The longest running bowling league in Sackville is still going strong after 35 or 36 ... well, it's been a long time.
"I was talking to some of the other guys," said Graydon Hanf, one of the founding players. " No one is quite sure the exact year we started but '77 rings a bell."
The Sackville Men's Bowling League came to be when a bunch of guys decided ball season just wasn't long enough.
"There were a few of us that played slow pitch," said Hanf. "After the games we'd get together for a beer or two and some of the guys would go bowling. Well then a couple of others decided to join them and it just started growing from there."
Today the league is made up of eight teams which adds up to 40 players. Things have changed over the years, people have come and gone, some have dropped out and others have passed away. They even had to change alleys a couple of times. At one point the league was split right down the middle when, according to Hanf, "some of the guys decided they were good enough to go professional and they thought they could make money."
"It pretty near ruined the league," he said. "We were left with just four teams. It took us two or three years before the league built itself back up again but now we're back to eight teams and that's plenty big enough."
Forty-four year old Colin McGregor had been waiting patiently to get on one of those teams and he finally did, just two weeks ago.
"I was just waiting for my chance," he said.
McGregor had played with the Sackville league years ago before an injury forced him to stop playing. Finally he was given the go ahead to play a sport and he chose bowling.
"I knew if I had to choose one sport it would be this," he said. "The guys are great. It's not competitive, there's nobody out there screaming and I can still show up even if my back is acting up."
Hanf confirmed the league is all about fun.
"You're always going to get some spoiled sports out there, but we only have a couple. We just make fun of them and they get over it," he laughed. "We always say 'Hey, you're getting the same salary as the rest of us'."
Many of the players are related - brothers, uncles, fathers and sons and the age runs between mid-20s to mid-70s
Hanf bowls in a seniors league on Wednesdays and he enjoys it but it's not the same.
"I don't bowl as well as I used to but I still get out there," said Hanf. "These guys are all my friends and we've been together a very long time. I love it."
blhall@eastlink.ca
If you are interested in being a spare for the team drop down to the Super Bowl in Sackville on Monday night between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
