CUYAHOGA FALLS — Jordan Norris started his bowling career as a junior one-hander at Green High School.
That changed when he watched a high school bowling opponent from McKinley, Quoia Gordon, roll the ball two-handed.
“I just watched him shred racks and I told myself, ‘I’ve got to start doing that,’ ” the 22-year-old Plain Township resident said. “As a one-hander, I didn’t have any revs on the ball.
“I’m a pretty athletic kid and I’ve been told that as long as you put dedication and time into something, you will be able to do it successfully. I took that to heart and worked my butt off.”
After making the switch midway through his senior year at Green and reaching the Division I district tournament, Norris took his talent to Walsh University where the coaching staff helped him improve his timing and delivery.
He reached a bowling milestone recently in the Northeast Ohio Travel League at Clutch Lanes and Sports Center when he had games of 288, 277 and 237 for 802, his first United States Bowling Congress-sanctioned 800 series. It was the second 800 of the season in the travel league (Jim Fellows 824, Wayne Lanes).
“I’ve had 800 in tournaments and during practices, but nothing like this,” said Norris, who will graduate from Walsh in December with a degree in elementary eduction. He currently is student teaching in kindergarten in the Springfield Local Schools.
The league bowled on a fresh oil house condition at Clutch — “I think that had a lot to do with my 800,” Norris said — and began his night throwing the Ebonite GB4 Hybrid, running off the first 10 strikes before leaving a 7-pin on his 11th shot for 288.
“It’s funny because Alex McCourry (a left-hander) was on the lane next to me and he had the front 10 and left a solid 10-pin on his 11th ball. We just switched sides and got a good laugh out of it,” Norris said.
Norris started with three strikes in Game 2, but decided to make a ball change in the fourth frame.
“I just thought it was time to ball up,” Norris said. “I made a a four (board) and two move because I thought it would read earlier. Instead, I just went farther down the lane and I was confused. It was the wrong decision.”
After that one shot, when Norris left a 2-4-5 spare, he went right back to the GB4 Hybrid and struck out the rest of the way.
“I’m a little mad at myself because if I didn’t make that change, I probably have 300 that game and a higher 800,” Norris said.
He stuck with the same ball in Game 3 and left a 3-10 “baby” split in the first — and failed to convert. Then, after a strike in the second frame, he left a 6-7-10 split — and converted the more difficult split.
Then came a run of strikes until leaving a 4-pin spare in the eighth frame. Again, Norris faced a decision.
“I knew I had to make a move in the ninth, but it was a move I wasn’t comfortable making because the 800 was on the line,” Norris said. “But I needed a strike in the ninth and the first two in the 10th to get there. So I changed my hand and slowed the ball down down and went a touch left. I got into the same area but just a little more left, and it carried in the ninth.”
Norris had moved only a couple of boards with his feet and eyes over the course of the night after the one move when he switched balls. But this one produced the results he was looking for.
“My friend Chase (Barstow) told me to just take it one ball at a time,” Norris said. “But that’s the way I look at it anyway. I do my thing, throw the ball and if it strikes, it strikes and if not, move on.
“That’s how I look at my bowling life. You can’t get mad at the pins.”
With his teaching career ahead plus his involvement with his church and bible studies with his family on Sundays, Norris isn’t sure how much bowling he will be able to do in the coming years.
“I want to stay with the travel league because I really enjoy it. But that 7 a.m. starting time comes really early and it’s a little tough right now,” Norris said. “I’ll probably do a couple of sweepers and some tournaments when I can also.”
And there’s always the summer, when him and Barstow have a friendly battle going on.
“I was finally able to beat him for just the second time in travel league,” Norris added. “And after he had his 800 (at Eastbury) this summer, I finally got mine.”
BIG START AT SPINS AKRON
Thursday night in the travel league at Spins Bowl Akron, Eric Randazzo and J.D. Jones also had a nice battle in Game 1.
Randazzo finished with 300 while Jones, bowling against him on the same pair in the travel league’s point system, finished with 299 with a solid 10-pin on his last shot after carrying.a pair of lighter hits on his other two balls in the 10th frame.