Senior Olympic bowlers turn back the clock

When Senior Olympian Burton Rice first began bowling in 1959, a game cost 35 cents a game.

Rice, now a Kalispell resident, took up bowling when he was stationed in Alaska, Stockholm, Sweden. He said he never aspired to go pro but after carrying a 206 average for several years, he probably could have done it.

“I could have gone pro,” Rice said. “I had a good enough average. I just don’t think I would have won any money. I was doing just perfect but I don’t think I would have ever won any money on the pro circuit. Those guys were just too good.”

Rice, who had a hip replacement two years ago, said because he was able to stay active he “doesn’t feel it anymore.”

“I usually only bowl about once a week,” Rice said. “Having a hip replacement taught me a few things, like how to walk up and down the stairs a little bit and do some gardening.”

Rice liked bowling so much he decided to purchase a bowling alley in Eureka in 1979.

In 1975-76, Rice also bowled in the nationals in Reno, Nev.

“You just had to bowl,” Rice recalled. “That is all you had to do and I had an established average.”

Rice was originally a pinsetter and his responsibilities included sweeping the pins off the gutter and the deck, and getting the ball on the two iron bars to send the ball back.

“It wasn’t a real heavy job but you were sweating by the time you got done with a shift,” Rice recalled. “A little later, they came out with a rack and you didn’t have to set the pins up on the deck. They would just come down and you would set the pins over and you didn’t have to sweep the pins off.”

The former graduate of Grenora High School, now known as Grenora-Westby, Rice began his career in the Senior Olympics four or five years ago.

“I won a gold medal there and my wife won a gold medal in bowling also,” Rice said. “I was in the 5K run-walk in that one and won a silver medal. I won a silver medal in ping pong too. I qualified for the nationals down in Houston that year. It was quite a ways away but it was very expensive and was just too much money.”

Rice said he will continue to participate in bowling as long as he is able to.

“As long as I can physically do it, I will continue,” Rice said.

Brian Dinsmore, a Eureka resident, also had to participate in bowling on the run.

Dinsmore participated in a total of 27 events in the Senior Olympics had only a one-hour window to bowl before moving onto the swimming events.

Many of his fellow Senior Olympics tried not to bother him during this process saying he was “a man on a deadline,” as he moved from one event to another.