Steve Force
By Terry Mosher
Editor, Sports Paper
The USBC Nationals is a big thing around the country for bowlers, and it’s no different in West Sound. There are a slew of five-man teams from around here who compete each year, including veterans like Lonnie Sharkey and Steve Force among many others.
Force, Sharkey, Henry Dawson, Bob Zurbrugg and Brian VanWert have been going since the 1980s, including this year at Reno.
“As a group we started going to the nationals in 1987,” says Force. “Prior to that, Lonnie and I had each gone once with other people and Henry had gone twice. For all of these years the team has been myself, Zurbrugg, VanWert, Dawson and Sharkey. I am the old guy on the team at 60 and everyone else is in their 50s.
“Henry has a total of 29 years (going to nationals), Lonnie and I have 28, and Bob has 27 and Brian 25. Brian has missed a couple of years due to injuries, the rest of us have managed to work through our aches and pains every year since 1987.
“We have pretty much traveled from coach to coast and border to border during that time. Lately, more tournaments seem to be west of the Mississippi, which makes it nice for us.
“Our two biggest years as a team were in 2005 at Baton Rouge when we finished 17th out of 10,00-plus teams, and 2006 in Corpus Christi when we finished fourth out of 12,00-plus teams.
“Lonnie has been the leader in overall average at 209 for 252 games and I have managed to average 201 for 252 games. Considering the conditions that we have bowled on over all of those years, especially the early years. I am very proud of that average and ID would say that Lonnie is also.”
This year, the team (Silverdale’s Benik Corporation) of Sharkey, Force, VanWert, Zurbrugg and Dawson were in 262nd place with a total team pin count of 3089 as of June 12, which means they will probably make some money when the tournament ends July 6 (it started on March 1).
Considering that by the time the tournament ends over 12,000 bowlers will have competed, being among the top 300 is pretty good.
“Not bad for a bunch of old geezers,” says Force, whose 657 three-game total in singles was tops on the team (Zurbrugg bowled 631). Sharkey’s 1967 in all-events led the team.
This year, the lane conditions at nationals were frequently changed, making it difficult to ring up great scores.
“We had fresh oil for each squad and different oil patterns for the team and the doubles/singles events,” says Force. “It was a true test of being able to hit what you were looking at and changing you angles s the lanes changed from game to game.”
It’s remarkable to think that Force has been bowling for 53 years. He started out with his folks – Dennis and Betty Force – at Bremerton Rec on Callow in Bremerton, and was bowling in the junior program when he was eight.
When Westpark Lanes (not defunct) was built in 1959, the local bowling action gradually shifted there and Force became a force in local bowling circles. He went out on the PBA Tour twice for short periods of time, but couldn’t quite make it.
“I didn’t have the skills to get out there (and stay),” says Force, who averaged 213 this season in the Match Play League at All Star Lanes.
Dawson, who graduated from West Bremerton High School in 1975, owns Elma Lanes in Elma. He stayed behind in Reno to bowl in the Storm Bowlers Journal Championships. Good thing, too, because he and Brian Himmler, who lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, are in first place in Open Doubles with a pin fall of 1,464. Dawson shot 694 and 770.
Himmler, a four-time PBA Tour winner, also leads Open Singles with a 796.
What is weird is Dawson was supposed to row in senior doubles with a friend from Minnesota, but his friend didn’t feel up to bowling after flying all day so Dawson went looking for a partner. He found Himmler, who because he is 40 forced the duo to bowl in Open doubles instead of seniors (bowlers have to be at least 50).
Dawson is also eighth in senior singles with his 694.
He also competed in the USBC Open Masters, but didn’t do so well there.
