Gene Jonas: Hall of Famer

As I contemplate writing about our recent venture to Mexico, I was alerted of some breaking news that needs to be acknowledged.

A few blogs ago, I wrote about my personal bowling history and mentioned that a childhood friend and neighbor of mine, Kent, and his family took me bowling for the first time when I was around four years old. I didn't go into specifics as to who exactly organized the trip and actually taught me what needed to be done to get the ball down the lane and topple those hated pins.

But I will now. It was Kent's older brother, Gene Jonas, whose passion for bowling was the catalyst that got me hooked.

I just received word that Gene was recently inducted into the Lewis County (Washington) Bowling Association Hall of Fame. It's a pretty exclusive club, with only five members in all. Gene is from Port Angeles but has been a fixture in the Centralia/Chehalis bowling scene for nearly 40 years. He's currently the manager of Fairway Lanes and has no sign of slowing down at age 62.

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Gene Jonas (right) goes into the Hall of Fame

What about his bowling career? Not bad. He has 3 career 300 games to his credit and averaged a sizzling 222 during peak years. These days he's still competitive hanging around the 200 mark.

For me personally, there are four things I'll always remember about Gene in addition to that inaugural bowling trip. First, he and his brother-in-law Mike "The Kid" Nelson used to tease us younger kids and tag us out mercilessly in baseball "pickle" games in Kent's front yard. Second, he has an enormous capacity to eat the worst junk food in the world and not gain any weight. Third, I've never seen the man with a hair out of place. He makes Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski look like a caveman.

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Fourth, and most dear to me, while he was managing a bowling center in Port Angeles, he acknowledged my only 300 game by noting it on the reader board next to the main highway in the town I grew up in. This was despite that fact that I bowled that game in Everett, 80 miles and a ferry boat ride away.

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The P.A. Lanes sign: thanks, Gene

Thanks for that, Gene. And congrats to you. Bowling may not be what it used to be thirty years ago, but the business of bowling and the sport itself is richer for having people like you involved in it.

The newspaper account of Gene's entry into the Hall can be found here.