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By Donna Harris
Cherokee Tribune Staff Writer
Men aren't the only ones who take their bowling seriously.
Cherokee County is full of women bowlers who participate every week in organized leagues, travel around the country to compete in tournaments and rack up game scores of 250-plus and series scores of 600-plus.
Brenda Brooks, 56, of Canton started bowling in 1972 after catching the bowling bug from her "lefty" dad, Joe Dodson.
"My dad was a big bowler," she said. "He was in a league when I was in elementary school and high school, and a lot of times, my mom and I would go watch him."
Her mother, Lois Dodson, also is a bowler. At 80 years of age, she's still knocking down pins on Tuesday nights at AMF Woodstock Lanes.
"It's sort of all in the family," Mrs. Brooks said.
The former owner of Brenda's House of Flowers in Woodstock is president of the Ladies' Night Out league that bowls at Cherokee Lanes on Tuesday nights and is captain of her three-member team, B.B. Bombers.
"I started in the morning league when the lanes first opened, but I've bowled five or six years in this league," she said, noting she and teammates Patti Cramer and Diana Wright are down a teammate after their fourth member had to quit due to health problems. "I just love bowling. It's just relaxing. I can be very stressed out, but hitting the pins relieves the stress."
She also loves the competition of bowling in leagues and tournaments.
"I've always played some kind of sport," she said. "Now that I'm getting a little bit older, it's about the only sport I can play."
Mrs. Brooks, who arranges wedding flowers from her home, has become an accomplished bowler who has an average of 174, a high game of 279 and a high three-game series of 642.
But anyone, regardless of skill, can bowl in a league, she said.
"The misconception is you have to be a good bowler, and you don't," she said. "In our league, we have averages from 85 to 175."
Besides the league, Mrs. Brooks also has bowled with a traveling team that competes in tournaments across the country for 25 years."We like to promote this sport," she said. "It's good exercise, good fellowship, just a fun activity. I wish more women would get involved in it."
The team travels to a tournament every August in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., and tries to make it to the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) national tournament each year. The event will be in Detroit in June this year and in Reno, Nev., next year. "We've gone to Washington State, Texas, New York, all over," she said. "That's what's fun about nationals. You get to go places and get to see the sights."
Another avid bowler is Canton City Councilwoman Pat Tanner, who bowls at Cherokee Lanes on the Strike Ladies Strike (SLS) team in the Domestic Engineers league on Thursday mornings and on the Ebony and Ivory team in the Cherokee Mixers co-ed league on Friday nights.
Ms. Tanner, 60, said she took up the sport more than 40 years ago after a friend who bowled got her interested in it.
"I picked up a ball, threw it and I've been throwing it ever since," she said.
The lifelong Canton resident said she competed in leagues in Cobb County "before we actually had a bowling alley here."
"What is there not to love (about bowling)?" she said. "You have bragging rights, the thrill, the excitement of going up there with a goal of knocking down 10 pins, which I'm not always successful at. The fellowship you have with other bowlers. It's an indoor sport. If it's raining or cold, you're warm and dry inside. And it's something families can do together."
It's also a good stress reliever for her. "If I'm upset, I can take it out on the pins," she said.
Ms. Tanner, who retired from the Cherokee County Department of Family and Children Services, said she bowls two days a week with her league teams, fills in as a substitute for other teams and competes in about three tournaments a year. Her high score is 230-plus, and her high series is 600-plus.
Amanda St. Romain, front counter personnel at Cherokee Lanes, said the number of women bowlers is about the same as men bowlers, but the number of teams in the Ladies' Night Out league has "grown by three or four teams the past two years."
Both leagues are doing well, however, with 14 teams bowling on Tuesday nights and 10 teams bowling on Thursday mornings, she said.
AMF Woodstock Lanes has one women's league, Friday Follies, which bowls on Friday mornings. The league is made up of 21 women on six teams, according to clerk Hershell Bowling.
Canton resident Dale Morrissey, chairwoman of the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce, doesn't bowl in a league, but she is participating in the chamber's Knock Down Bowling Tournament April 24 at AMF Woodstock Lanes.
Besides supporting the chamber fundraiser, Mrs. Morrissey has another reason for signing up for the event -- First Cherokee State Bank, where she is senior vice president and branch manager, is sponsoring it.
"I think it will be an opportunity to network with other business leaders and to get to know one another," she said. "I hope we have a lot of support. It's a great time to kind of get away from the busy of the day and unwind and have some fun with other people."
Though she enjoys bowling, Mrs. Morrissey said most of her experience comes from family outings through the years.
"I wouldn't consider myself a routine bowler," she said. "I'm just going to help out my team any way I can. It's a great outing."
Events Manager Gini Mizelle said the chamber decided to organize a bowling tournament because it is "always looking for new opportunities to offer our membership."
"We communicate with other chambers in Georgia, and this was an idea that has been a success for other groups," she said. "Our big events during the year have been Annual Dinner, Administrative Professionals Luncheon, Chamber Classic Golf Tournament and Casino Night. We think this will add to the variety of options for our members."
The 9-pin no-tap tournament can accommodate 40 four-person teams, and each member of the first- , second- and third-place teams will win Shop Cherokee gift certificates in the amounts of $100, $75 and $50, respectively.
Mrs. Morrissey said First Cherokee will have three teams competing in the tournament.
"The chamber decided this would be a new event we'd be holding, and since the bank is sponsoring it, we definitely wanted to have teams in the event," she said.
dharris@cherokeetribune.com
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