St. Louis Rotary 107th Bowling Alleygations ~ Week 12 | November 24, 2025 at Olivette Lanes
ALLEGATIONS—November 24, 2025 Week 12
This was the Monday before Thanksgiving and everyone was in a festive mood. Thoughts turned to achieving three strikes in a row and scoring a Turkey. Where did this term originate? “It’s called a “turkey” in bowling for three strikes in a row because of a holiday tradition from the early 20th century where bowling alleys would award an actual turkey as a prize for this achievement. This practice was common during Thanksgiving tournaments, and the term “turkey” became the enduring nickname for the accomplishment.” If Don was forced to follow that tradition he would have to order a lot of turkeys. The first of the night was scored by Joey Papa with his first three balls. Throughout the night, Doug Lorenz, Jack Windish, Carl Lane, Bob Kocher, Don Klackner, and Wade Weistreich (who did it twice) all registered a turkey. Honorable Mention goes to David Cowell who had at least four doubles but was unable to complete the circuit. So Don was on the hook for seven turkeys. It could have been a lot more after the scoring machine went dark in the third game after three frames. Each of the affected bowlers swore their first three balls were strikes. Unfortunately, the frames were recorded and the final frames were scored the old fashioned way, by hand. Of course, asking Rotarians to correctly add (in some cases) two digits was challenging but somehow the games were completed.
Now I am not one to sponsor conspiracy theories, but everyone noted the scoring machines went blank after Don Klackner missed a spare. For the first two games Don averaged 150 but he managed a miraculous 219 for his third game which was high for the night. When Don was trying to fix the system, perhaps he did FIX the system to his benefit. Just asking??
Team Cooper and Team Cowell battled it out on Lanes 17-18. Both teams were short one bowler which enabled them to wrap up the contest quickly. In spite of David’s 566 scratch series (which was the high for the night) his team fell far short. Tom Carroll, Rose Cooper, and Lily Michaels all exceeded their average and enabled them to take 19 points for the night. They are now firmly entrenched in third place in the standings.
Team Lane and Team Maddox competed on Lanes 19-20 and the match was about evenly split between these two last place teams. All eight bowlers exceeded their average (except Joey Papa with a 599 so we will give him that one pin to make our point.) In addition to earning a Turkey Joey also converted a 2-10 split. In the second game Quinn Rogers needed two strikes and 8 pins in the tenth frame to make his average-=HE DID IT. Bob Kocher scored a splendid 203 in the third game; finally getting some breaks that eluded him during the first two games.
Team Weiss and Team Baker was a lopsided contest on Lanes 21-22 with Weiss taking 20 points. They could have defeated anyone this night as all four bowlers trounced their average. Mike Coleman (630), Matt Weiss (629), Jack Windish (661), and Wade Weistreid (679). The Team handicap series of 2599 is second in the season high scores. With these points Team Weiss solidified its hold on first place.
Team Soifer and Team Werner bowled on Lanes 23-24. These lanes are located closest to the exit and allowed Team Werner to make a quick exit after their humiliating loss to Soifer 21 to 1. This result was made possible by all of Team Werner members bowling below average while all of the Soifer contingent bested their average. (Okay Bill Piper only rolled 598 but since we gave one to Joey Papa we can give two to “Santa Claus.”) This victory placed the Soifer team solidly in second place in the standings.
HAVE A HAPPY AND SAFE THANKSGIVING.
Strikes and Spares,
Carl Lane