Knocking ‘em down: Morlock, Gebhardt earn state bowling awards

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Submitted photo Joey Gebhardt (left) holds his award for being named the North Dakota West Region Youth Bowler of the Year, while Ron Morlock shows the plaque he won as the state’s Male Bowler of the Year.

Talk about it

Veteran Ron Morlock and youngster Joey Gebhardt had different reactions to earning a pair of the top bowling awards in the state.

Morlock, one of the leading bowlers in Jamestown for years, had targeted the “highly coveted” Men’s Bowler of the Year Award.

“I’ve wanted to win it for a lot of years, but I made a concentrated effort to bear down and win it especially after my playing partner, Mike Harris, won it the previous year,” the 43-year-old Morlock said.

Despite stiff competition from all over the state, Morlock did accomplish the feat and collected the award at a banquet in Mandan in September.

The award goes to the player with the highest aggregate average at the five major tournaments in the state. Morlock took top honors by posting an average of 230.65 over 62 games.

“It took a lot of hard work. We have a lot of very good players just here in Jamestown, but then you broaden it out to the whole state. … It feels pretty good,” Morlock said.

Morlock edged out Carrington veteran Randy Peterson, another regular at Buffalo Lanes. Morlock led by just two pins going into the last event.

It nearly slipped away, however.

At the Roughrider Tournament in Enderlin, the final event of the five, Morlock had a rough game of only 139.

“I thought I shot myself out,” he said.

But he rebounded in a big way, firing a near perfect 299.

Gebhardt knew nothing about the West Region Youth Bowler of the Year Award, until …

“I didn’t know anything about it until I got a letter in the mail one day,” he said.

The 16-year-old junior at Jamestown High School certainly earned it. He posted an average of 197.91 at the three qualifying tournaments, which included 24 games.

“I pretty much do my best and see what happens,” Gebhardt said. “I don’t really shoot for a certain score or anything like that.”

Gebhardt, who’s been bowling since he was five, already has a high series of 749 and high game of 267. And it’s not like he hangs out at the lanes all day, either. In fact, he also plays football, basketball and baseball, which is actually his favorite sport.

“Our league is on Sunday, so that works out pretty well. I try to get over and play a few games during the week if I have extra time,” he said.

Morlock started bowling when he was a youngster, too, but ultimately the awards are gravy.

“I started in junior league, just like Joey. … I’ve been doing it a long time,” he said. “If it wasn’t any fun, I still wouldn’t be doing it. … We usually have a pretty good time.”

Sun sports editor Dave Selvig can be reached at (701) 952-8460 or by e-mail at dselvig@jamestownsun.com

Tags: sports, bowling