Bowling Lanes 

In Connellsville, Pennsylvania across from the old Troutman building, there used to be a hotel called the St. James. As a youth, I never noticed it and would have never known it was there, but several people bowled there as a group and invited me. When I thought of a hotel, I always thought of a place to use while on vacation or to sleep overnight, but a bowling alley?

I think the most unusual thing about the alley was its location. The lanes were located on the second floor. Its position in the building truly fascinated me. Who would have thought bowling alleys on the second floor? Plus it was a rare treat for me to bowl. Money was tight. My brother and sister were too young to go bowling as a family, but my parents allowed me to occasionally tag along with the church bowler friends.

The bowling lanes were old alleys without pin setting machines. It was necessary for them to employ pin boys to gather and reset the pins at the end of the lanes. They would retrieve your ball and place it in the return trough. The ball would rumble back to you.

I can’t remember which night of the week we would bowl, but there was a man there who scared the pin boys and sent them scurrying. He had huge bulging muscles in his arms. When he would bowl, he would hurl the ball down the lanes. The ball was air born until about halfway down the lane and would hit with a thunderous crash to begin its trip and spin on the polished boards. The torque was tremendous. As the black bowling ball hit the pins with a crack, the pins would scatter in all direction. It was a dangerous situation for the pin boys. They would scatter as well, heading to opposite sides of the room to escape possible injury from flying pins. The ball would hit the backstop with a dull, solid thump.

It was almost like a dance with the pin setter boys waltzing out of the way at the crescendo of the rumbling music and then dance back to the stage to reset the pins. I was amazed at the power of the young bowler and the finesse of the youthful pin setters as they scurried to avoid injury at the opposite sides of the lanes.