Everett, Wash.
Published: Saturday, July 19, 2008

Winning bowling title was an adventure

Schedule snafu nearly kept Everett man from outscoring 48,000 others in national tournament

By John Sleeper
Herald Columnist

 Bryan Young didn't expect to just blow into Albuquerque, N.M., at the United States Bowling Congress Open Singles Championships, stomp the field to bits, pick up the top paycheck, make off with the biggest trophy, pronounce himself the next Earl Anthony, kiss the prom queen and fly back to Everett.

Yet, with the possible exceptions of the Earl Anthony and the prom queen things, that's pretty much what he did -- at least, after he figured out he'd shown up for the event a week early.

In a startling display of timing, Young, 34, bowled an 832 series, winning the title by a healthy 15 pins. Imagine Jason Price of Grand Island, Neb., who finished with an 817, one of two who broke 800, yet had to settle for second.

To put Young's deed in perspective, he outdistanced a field of roughly 48,000. He'd never before broken 700 in his six other appearances at the tournament. Yet, Young's 278, 286 and 268 added up to the fourth-highest total in the 107-year history of the tournament.

"It was just picking the right ball and throwing it the right way," Young said. "Sometimes it happens."

This doesn't qualify as the fluke of all flukes. It isn't Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson or ABBA selling four records. Young has five 300 games on his resume, as well as the odd 825 series.

"The 832 isn't out of the realm of what I've done before," said Young, a help-desk technician for a Bellevue firm.

Yet, he'd never before put together strike after strike -- not like he did at the tournament. Young rolled strikes on 20 of his first 22 shots. He was two shots away from a perfect game. When that fell away, Young's thoughts turned to a possible 800 series or the lead in singles play.

"Keep striking," he said he told himself. "I just couldn't believe I was doing it. I just told myself to try to stay focused."

Young's mind also was on what's called a "bracket," in which eight bowlers are selected at random and are matched on-on-one. Bowl a higher score than the one you're paired against and you advance and win $10. Win all three matches, you win the bracket and make $50. Then there are super brackets, in which bowlers can win as much as $5,000.

"That's usually where I make the most money," Young said. "Normally, you don't shoot 680; you shoot 630. You try to shoot some good games, over 200. Usually, my goal is to make maybe $1,000."

Instead, Young could cash in as much as $25,000. Prize money, brackets results and super brackets results have not yet been determined.

All of this, of course, would have been moot if not for Young's work partner at the help desk.

Whether he mentally bugged out or received some bad information, Young showed up to the venue a week before he was supposed to, which created a pair of problems.

Not only did Young have to fly back to the Northwest and return to Albuquerque seven days later, he also had to switch vacation time with his co-worker in their two-person department.

"At this point, I'm more of less not going to be able to bowl," Young said.

Fortunately, the problem was worked out, Young flew back to Everett, worked, returned to the tournament a week later and began taking the competition apart.

"When I came back, I said, 'Now I have to bowl good to pay for all this,'" Young said.

Superstition suggests that he might want to employ the same travel strategy when he tries to be the first singles champion to win back-to-back titles next year. The tournament moves to Las Vegas, which opens up another set of possibilities.

Between bowling and prospective casino adventures, Young's week-ahead-arrival folly could lead to some serious, serious cash.

"I'm considering it," he said.

Sports columnist John Sleeper: sleeper@heraldnet.com. For Sleeper[`]s blog, "Dangling Participles," go to www.heraldnet.com/danglingparticiples.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA