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Three perfect games lead to win

  • Published
  • By Mike W. Ray
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Curtis Vincent rolled three perfect games -- 36 consecutive strikes -- to lead his team to first place in the Mixed Doubles 9-Pin, No-Tap Tournament at the Tinker Bowling Center on Feb. 25.

Curtis scored the maximum 900 points in the three games, while his wife, Lisa, tallied 679, for a combined total of 1,579. In a nine-pin, no-tap game, knocking down nine pins counts the same as a standard 10-pin strike, bowling center General Manager Brett Moler related.

"I've rolled a couple of 300s in unsanctioned 10-pin events but never in sanctioned leagues," Vincent, who's been a bowler "on and off for almost 30 years," said Monday. "And I did roll 825 in a sanctioned 10-pin tournament a couple of years ago without a 300 game in the mix," he continued. "It is much more difficult to shoot an 800 series than it is to shoot a 300 game," he added, "since it takes three strong games to accomplish that."

Vincent, a jet engine mechanic in the 546th Propulsion Maintenance Squadron, has been a part-time operator of the Tinker Bowling Center pro shop for almost three years.

Moler said he could recall only one other bowler rolling three consecutive perfect games at the Tinker center, and that was in the senior 9-pin league.

The Vincents edged their nearest competitors by 15 pins: John Gambill and Rhonda Wright finished second with a combined score of 1,564. Stephen and Kathleen Kelley came in third, with 1,476; Arian and Edith Lowe were fourth, with 1,433; and Eric and Shirley Harmon were seven pins behind, in fifth place, with 1,426.

The tournament last Saturday attracted 21 teams, compared to only six teams in the previous mixed doubles tournament, Moler said. "So we've grown considerably."

The other teams were composed of T.J. Vogt and Debby Dooley, Delbert and Valerie Polly, Wes and Jen Everitt, Jonathan and Amanda Zamarripa, Jerry and Lorraine Girardot, Milo and Marlet Cotledge, Leo Smith and Kelly Sulanke, Glen Banister and Ingrid Hinds, Chuck and August Fletcher, George and Sharon Maxwell, Paul and Brenda Brewbaker, Jack Williams and Niki Moon, Jim Tidwell and Janice Martinez, Dave and Clara Long, Gerald and Allison Davis, and Earnest and Marcia DaBreo.

The next major event at the Tinker Bowling Center is a two-game high/low tournament scheduled for March 10, starting at 2 p.m.