored head pins were a blast, as bowlers collected from $.25 to $5 if they rolled a strike, and with the no-tap it worked out great. Eckes picked up a 6-7-10 split for 50 cents. First-timer John Krone won a couple of quarters. A great ham buffet was served before bowling.

Central Valley Senior Bowling Club – Mark your calendar for the club’s inaugural handicap senior singles tournament, which will be held Feb. 20 at McHenry. The entry fee is $40, and one out of four will cash. You can join the club during their first tournament. The annual membership fee is $20. Your anniversary date begins the month you purchase your card. The club is open to men 55 and older and women 50 and older. Applications are available at Bellevue.

League highlights – Kim Barcellos lit up the Guys & Dolls on Tuesday night with a 265.

The Commercial Classic had Sean Kucius with a 269 (711), Ronnie Gonzales a 265 (705) and Ryan Sziraki a 241 (692).

The 10th frame – We lost two senior bowlers in the past week.

Jim Souza was 93. I rolled against Souza in the Bellevue Seniors on Tuesday afternoons for a couple of years and enjoyed our time together. He knew that I wrote the bowling column for the Sun-Star, so every once in a while he would give me a little dig, “Don, did you know that I rolled a 168 last week.”

This year, he was bowling in the Twilighters league on Thursday afternoons at Bellevue with his good friend Otto Aschbacher. He dropped by a few weeks ago and wanted to know if we needed a sub. In 2012 he became the 58th to be inducted into the Merced County Bowling Hall of Fame in the Pioneer category. His service was Saturday at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Atwater.

On the west side, we lost Frank Gallichio, 88, another longtime Twilighter who bowled at Castle Lanes and then moved over to Bellevue. He rolled with his wife, Helen, and with a group of friends from the Los Banos and Dos Palos area. Gallichio also made my column in the high game and high series sections during his career with the Twilighters. His service was Monday at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Los Banos.

Both of these men were longtime bowlers and will be missed.

Update – In the TOC scratch 6-gamer, Sacramento’s Noel Vasquez defeated Modesto’s Wayne Garber 226-205 for the championship. More on the TOC next week.

This story was originally published January 6, 2016 at 5:36 PM with the headline "New Year’s Eve in Paris was a blast."