By BILL SNIER
NORTH CANTON — One senior player waited nearly 50 years to reach his series milestone.
It took him just three years almost to the day to get his second.
Then, there is a woman who continues her quest for that first milestone series. But one night, again, she showed it’s not how you start, but how you finish.
Greentown right-hander Dan Simmons and Plain Township right-hander Renae Fawver-Burns both reached milestones in league play the last three weeks at Park Centre Lanes.
Here’s a look at their accomplishments.
FOLLOWING A CAREER FIRST
Simmons, a 67-year-old RentWear retiree, recorded his first 800 — 827 — in the Hannon Electric league. It amazed both friends and competitors at the time who couldn’t believe he had not hit the milestone previously.
“I know I’ve been close,” Simmons said of hitting 800 for the first time in his career at the time. “Time was not on my side obviously. But my wife (Pamela) was always confident I could do it through all the ups and downs in my game.”
It took him just three years to do it again.
Recently in the Hosner Carpet Senior Trio league, Simmons had games of 300, 246 and 264 for 810. He finished with 32 strikes and three splits on the day.
The one he covered — a 5-7 in the 10th frame of Game 2 — turned out to be more important than he realized.
“I was just lucky to carry that day. That’s all it was,” said Simmons, who now owns 19 career 300 games. “I could throw that same ball on another day in league and leave 14 10-pins”
He started the day, as he usually does, throwing his Ebonite Game Breaker Asym. But Simmons didn’t say with it after practice..
“I practice with the Game Breaker all the time just to loosen up to see what the shot looks like,” Simmons said. “But I’m just not real consistent throwing it. I can’t hit my mark consistently. With that ball, I have to swing it, and that’s not my game anymore.”
Instead, he went back to his Storm Tropical Surge Pearl.
“My game is more straight up and fits that ball,” said Simmons, who still can reach speeds between 15 and 15.5 mph.
He admitted luck was with him in Game 1, when he had a Brooklyn strike in the third frame before going off the sheet.
In Game 2, the second of his two splits in the 10th could have made his 800 quest more difficult. But he covered the 5-7 to continue on.
But after running the first four strikes on Game 3, he left an 8-10 split in the fifth frame.
“I wasn’t really thinking about it after I had that 8-10,” said Simmons, who is averaging 223 in the league — a career-high — and 215 in the Ellsworth Auto Body Senior Traveling League. “I looked up and added it in my head. I knew I had to go off the sheet.
“That shot … I pulled it and it was inside at least four boards. I pulled all three shots where I left splits. But I had an area of at least four boards to the right. But If I got inside 10 (board), it wouldn’t finish.”
He didn’t pull another shot — at least, not badly —but admitted the pressure was there in the 10th frame.
“I think I felt more pressure in that 10th frame that I do on my 300s because I knew what I needed to do for the 800,” Simmons said. “The first two shots, I kind of got away with. They were both inside and I was hoping they would carry. I was waiting for them not to finish. But the last one, I knew, ‘OK, I did it,” and it was a good shot.”
Simmons, who now throws 14-pound equipment, says this is the best season of his career.
“I really don’t know why. I’ve never been over a 217 average,” said Simmons, who also has been a junior youth league coach at Park Centre for over 30 years. “I guess I’ve just been lucky.”
NO. 4 FOR FAWVER-BURNS
The Custom Poly-Hannon Electric Ladies Trio league did not start on a good note for Fawver-Burns. She opened with 187 in Game 1.
But things improved from there for the 39-year-old as she bounced back with 235 in Game 2 and rolled her fourth career 300 game — second of the season — in Game 3 en route to a 711 series.
Burns, a registered nurse for the Massillon City Schools who has battled some injuries this season, is averaging 208 in the league this season. Her son, Braxton Burns, also recorded his first 300 this season as a sophomore right-hander for GlenOak High School’s bowling team.
But she had some luck in the latest 300, carrying a high Brooklyn hit that saw the 3-9 fall as the last two pins in the seventh frame.
“That 3-9 going down is something I’ll remember,” Fawver-Burns said. “But also staying ahead of my son, who has his first 300 this year.”
But she admitted her goal still is to reach her first 800 series. Her high is 793. As with her 767 series in March 2022, the 300 this time came in Game 3, using her Ebonite Real Time.
She led the Stark County USBC in women’s average a year ago at 220 in this league.
“My goal,” she said then, “is always to aim higher.”