1965

The junior traveling team (Bill Hambly, Phil McAfee, Chris Autieri, Dana Rastedt and me) had its greatest successes bowling for Dutch Village Bowl (Lakewood, CA) in 1965 in Audrey McCain's junior program.  We became the #1 Dutch Village team. and we all bowled in the Sunday night doubles.  Many of our family members would come out to watch on Sunday nights.  It was just like performing with a "standing room only" audience and I think that the lanes were blocked for us.  Bill Hambly had a 213 average and our team average was 193 in the summer of 1965.  Dana Rastedt and 13-year-old Billy Bybee had bowled perfect 300 games in the doubles.  We made all of the major junior tournaments in the state including the Easter tournament at Moonlite Bowl in Santa Clara and the Fourth of July tournament at L & L Castle Lanes in San Francisco.  We just piled into Audrey's big old Cadillac and hit the road.  I think that Audrey's daughter, Carol also traveled with us.  The big tournament of the year was the Labor Day team tournament at Dutch Village.  Teams came from all over the state and some were out of state.  The tournament filled the 32-lane house.  Bill Hambly and a girl from San Francisco (Pat Costello) had 300 games in the 1965 tournament.  It was a ten-gamer over two days and we were in second place for the position round but there was no happy ending.  I remember walking to the opposite end of the bowling alley after my tenth frame.  I could not watch.  I was just hoping that the last two bowlers on our team could win it for us.  This was the last junior event for all of us.  The next year, the tournament was renamed the "Phil McAfee Memorial" to honor our teammate who died in 1966.  Phil's parents were there for both days of the 1966 tournament and his brother Bob bowled for the Norwalk Bowl team.  Audrey had also called some of us former junior bowlers back to bowl as an exhibition team.  Audrey sent me a very nice, long letter in 1969 when I was in U.S. Navy book camp.  When Audrey died a few years later, I sent a note to her daughter and she wrote back to me.  I very surprised to learn that Audrey and Carol had thought of me as one of the "star" junior bowlers at Dutch Village.  I always considered myself just one of the gang.

Bowling Average: 196 (Dutch Village Bowl)
                            184 (traveling league)

High Game: 290 (Dutch Village Bowl)

High Series: 724 (Dutch Village Bowl)

This photo on the next page was taken at L & L Castle Lanes in San Francisco prior to an annual junior tournament during my last year of junior eligibility.  [JAM 6/11/2020]

Bowling was my best sport by far.  I had lots of fun and success bowling in junior traveling leagues and tournaments across the state.  During the first two years of college I continued to bowl in various pro-ams and state tournaments.  I finished in second place in a pro-am with Hall-of-Famer Glenn Allison.  I also outscored pro bowler Les Zikes in another pro-am.  I was also qualified to be a member of the PBA and I had obtained an application form but I never mailed it.  My college grades were not good as I was spending more time on bowling.  And, if I quit college to go on tour, I would have immediately been drafted into the U.S. Army.  So, I decided to cut back on bowling and concentrate on getting a college degree.  It was unlikely that I could ever get the financing to be a pro bowler.  College was my best chance to eventually get a good-paying job.  [JAM 9/18/2021 - 50 years after my 300 game at Vandenberg Air Force Base]

Homer & Nyla Moore