onefrombills
08-23-2009, 07:02 PM
8/18/2009
By Gianmarc Manzione
Eric Kearney leans back in an office chair to reminisce about Puerto Rico's Frankie Colon, the 17-year member of Puerto Rico's national bowling team whom, for two years now, Kearney watched as the man compiled an 18-game United States Bowling Congress Open Championships average of 229, scoring an All-Events finish of 14th in 2008 and riding a 777 series into the top 20 on the Singles list in 2009 when he sandwiched a 300 game between scores of 255 and 222.
Kearney's respect for Colon is inspired as much by Colon's scores as it is by the way he achieves them.
"One thing Kim always tells me is 'Don't try to make it look pretty, don't worry about looking good. Just figure out how to knock 'em over,'" Kearney says of his wife, two-time U.S. Women's Open Champion, Kim Terrell-Kearney. "Frankie knows how to knock 'em over."
"It's simple, it's not flashy, but before you know it you turn around and you're like 'Oh my goodness, Frankie has the front 8!'" adds Kim Terrell-Kearney, Colon's partner in the Doubles event of the 2009 USBC Open Championships.
But Kim Terrell-Kearney and her husband Eric are hardly the only ones who understand that Frankie knows how to "knock 'em over."
It is an understanding they have in the United Kingdom, a country Colon remembers as much for a strange convergence of Ricky Martin and the Queen of England as for the competition he found there.
"The year we went there it was the birthday of the Queen of England and Ricky Martin was there and the country was beautiful," recalls a soft-spoken Colon whose amazement over his experience reflects the gratitude of a man who has found the thing he loves.
It is an understanding they have in the United Arab Emirates, a destination on Frankie Colon's restless bowling itinerary that he remembers most fondly.
"We were there for the World Ranking tournament and they treated us really nice and you get to see a lot of different cultures," Colon says. "We went to see the hotel that is like a sailboat. That was great."
But when Colon is not touring sailboat-shaped hotels and singing happy birthday to the Queen with Ricky Martin, you can find him on the lanes, a place where Colon has come to some understandings of his own over the years, understandings that he shares with competitive bowlers around the world-like never bowl Rhino Page in match play if you can help it, for instance.
"Unfortunately in match play I had to bowl against him," Colon says of crossing paths with Rhino at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio De Janeiro. "If I would have bowled anyone but him I would have advanced. But unfortunately I had to bowl Rhino. It was a nice experience bowling against him, he bowled great in that tournament and he is a great guy."
The amount of bowlers who wish they had never crossed paths with Rhino on a pair of lanes could probably crowd a minor league ballpark by now, but the number of bowlers whose resumes rival Colon's are much fewer and farther between: six gold medals in international competition, consecutive paydays at the USBC Open Championships, and a name instantly recognizable to the likes of other international players such as Tim Mack or Mika Koivuniemi.
"In the World Championships it was Walter Ray, it was Mika, Jason Belmonte, Osku Palerma, Patrick Allen," Colon recalls of the talent he has confronted around the world, "and when I bowled the World Championship Jason couch was there. He won that year."
At a moment in the sport when an Australian now known only as "Belmo" brings as much attention to Babylon Lanes for the Bowling Foundation Long Island Classic as the center's own son, Michael Fagan, and the names of bowlers from Korea and Chinese Taipei rank among the likes of Wendy MacPherson or Carolyn Dorin-Ballard on the leader board at the Women's World Championships, Colon's is the kind of story that will become much more familiar to fans of a sport whose geographical boundaries are expanding by the month.
But the man whom Eric Kearney describes as "small in stature but big in heart" is more eager to discuss the achievements of others than he is to rehash his own. Ask him how it felt to shoot 300 at the USBC Open Championships, and he will tell you instead how great it was to bowl with a player of Kim Terrell-Kearney's stature. Ask him how proud his country is of his achievements around the world, and he will tell you instead of Israel Hernandez, a young and rising star on the Puerto Rican bowling scene.
"Israel Hernandez, he is a really good bowler. He made the adult team for first time this year. I think he has a lot of talent and he could be a really great bowler if he continues to bowl and dedicates himself to the sport," Colon says.
In the meantime, you'll find Frankie Colon at the PABCON Adult Championships in his native Puerto Rico next month, where, chances are, a spectator or two will turn to face the lanes again and discover, like Kim Terrell-Kearney so many times before, that Frankie has the front 8 again.
By Gianmarc Manzione
Eric Kearney leans back in an office chair to reminisce about Puerto Rico's Frankie Colon, the 17-year member of Puerto Rico's national bowling team whom, for two years now, Kearney watched as the man compiled an 18-game United States Bowling Congress Open Championships average of 229, scoring an All-Events finish of 14th in 2008 and riding a 777 series into the top 20 on the Singles list in 2009 when he sandwiched a 300 game between scores of 255 and 222.
Kearney's respect for Colon is inspired as much by Colon's scores as it is by the way he achieves them.
"One thing Kim always tells me is 'Don't try to make it look pretty, don't worry about looking good. Just figure out how to knock 'em over,'" Kearney says of his wife, two-time U.S. Women's Open Champion, Kim Terrell-Kearney. "Frankie knows how to knock 'em over."
"It's simple, it's not flashy, but before you know it you turn around and you're like 'Oh my goodness, Frankie has the front 8!'" adds Kim Terrell-Kearney, Colon's partner in the Doubles event of the 2009 USBC Open Championships.
But Kim Terrell-Kearney and her husband Eric are hardly the only ones who understand that Frankie knows how to "knock 'em over."
It is an understanding they have in the United Kingdom, a country Colon remembers as much for a strange convergence of Ricky Martin and the Queen of England as for the competition he found there.
"The year we went there it was the birthday of the Queen of England and Ricky Martin was there and the country was beautiful," recalls a soft-spoken Colon whose amazement over his experience reflects the gratitude of a man who has found the thing he loves.
It is an understanding they have in the United Arab Emirates, a destination on Frankie Colon's restless bowling itinerary that he remembers most fondly.
"We were there for the World Ranking tournament and they treated us really nice and you get to see a lot of different cultures," Colon says. "We went to see the hotel that is like a sailboat. That was great."
But when Colon is not touring sailboat-shaped hotels and singing happy birthday to the Queen with Ricky Martin, you can find him on the lanes, a place where Colon has come to some understandings of his own over the years, understandings that he shares with competitive bowlers around the world-like never bowl Rhino Page in match play if you can help it, for instance.
"Unfortunately in match play I had to bowl against him," Colon says of crossing paths with Rhino at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio De Janeiro. "If I would have bowled anyone but him I would have advanced. But unfortunately I had to bowl Rhino. It was a nice experience bowling against him, he bowled great in that tournament and he is a great guy."
The amount of bowlers who wish they had never crossed paths with Rhino on a pair of lanes could probably crowd a minor league ballpark by now, but the number of bowlers whose resumes rival Colon's are much fewer and farther between: six gold medals in international competition, consecutive paydays at the USBC Open Championships, and a name instantly recognizable to the likes of other international players such as Tim Mack or Mika Koivuniemi.
"In the World Championships it was Walter Ray, it was Mika, Jason Belmonte, Osku Palerma, Patrick Allen," Colon recalls of the talent he has confronted around the world, "and when I bowled the World Championship Jason couch was there. He won that year."
At a moment in the sport when an Australian now known only as "Belmo" brings as much attention to Babylon Lanes for the Bowling Foundation Long Island Classic as the center's own son, Michael Fagan, and the names of bowlers from Korea and Chinese Taipei rank among the likes of Wendy MacPherson or Carolyn Dorin-Ballard on the leader board at the Women's World Championships, Colon's is the kind of story that will become much more familiar to fans of a sport whose geographical boundaries are expanding by the month.
But the man whom Eric Kearney describes as "small in stature but big in heart" is more eager to discuss the achievements of others than he is to rehash his own. Ask him how it felt to shoot 300 at the USBC Open Championships, and he will tell you instead how great it was to bowl with a player of Kim Terrell-Kearney's stature. Ask him how proud his country is of his achievements around the world, and he will tell you instead of Israel Hernandez, a young and rising star on the Puerto Rican bowling scene.
"Israel Hernandez, he is a really good bowler. He made the adult team for first time this year. I think he has a lot of talent and he could be a really great bowler if he continues to bowl and dedicates himself to the sport," Colon says.
In the meantime, you'll find Frankie Colon at the PABCON Adult Championships in his native Puerto Rico next month, where, chances are, a spectator or two will turn to face the lanes again and discover, like Kim Terrell-Kearney so many times before, that Frankie has the front 8 again.