In a little over eight months, a father and son duo reached a milestone at Van Nest Lanes that few who bowl ever achieve.
Ted Randall, 60, and his son Mark Randall, 27, live in Morris Park just blocks away from Van Nest Lanes located at 1756 Bronxdale Avenue. They bowl in a league and are dues paying members of a National Bowling Society, and both have received jackets from Van Nest lanes for bowling perfect 300 games in 2008.
The father and son are on the same team in a league at Van Nest Lanes, that meets every Tuesdays. Ted Randall, who has been bowling since he was 13, bowled a 300 perfect game at the alley on May 13. His son reached the milestone on December 23.
“Mark and I have been bowling together for three years every Tuesday, and he was on the bowling team when he attended Cardinal Spellman High School,” Ted Randall said. “We have been doing real well in the league, but it takes a lot of luck to bowl a 300 game. Many times we bowled five, six, or seven strikes, but couldn’t get to ten.”
Randall said that he first began bowling in a church league when he was growing up in Pennsylvania, and took his passion for the sport to New York when he married his wife, who grew up in the Bronx. As a teenager, he bowled 213 but never higher.
“I finally got a finger tip ball, which enhanced my game,” Randall said. “Mark has always seen me bowl, and ever since a kid he was always interested in the sport.”
Randall said he was delighted to bowl with his son in the league for the past three years, and glad that they had reached the milestone, which is a first for Van Nest Lanes, together as a team.
“It is not the first time it has ever happened, but it is the first time that it has happened here,” said Jim Farago, the owner of Van Nest Lanes. “We give jackets to commemorate bowling a 300 game or 800 series to anyone who has not done it before. It takes a lot of skill, but also a little bit of luck, to bowl a 300 game.”
For more information on Van Nest Lanes, call (718) 792-2220.
