By BILL SNIER
NORTH CANTON — Dan Freeman was preparing to have cataracts surgery in both of his eyes.
He was scheduled for the left eye on Feb. 13, the other on Feb. 27.
“The problem was getting worse about a month ago,” the 65-year-old Akron resident and Furbay Electric retiree said. “So I went to an optomologist. The left eye was more blurry.”
Freeman, who bowls three leagues per week and subs in two others, said the problem really didn’t affect his bowling.
“The right eye was picking up for the left eye and I was able to visualize a little more with it,” Freeman said. “I’m a really focused person anyway on the lanes.
“I just had to look short and not down the lane … back from the arrows and back to the dots sometimes. I do that until I want to get more length.”
Which made what Freeman did during a two-week stretch at Kent Lanes even more special.
Freeman, who had just one career 800 series heading into February, rolled back-to-back consecutive 800s — 806 and 803 — in the Tuesday trio league, which he bowls with his son, Dan and A.J. Allen.
The first one featured games of 279 268 and 259 while the second had 280, 279 and 244.
Using his new Ebonite Big Time from Bowlers Sanctuary, Freeman left only a solid 8-pin in the fourth frame of Game 1 that denied him his 16th career 300.
On the night, he left four 10-pins, an 8-pin and a 9-pin without an open frame.
“The funny thing was, I was more nervous on my fill ball that night when I only needed four pins to get the 800,” said Freeman, who averages in the 220s in a league at Kent and two leagues at Park Centre Lanes. “I really carried only two mixers all night. I was a little nervous on the 11th ball in the 10th, but I flushed it.
“You kind of expect to throw strikes the you’re having one of those nights. You just feel like it’s going to be there. Maybe that’s why I wasn’t so nervous.”
Getting his second 800 — his first came on Jan. 10,, 2014 at Park Centre — at age 65 was a surprise.
“I really didn’t think it could happen … maybe it was possible after the eye surgery because I have been throwing the ball well,” Freeman said. “But I’ve only had one and, at my age, it’s not something you expect to happen.
“No one could take away that first 800. If this would have been the first one, I probably would have been nervous as hell.”
His son was there to see the first one. But the team had to take a blind for him the following week when Freeman struck again — literally.
“It was a lot easier the second time because I knew if I didn’t hit this one, it wasn’t a big deal because of what I’d already done,” Freeman said. “When you have that first one, you’re only thinking about getting that next one.
“But the next one was so recent it was easier.”
The second time around, Freeman left a 7-pin in the second frame — but then ran off 16 strikes in a row.
“It was like, ‘OK, maybe this is another special night.’ I used the same ball and played the same line,” Freeman said. “I made three small moves, but noting major.
“I’ve been throwing the ball well so it was just a question of if the pins were falling or not falling.”
The strike streak ended with a 4-9 split — his only open over that two-week period. Other than that, he left a 7-pin and two 10-pins all night.
“When I got in the 10th, it wasn’t like the previous week. I just wasn’t worried about it this time,” Freeman said. “Probably because the other one was so fresh in my mind. It’s like when you have a couple of 300s … once you have a couple, you’re not shaking in the 10th frame.”
Freeman also returned to high school bowling coaching this season at Stow-Monroe Falls. He last coached at Jackson during the 2006-07 season.
“It’s been frustrating and tougher. The kids up here don’t know what kind of bowler I am,” Freeman said. “I’m only doing it because Dan is the head coach and it’s something we can do together.”
He now has tied his son for career 300s. In Game 1, Allen also had 290, but they had to take a blind of 204 for Dan Jr. It cost the team a chance to take over the lead in league high game by just eight pins.
“The funny thing is, we took over the series lead the week before,” Freeman said.
But he went from one to three 800s in two weeks.
“I’ve been trying for that second one for nine years and, to get one two weeks in a row, wow,” Freeman said. “Was I surprised to do it again? Definitely.”