On Saturday, April 4th, Midway Lanes held its second annual Scratch Invitational, featuring the top 16 league bowlers with the highest averages. Owner and former PBA professional bowler Kevin Gallagher took pride in organizing the event and was also pleased to participate as a competitor.
Six years ago, he was considering buying a bowling alley. “Our family always had a dream of owning our own business and because I have a bowling background, I’ve been a competitive bowler my whole life, I bowl leagues and organize tournaments and leagues and things, my work history has been working movie theatres for 32 years so I felt like I had the management side down and because of my love for bowling it seemed like a natural fit,” said Gallager the day before the event.
In 2020, he conducted a Google search for bowling alleys available for purchase, which led him to discover that Midway Lanes was on the market. Residing in Torrance, California, Gallagher acknowledged that acquiring Midway Lanes was a considerable risk given its distance from his home and the ongoing Covid pandemic. Nevertheless, his wife, London, and daughter, Lacey, visited the area during the summer of 2020, engaging with local restaurant and bar owners. Following these conversations, they developed a positive impression of the community.
“We love this old bowling alley, especially since its mostly original from 1961 when the bowling alley opened. There’s something about the original wood lanes, the original pin setters, and the bar is all original, there’s something about this place that felt really comfortable and homey to me, so we bought this place and opened in October of 2020.”
League bowling forms the foundation of the business; an important factor in acquiring Midway Lanes was its established leagues on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday. The league base has demonstrated consistent growth, with eight to ten new participants joining annually, resulting in a significant increase over six years and reflecting a resurgence in bowling’s popularity. Due to full capacity of existing leagues, an additional league was introduced this year on Friday. There has also been a notable uptick in open bowling sessions and birthday party bookings.
One of his other goals is to bring back junior league bowling. “That’s something that is a challenge these days as kids play multiple sports and a time commitment on a Saturday morning. That’s how I picked up the passion for bowling is we had a very active junior program living in California, and we had a great tournament club, I played the junior amateur tour which would have included many PBA bowlers which you would have seen on TV and I competed against them as a youth bowler.”
The tournament on Saturday was an invite only for the top 16 bowlers with the highest averages at Midway Lanes. “Hopefully it’s something that people want to aspire to get into the top 16 because it’s an exclusive event. It brings back a tradition prior to me, decades ago there was an invitational tournament called the Top 16 and it was supposed to crown the best bowler at Midway Lanes that particular year,” he said. “We brought it back last year and this is the second year of the tournament.”
The tournament is similar to an actual PBA event. It featured 5 games of qualifying across 10 lanes. Then a cut to the top 6 for round robin match play (with 30 bonus pins for beating your opponent), followed by a top 4 stepladder final. The winner has his name etched on a nifty perpetual trophy. Also, they laid out a modified Kegel Beaten Path V2 oil pattern for the tournament which can make the lanes a little more difficult and challenging.
What this reporter noticed is it’s a grueling event with the winner having to win between 10-12 games. Last year, Gallager did not bowl in the event but did play in the event on Saturday. “I don’t usually bowl in my tournaments but I figured that if I do one, this would be the one tournament that I would want to bowl in just because, you know, I feel like all my league bowlers would want me to bowl in it because they want to beat me,” he said with a laugh.
And Kevin got the last laugh, as he won the tournament defeating Travis Gilbertson 224 to 188. Last year’s winner was Gary ‘Horse’ James. The final standings for the bowlers that made the cut after 5 games of qualifying, and 5 games of round robin match play were Kevin Gallager +334, Matt Anderson +285, Travis Gilbertson +234, Wade Harker +146, Scott James -30, and Dakota Poad – 187. The +/- scores are in relation to a 200 average.
The results of the 4-person stepladder roll-off in match one Travis Gilbertson defeated Wade Harker 238-160, Gilbertson then defeated Matt Anderson 212-203, and in the Title Match, Gallagher defeated Gilbertson 225-188.
For the 53-year-old Gallagher, who, in his career, has bowled 38 perfect games (2 at Midway), was excited about winning the tournament. “It was super cool. I don’t get to bowl in a lot of tournaments these days and the fact that this was a scratch tournament with all my bowlers was very meaningful. I kind of got my competition legs back in me, it’s been a few years since I bowled regularly so it was really fun and I’m very proud, very happy,” he said following the tournament.
Of note, many of the Midway scratch bowlers have reached the impressive 300 Club as well with Wade Harker leading the way with 11 perfect games. Craig Mueller has 6, Dakota Poad and Matt Anderson have 4 each. Travis Gilbertson, Scott James, and Gary James each have one.
Gallagher was pleased with how the modified oil on the lanes worked out, too. “They played very tough from pair-to-pair. There were lanes that were very tricky, I kept notes on a notepad because I knew I’d be coming back to those lanes later, I thought they played tricky, but fair. We put out a very difficult oil pattern out there and I felt the scores were good, and playable, but you had to make good shots.”
It’s good to see bowling in the area is active and growing stronger. There is a Top 6 competition named after Scott ‘Sully’ Sullivan, a bowler who passed away many years ago. Midway Lanes, Dodger Bowl, Tower Junction, Phoenix Center (Richland Center) and Lancaster compete against each other in a yearly event. In that tournament, they take the top 6 bowlers from each location who split into two teams of three. Midway Lanes won the latest Top 6 tournament. The tournament has a regular rotation. Bowlers go head to head with other teams of three and whoever has the most points at the end wins. Midway Lanes has won three of the past six events.
Although the bowling league season is ending, local bowling alleys remain open and continue to offer open bowling sessions, special events, and dining options. Whenever you need an activity throughout the year, bowling is an excellent choice, it’s affordable, suitable for families, and offers a good workout once you play a few frames. Regardless of the weather outside, bowling takes place indoors. Ultimately, bringing people together for fun, laughter, music, and camaraderie which never goes out of style.
For a video version of this event, you’ll want to check out either The Democrat or The Chronicle’s Facebook page for the story.
Last year’s Invitational champion Gary ‘Horse’ James (right) presents this year’s trophy to champion Kevin Gallagher who won this year’s scratch event.
