Bill Collins

Collins rolls 19th all-time city senior 300
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Bill Collins has been a member of all of them - and is currently on the board of directors of the local BCMBA.

He was even in the bowling business for a while, having been assistant manager of Fairlanes in Skokie, Ill., in the mid-1960s.

Yet one bowling "club" always eluded the 58-year-old Collins.

The 300 Game Club.

Until the afternoon of Monday, Sept. 20, that is.

That's when Collins realized his dream and found perfection on the lanes.

Participating in the Old-Timers league at Nottke's Bowl, Collins opened with games of 168 and 236 before unleashing 12 strikes in a row in Game 3 for his first career 300 - and just the 19th perfecto in senior city league history.

"In 52 years of bowling I'd never done it before - gotten that 300. ...That was my one quest in life to do," Collins said this past week."I'd got my hole in one in golf - two of them, as a matter of fact, three years ago when I got one on No. 6 at Cedar Creek and then a week later another one at Turtle Creek.Now, finally, I've got that 300 game, too.And let me tell you, it sure feels great."

Collins came to B.C. in 1998 from Columbus to work at the Federal Center, retiring from there in 2001.And since the time of his arrival in the Cereal City, he has managed to set new career 10-pin highs while bowling in both regular adult and senior city leagues.

First, he shot a personal-high 767 series three seasons ago in the American Legion Invitational league at Nottke's.

Then, finally, on Sept. 20, he erased his previous high game score of 289 - which came in Columbus in 1996 - by rolling his perfecto in the Old-Timers.

And while he said he "didn't see (the 300) coming" after opening with those first two games of 168 and 236, Collins noted that he took his Game 3 performance in stride.

"Everybody who has rolled a 300 game before always says 'you'll be nervous on that last ball.' But I wasn't.Not at all.I just let it off my hand on that last ball and it just rolled in there perfectly.And what a relief that was," said Collins, who had been on this season's senior league series and game honor rolls with 681/277.

"In fact, every ball I threw in that game was just good and in the pocket - except I did pull the one in the 11th, but even that carried on the Brooklyn side.But everything else was in the pocket."

Collins - who has slimmed down in recent years, trimming 78 pounds - used a four-year-old Brunswick Rhino Pro Zone ball for his perfecto.

"I guess," Collins said with a chuckle, "it took me a while to get used to the ball."

He currently bowls in four leagues a week (the Old-Timers, Senior, American Legion and Allstate at Nottke's) and averages between 212 and the high 190s.

Collins' next goal?

"Well, I've got my hole in ones, I've now got my 300 - the goal now is an 800 series," he said with determination.