Gil Little received recognition last week for scoring 300 during a sanctioned league game.
Sweet Home Lanes owner Ron Rettke presented a ring for bowlers who score 300 to Little during the senior league on Jan. 29.
Little, who will turn 70 this month, scored the 300 on Nov. 20 in a 214, 214, 300 series. He was averaging 207 at the time.
Little has been in the Sweet Home area for more than 40 years. He taught for eight years at Foster Elementary. He was principal at Hawthorne for 18 years. During that time he also served as principal at Crawfordsville, Pleasant Valley, Holley and Cascadia at different times.
Little retired in 1987.
“I’ve probably been bowling 40 years or so,” Little said. He has bowled all over the country in various tournaments but spent most of his time bowling in the Mid Valley.
A group of the guys asked him years ago if he ever bowled. He started bowling for fun with them at Sweet Home Lanes in the days when it was still a part of the Skyline Inn.
“I’ve continued to bowl, learn more about the game, progress in the use of equipment and perhaps ability,” Little said. He has carried a 200 or better average for the last 15 years.
“I’ve bowled with a lot of the big guys,” Little said, and among his achievements, he won the Dave Husted tournament in Milwaukee.
Little started bowling seriously while Bill Starns was still principal of Sweet Home Junior High. He started bowling in tournaments and leagues. Starns taught him a lot about the game.
Little said he has bowled a number of 299s and 297s. He has had four different 300s in pickup or practice games over the past five years, but this was his first sanctioned 300.
“You compete against yourself,” Little said. “The only time I compete against somebody are pot games (when money is on the line).”
To hit the 300 mark, “you’ve got to put 12 of them in the right spot,” Little said. To do that takes “concentration, consistency and control. I go up. I get in the same spot each time, concentrate on my mark and try to release it with the same control each time, (but) like every bowling establishments, conditions will vary somewhat from day to day or week to week.”
That means bowlers need to be able to adjust, Little said. “Bowlers, as they get more proficient at it, will have a variety of different balls they use.”
He had four different balls with him during league last week.
“Sometimes it works,” Little said. “Sometimes it doesn’t.”
From week to week, in league play, “the biggest difficulty, I think, is concentration,” Little said. Senior league is a fun league. Everyone’s always laughing and having a good time. “None of us concentrate as much as we should.”
But fun is what’s important, Little said. “Unless you’re a dedicated professional, I don’t think you can bowl for anything but fun,” and being with other people is what he enjoys about bowling in the senior league.
Little is married to Patricia, who was a teacher at Foster for 25 years. She also bowls. He has two sons, Rich Little of Anchorage, Alaska, and Michael Brian Little of Portland. Rich also is a bowler.
The senior league meets at 1 p.m. on Tuesdays for 28 weeks from September to April.