Largo's Jim Sullivan has collected enough first-place awards to start his own trophy shop and last month he picked up another load.
Sullivan was among 65 bowlers from across the country competing in the American Wheelchair Bowling Association's National Championship Tournament in Brockton, Mass.
Sullivan started his run by winning the team event with partners Don Porpora of Sebring and Wayne Webber of Palm Harbor. He teamed again with Porpora to finish second in the doubles, was second in the Tournament of Champions and won the Senior Classic Division.
As the top qualifier in the A Division with a 345-pin lead, Sullivan captured his sixth career A division title.
He won the all-events with a 21-game, 4,851 pinfall and fired a high scratch series of 544.
And, he did it all with an 8-pound ball over wooden lanes.
"I've never bowled so well in my life," Sullivan said. "I came within two spares of winning everything. Last time I bowled on wood was at Largo Lanes (now closed) and I've never placed in every event."
Until recently, Sullivan used a 10-pound ball.
"I'm slowing down, so I had to go to a lighter ball," he said. "I figured out the shot right from day one, fired a slow ball, let it run Brooklyn and carried more strikes than ever before."
Sullivan also has won a number of state titles, traveling far and wide and returning with his van crammed with silver. He conceived the Wheelchair Awareness Bowl-A-Thon, which ran for years at Largo Lanes, where able-bodied bowlers compete from wheelchairs. Sullivan also contributed to the wheelchair section of the Bowling Hall of Fame in St. Louis.
DUBOSE WINS: Lakeland's Jim DuBose won four straight matches to take the championship as the Senior Bowlers of America tour visited Mark Roth's Hall of Fame Lanes for the first time Sunday in Clearwater.
DuBose defeated Roth, a PBA Hall of Fame member, 232-228, to win his first SBA title and $1,000. Roth collected $550 and Orlando's Bill Keenan finished third, good for $400. A field of 31 pros, many from the PBA's Senior circuit, competed in the two-day event.
"I just got lucky against Mark," DuBose said. "In fact, I was lucky throughout the entire tournament and I managed to score just high enough to make the finals."
DuBose was eighth after Saturday's eight qualifying games and moved to fourth after 10 match-play games early Sunday.
DuBose used strike strings to dispose of his opponents. Against Orlando's Bob Helmbold, he nailed six in a row for a narrow 258-254 victory. DuBose reeled off six in a row to oust Bob Alstott, Vero Beach, 249-225, then rallied with the final seven strikes to defeat Saturday's high qualifier, Bill Keenan, Orlando, 277-225. Keenan nailed a 300 game Saturday and another on Sunday, but a fall on his first ball in the DuBose match broke up his game.
Roth and DuBose matched strikes the first five frames of the championship before Roth left a split. DuBose followed with a split of his own, but managed enough strikes in the final frames for the victory.
The SBA was started 10 years ago by tournament director Bob Janego of Orlando. It lists about 200 active members and makes tour stops across the state.
"We generally have about 30-40 in our fields and we change the format to keep things from getting boring," Janego said. "We're a practice ground for the tour pros, a step up for senior amateurs and a platform for many seniors and super seniors to perform."
The tour is open to men and women 50 and over with a $125 entry fee and is sanctioned by the ABCWIBC. The tour will return to Hall of Fame Lanes Feb. 7-8. For information, log on to the Web site at www.sbabowling.com
AROUND THE LANES: High scorers included Nick Moldovan 300-672, John Gessell 300-693 and Lewis Bryant 300-702 at Dunedin ... Dan Shirley 300 at Liberty, where Rick Dornan, Walt Yasenski and Paul Micalef won the $1,000 monthly Saturday trio tournament ... Final results of the Florida State Young American Bowling Alliance YABA tournament are posted on its Web site at www.fsyaba.com Local winners will be published here next week.
