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Rosie’s time to bloom

One of the most notable bowlers in the Mid-Ohio Valley will have the honor of being enshrined in the Parkersburg Bowling Hall of Fame Saturday at Emerson Lanes.

Rosie Abdella started bowling at age 15 at the Coliseum formerly on 7th Street in Parkersburg. She competed in two or sometimes four leagues a week to hone her skill as a bowler. Abdella’s highest game is a 290 rolled on April Fools’ Day in 1980 and her highest series is a 690. Both game and series were done at Emerson Lanes. Abdella’s highest league average was 184, while bowling in the Women’s Classic League at Emerson Lanes.

“Bowling has been a part of my life for several years and with that a special award was started as a joke by my competitors.” said Abdella. “The award would be handed out to the competitor that missed the most 5 pins during the season called the Rosie Award.” “It still one of the most talked about awards dished out each year in the Women’s Classic League, as the honoree would receive a specially decorated bowling pin each year.”

Abdella says, “the new equipment makes it easier to compete on the synthetic lanes in most bowling lanes and the new equipment allows seniors to compete on a higher level than they did using old-style balls and shoes years ago.”

Abdella broke down and purchased a special plastic ball to aid her in picking up the 10 pin more often than not during a game. “It got harder to use my regular ball to make it, so I just bought a ball to help with the effort,” said Abdella.

Through the years bowling has seen its changes in equipment and lane preparation, but Abdella says the one thing she wished hadn’t changed was the fun with fellow competitors after regular league play was finished.

“A group of us would go into the lounge and just talk about various goings on in the community or just having the time to socialize with good folks,” she said.

“Some of the male bowlers would hang around after leagues were finished and pot bowl for cash and us women take in the action and make fun of their performance and reactions. Those types of memories is what made bowling fun for me years ago.”

One chore Abdella has been in charge of keeping straight is gathering, compiling league bowling scores for the Parkersburg News & Sentinel. Abdella started this duty for the paper in 1999. She was hired by former sports editor Dave Poe.

“Computers have helped getting the scores much easier than in the old days by going to score books and copying down each week’s score and team standings,” said Abdella.

“Being enshrined into our local bowling hall of fame is an honor I will always treasure.”

The other enshrinee to be inducted into the hall of fame will be former Parkersburg South High School and West Virginia University bowling coach Bryan Taylor. He died on Feb. 25 at his residence.

Taylor enjoyed coaching youth sports such as softball, baseball, bowling and his work in promoting youth bowling in West Virginia.

Contact Eddie Thomas at ethomas@newsandsentinel.com

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