Lifelong Bowler Bowls Perfect Game...Then Dies

[fitbabits]

Talk about going out in style...

RAVENNA, Mich. (WZZM) - Teammates in his bowling league think after rolling a perfect 300 game Don Doane's heart just gave out.

"You get nervous shooting a 300," says teammate Todd Place. "The pressure keeps building," says bowling alley owner Jim Nutt.

Minutes after achieving the life long goal of a perfect game the 62 year old bowler collapsed and died at Ravenna Bowl in Ravenna. "Don just collapsed," says alley owner Nutt. " At first we thought he just fainted." "Then when I rolled him over I realized it wasn't good," says teammate Place.

The teammates say he was giving a high-five minutes before. They tried to revive him but Doane never spoke another word. He died of what was apparently a massive heart attack "He looked fine, reached across the table and gave me a high-five and he fell over," says Place.

"I think he died by the time he hit the floor." Don Doane was a member of the "Nutt Farm" bowling team at Ravenna Bowl for 45 years. His teammates says its strange not to see him on league nights. "It was like a book, a final chapter," says Place. "He threw his 300 game with all of his friends, gave each other high-fives and it's like the story ended. He died with a smile on his face."

"Don will be a legend," says Nutt. 'It's something that will never be forgotten as long as people bowl here." Ravenna Bowl is planning a memorial ceremony for Doan's' wife Linda and son Chad.

My thoughts are with his family. R.I.P., Mr. Doane. I guess the Big Man needed a bowler for His own league.

[LongStepMantis]

That's how I want to go.

Not bowling, but just as you conquer your greatest passion.

RIP, may we all be so fortunate when our time comes.

[NoName]

That's... sad.

I mean no disrespect but what a way to go... I can only aspire to go out in such style.

[Generation ABXY]

I can't tell if this is awesome or sad.

...I'm leaning towards awesome.

[Johan]

Hate to break it to the guy, but... (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/magazine/life_of_reilly/news/2000/05/16/life_of_reilly/)


Do you realize that during the 1998-99 bowling season 34,470 perfect games were rolled? Thirty-four thousand. Thirty years earlier there were 905. That's an increase of, well, that's just a very-hard-to-figure-out increase.

Will the one bowler left who hasn't thrown a perfect game please turn in your clown shoes! Josie LaRocco, a 10 1/2-year-old boy from Louisville, has bowled one. Last year 87-year-old Joe Dean of Columbus, Ohio, rolled a 300. (How'd he even lift the ball?) I expect to read next week about a 300 rolled by a dead man.

It's money that's the cause of all this. The owners of the houses want their bowlers to go home happy and keep coming back, so they lay down three units (one unit is seven millionths of an inch) of oil on the far outside boards and 75 or more on the inside boards. That's basically a glob of oil you could skid a Peterbilt on. What it means is this: If you pull your throw a little, the ball's probably still going to stay in the pocket lane. If you start it out with too much hook, it'll hit the oil slick and stay in the pocket lane. Voilà! It's like putting in a bathtub or hitting Willard Scott with a peashooter from the next barstool. Urkel, flat drunk in heels, could bowl a 300 under those conditions.

It's not just the oil. The balls come straight from NASA now. They've got cores that could flatten Paris and shells that grab, hook and smash like Sonny Liston. Meanwhile, the pins are still dandelions. Pin weight hasn't changed in years. What chance does a skinny little Don Knotts pin have against these new Charles Atlas balls? What chance does a training bra have against Dolly Parton?

In fact, bowling will be returning to its roots to some degree within the next year or so when some of these technical innovations are banned from the game.

[shunoshi]

I can't tell if this is awesome or sad.

...I'm leaning towards awesome.

Agreed, we're all going to die, but we're not all going to die immediately after conquering a lifelong goal.

[astranoir]

What a beautiful story. Dealing with death can be so hard, but in situations like this it seems like he family has much in which to take comfort, and much to celebrate about his life.

[shunoshi]

Hate to break it to the guy, but... (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/magazine/life_of_reilly/news/2000/05/16/life_of_reilly/)

In fact, bowling will be returning to its roots to some degree within the next year or so when some of these technical innovations are banned from the game.

Wow, way to ruin it. :p

I just realized that I must REALLY suck at bowling then.... :(

[Ancalagon]

Hmmm, I still find bowling pretty hard, I'd be chuffed as hell with a 300.

Hell, even if a 5 year old with no legs or arms could do it, what matters it that it mattered to him. It was an achievement to him, it was something he had never done in his entire life, and had been looking forward to his entire life. That he was able to achieve his dream and then die is... well a good way to go.

I'm still sad for his family though, its going to be hard for them.

[Johan]

Wow, way to ruin it. :p

It's what I do! :D

[Loki_09]

Call me an asshole, but all I can think about is Steve Buscemi having a heart attack at the end of the Big Lebowski, and John Goodman biting the guy's ear off.

[Worldcrafter]

Call me an asshole, but all I can think about is Steve Buscemi having a heart attack at the end of the Big Lebowski
I came here to post exactly that.

[Khrymsyn]

Holy shit, that's crazy!!!







































There are at least 34,470 people out there who still bowl ?!!??!!?

[Squidbot]

cz2ET5K6zY0

Way to go out in style, doing what you love.

[Generation ABXY]

cz2ET5K6zY0

Way to go out in style, doing what you love.

I have no idea why I like that movie...but, I do. :confused:

[Squidbot]

Because it's a bloody awesome movie!

[Froghourt]

Because it's a bloody awesome movie!

Indeed.

Despite Johan's best attempts at ruining the moment, I still find this rather poetic. Dying after accomplishing a life long goal. Not a bad way to die.

[Zrikz]

Bowling rocks.. I wish I had more time to bowl, woo $2 wednesday nights =/

As for the dieing part, thats pretty crazy, what a way to go I guess?

[Gormanimal]

Wow. You do have to feel bad for the families loss, but what a great way to go!

Considering this is a digital age, I wonder if any pics were taken. Knowing the story a picture would probably blow my mind.

[violent]

Bowling in his grave.

[Esquilax1138]

No point asking when it is,
No point asking who's to go,
No point asking what's the game,
No point asking who's to blame,
'Cos if you're gonna die, if you're gonna die,
'Cos if you're gonna die, if you're gonna die,

If you're gonna die, die with your bowling shoes on,
If you're gonna try, just stick around,
Gonna cry, just move along,
If you're gonna die, if you're gonna die.

[Karak]

Hate to break it to the guy, but...

Your's so right. Success if its ever happened before in history is stupid. Totally dumb. Perfect games are totally easy.
Oh wait...

[Xerxes]

Wow, way to ruin it. :p

I just realized that I must REALLY suck at bowling then.... :(

Or maybe you have normal lanes in your area. I mean bowling a good game at my university is tough. Not impossible apparently because there is a list of about 14 people on it. But that among the faculty, staff, and students that's always there. They might all be earned over the years. I bowl striaght so there is no hooks or anything inflating my crappy score. But all the hook bowlers are whining one way or the other, to much oil or too dry. I don't have those issues.

[Johan]

Your's so right. Success if its ever happened before in history is stupid. Totally dumb. Perfect games are totally easy.
Oh wait...

Is it success if virtually anyone can do it? Okay then; I'm convinced!

It's too hard to bowl a 300! (http://www.courierpress.com/news/2007/jan/21/for-some-bowling-300-is-way-too-easy/)

And while 300 games were increasing, the number of sanctioned bowlers dropped from 4.8 million in 1979-80 to just over 3 million in 1989-90.

In 1999-2000, the number of sanctioned bowlers fell by more than 33 percent from a decade earlier but 300 games more than tripled, to 39,470.

In 2002-03 season, the number of bowlers decreased by another 1½ percent but the number of 300 games increased by 11 percent.

I hope he's not using "Died bowling 300" as his epitaph. :(

[TheEpicOfTyler]

In fact, bowling will be returning to its roots to some degree within the next year or so when some of these technical innovations are banned from the game.

You don't get much for a 300 game anyway, you get a letter and a plaque in the bowling hall of fame. If you've ever bowled professional lanes with PBA standard oil patterns you see why with your 200 average in leagues, you are not a professional bowler. If all sanctioned leagues started oiling their lanes like the pro's the number of perfect games bowled per season would see a significant drop.

It's still a grand thing to do, as even with the oil patterns as is, perfect games aren't easy to pull off by any measure. I think some people don't' realize how many people are actually bowling. 3 million league bowlers in the United States with a large chunk of those perfect games being by the same bowlers I'd expect.

*from a family of high quality bowlers*