DATE: Friday, June 13, 1997                 TAG: 9706110111

SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER      PAGE: 15   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: AROUND THE LANES  

SOURCE: BY LISA CASCIO, CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:   60 lines

DIEHARD WILLIAMS GETS A 300 GAME DESPITE HIS AILMENTS

Heard about the 15-day disabled list? It's where bruised and battered athletes take forced vacations throughout their careers.

No such thing, though, for Chesapeake bowler Larry Williams.

Williams would be on an extended vacation if he were to listen to his doctors, specialists, and his own body. The diehard bowler suffers from a long list of ailments that deem him legally handicapped, but didn't prevent him from recently bowling his first 300 game.

Among his afflictions are a steel brace in his right wrist (the one he bowls with), a previously broken back which put Williams in a body cast for 10 months during his 20s, sleep apnea caused by several broken noses and which requires a monitor to be regulated, and shrapnel suffered from wounds in Vietnam.

Still, Williams finds the time, determination, and heart to bowl in several leagues on a competitive basis.

``I try not to keep myself handicapped,'' said the Pinboys of Chesapeake regular, who usually takes a handful of Advil before hitting the lanes.

Added Judith, his wife of 25 years and also an avid bowler, ``If he listened to the doctors, he wouldn't be able to do anything.''

That is the honest truth as Williams has a penchant for the physical endeavors of this world. He is a crane operator at the Little Creek Amphibious Base, he has bowled for 25-plus years and was a bowling instructor when his children were young. He also formed his own stagehand company - Backstage America - with his two sons, Larry Jr., 21, and Paul James, 28.

That determination is what made all the difference in the world on May 20 when Williams bowled a perfect score of 300 just days before his 50th birthday.

It was the last day of league competition at Pinboys of Chesapeake and Williams felt pretty good. He bowled as usual, but on this particular day, every pin fell on every toss of the ball.

``I remember some of the game,'' said Williams, who was so nervous on the last frame that he remembered just the pins falling. ``I remembered throwing the first six balls and saying to myself `I can throw six more'.''

Everything fell into place for Williams, whose score earned him the high game for his league and was also 120 pins over his average. Previous to that performance, Williams' best was a 279, bowled close to 15 years ago.

Ironically, Williams finds the oddest times to bowl his best games. That 279 game came just before one of his seven wrist operations and his perfect game came just two months before Williams was to have both knees replaced.

``It seems like every time he has to have a major surgery, he seems to bowl his best game,'' said Judith.

Although Williams' list of ailments is long enough to almost ensure forthcoming surgeries, here's hoping he doesn't need another major operation to repeat a feat that every bowler hopes for. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by NHAT MEYER

Larry Williams whose ailments deem him legally handicapped didn't

prevent him from recently bowling his first 300 game at Pinboys of

Chesapeake. ``I try not to keep myself handicapped,'' he said. He

usually takes a handful of Advil before hitting the lanes.

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