Wowzers.....I just got the news tonight, but the news will be around for a while to come.  Each Thursday night during the summer months at my league house, they run a walk-in Doubles tournament (handicap), where all of the Doubles entries go through a 3 game qualifying set, then the top 1 in 4 of the Doubles pairs advance to a stepladder elimination finals.  I normally go bowl in this deal most of the time, but I skipped last Thursday night, and I picked the wrong night to miss.

One of the Doubles pairs (2 men) set a new ABC/WIBC Doubles Series record (and tied the Game record), when both bowlers started out the set with 300's.  Then in the second game, both bowlers chalked up 268 games.  In game 3, one hit another 268, while the other came in with a 259, giving them a 1663 Doubles Scratch Series record (836 and 827).

I must be living under a mushroom, because it took me 6 days to get the news.  However, considering the caliber of the two individuals, both breaking the 800 barrier at the same time doesn't really surprise me.....but 1663 scratch, Yikes!  As it turned out, our old state record was a 1603, and I'm not currently sure what the national record was.....but I can tell you that it will now take a 1664 to knock them out of the top spot for the national record.

Here's the newspaper writeup in today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, courtesy of Jim Wyckoff:

Bowling : Shirley, Gibson rack up national doubles record
Jim Wyckoff

North Little Rock’s Michael Shirley, who turned 24 today, and Little Rock’s Dirk Gibson, 29, teamed to shatter the national doubles record of 1,655, combining for 1,663 in the Thursday Doubles tournament at Enterprise Lanes in Benton.
   The 1,663 bettered a 1,632 earlier this year for the season high and the previous record was set in 1989 when Tom Jordan shot an 899 series.
   Both players kicked off the doubles with 300 games and each added 268 the second game. Shirley followed with another 268, giving him a career-high 836 series, and Gibson finished with 259 for 827.

Edited on 6/19/2003 6:14 AM

Yep Strider, you are correct on all accounts (I went back and added "scratch" just in case ).  The two nearly had identical scores in each game, and the scores were indeed scratch and totally awesome.  The tournament uses an 80% of 230 handicap calculation, and I know that one of the bowlers was entering scratch (the 827 bowler averages about 240), and I believe that the other bowler also was entering scratch (the 836 bowler....his average is right around 230).  Regardless, the scores noted were scratch scores.  

It wasn't that the shot was extremely easy (it isn't).....it was just that both bowlers were dead on their game on the same night, paired up with each other.  In fact, we haven't been seeing many 800's in the house lately, so to see both partners shoot 800+ at the same time was pretty awesome.  Oddly enough, the 827 bowler (Dirk Gibson) also holds the ABC record for "Tournament All Events" (2420) when he rolled an 847 in singles in this same house during the local association tournament a couple of years back.  What makes it odd was that he was paired up with a different doubles partner and they were bowling in the singles match, and both of them shot 300 games during the same game!  By the way, the bowler that I'm speaking of was Chris Barnes' roommate for several years during college at Witchita State (when both were on a bowling scholarship).  He also won $10,000 for 4th place in the High Rollers in Vegas a few months back.  And, he is currently ranked in 10th place in All Events at the ABC Nationals in Knoxville with 2118.

Edited on 6/19/2003 6:11 AM

Edited on 6/19/2003 6:17 AM