By BILL SNIER
NORTH CANTON — Dan Freeman admittedly had a “terrible” start to his 2024-25 fall-winter bowling season.
“I always seem to have one bad game before I throw my 220s. I’ve had either a 170 or in the 180s,” the 65-year-old Akron right-hander said. “That has really messed me up. Sometimes it was the first game, sometimes the second.”
Last January, before having cataract surgery on both eyes, the Furbay Electric retiree had a pair of 800 series in consecutive weeks at Kent Lanes in Kent. Until that point, he had only one in his bowling career — January, 2014 at Park Centre Lanes.
“I was telling (teammate) Rick (Kmetz) that I really haven’t bowled good since the cataract surgeries,” said Freeman, who shot 806 and 803 in the Tuesday Trio league at Kent last February.
But armed with a new ball — which was basically an old friend — Freeman returned to the 800 train Monday in the Hosner Carpet Trio league at Park Centre.
Using a Hammer Black Taboo, which he just had re-drilled a week ago by Les Mann at Bowlers Sanctuary, Freeman had games of 279, 297 and 245 for a career-high 821 series.
“The ball was donated to the high school program,” said Freeman, who is an assistant coach at Stow-Munroe Falls and works with his son, Dan, who is the head boys coach. “I had the same ball when I lived in Marblehead and it cracked on me. It was my favorite ball ever.”
Freeman came early for league Monday and practiced with the ball to get the feel of it. He decided to go with it.
“It’s not the same ball and it’s not drilled exactly the same way, but I like it,” Freeman said. “It was my favorite ball … that’s why I went to it.”
Freeman left just a 9-pin in the eighth frame of Game 1.
“It was a hair tight, but everything I threw today was solid. There weren’t any mixers,” said Freeman, who is bowling regularly in three leagues this season and will sub in two others.
Game 2, he ran off the front 11 strikes before leaving a 4-6-7 split on his final shot.
“I just hit it a little too hard and it went through the nose,” he added.
He started Game 3 with the front three strikes before leaving 7- and 10-pin spares. Then, he made his only move of the day.
“I moved one board to the right with my feet and kept my same target,” said Freeman, who was standing at 23 (board) and throwing out to 11 all day. “I was within one board of my mark all day except for a couple of shots.”
Freeman hadn’t done the math heading into the 10th frame of the final game. He had run off four strikes in a row following the two spares and then left a 7-pin in the 10th frame.
“I thought I needed to strike in the 10th,” Freeman said. “I just wanted to get through that and I thought I would be all right.”
But after feeling his game had fallen off, it was a surprise. Freeman had bowled in the summer only during nine-pin, no-tap sweepers at Crest Lanes in Sandusky.
“I don’t even use the same equipment I use here,” Freeman said. “He puts out a different shot every week and I didn’t win any of them, but I did finish second and cashed a few times. I just take equipment for up there and the equipment for here I keep down here.
“It just kept me bowling during the summer.”
But with his old favorite in his bag, it was different Monday.
“I told Rick, it feels just like last January and February again,” Freeman said. “I just expected to go up there and strike.”
And he did. A lot.