SUMMER SPECIAL : SIMPLY STRIKING : Bowling Is Neither Complex Nor Sophisticated, but Its Appeal Endures

There is something to be said about a sport that involves wearing the ugliest shoes in the world.

To say nothing of the shirts.

Multicolored, polyester attire aside, bowling maintains an ambiance all its own.

Bowling is as strong as ever in Orange County and in the United States. Perhaps it’s because of the unique sights and surroundings, but bowlers have strong feelings for their sport.

Lanes are lined with young children who roll the ball with two hands, young adults who compete in intense league play and seniors who do it for the friendship as much as the exercise.

“It’s started to become popular again,” said Beverly Dowell, the league coordinator at the Kona Lanes Bowling Center in Costa Mesa. “The last couple of years, it’s on the upswing again. We’re picking up a lot of people that haven’t bowled in a long time.”

Dowell has been at Kona Lanes “only a few months,” but has worked at various alleys for 10 years.

Nationwide, there are about 64 million bowlers, according to the 1986 edition of The World Book Encyclopedia, making it one of the most popular indoor sports. There are 8,700 bowling alleys in the United States, with 27 in Orange County.

The modern game dates back to ancient Egypt, where archeologists discovered equipment for a game resembling bowling that had been buried around the 5200 B.C.

Bowling is still a low-tech game. Throw a big, heavy ball down a wooden lane and try to knock over as many of the 10 pins as possible. The person with the most pins knocked over in 10 frames wins.

But bowling in the 1980s also includes automatic scoring displayed on video screens above each lane. It does all the menial work while you enjoy the game. On some systems, a flashing X announces strikes.

There also are highly competitive leagues for all ages and levels. There are day-care centers for bowling parents. Pro shops are located in every alley and can aid bowlers in fine-tuning their game or picking out a new brilliant blue ball.

Choices abound.

“Just like different golf clubs do different things, you have bowling balls that do different things,” said Jim Morris, who owns and operates the pro shop in Kona Lanes. “A house ball is a pretty standard ball. It’s a hard-shell ball that will go straight for beginners. A urethane ball has a soft shell and will spin differently.”

And it’s Morris’ job to outfit bowlers and answer equipment questions. He also gives technical advice.

Not just the type of ball, but also the fit of the ball is important, he said.

And in order to determine where he’s going to drill the three holes for a bowler’s fingers, he uses an odd instrument that looks suspiciously like something you used in your high school geometry class.

“You put your thumb in here and it measures how far your fingers can reach,” Morris said.

When Morris talks, people listen. He’s a top-flight bowler, plays in the professional Coast Bowling League and carries a 224 average. He has been working in pro shops for 12 years.

But if you feel the need for a little do-it-yourself service, there’s a vending machine in the alley that sells a grab-bag of bowling paraphernalia.

Socks, sports towels, plastic skin (for patching up injured thumbs), wrist supports, Band-Aids, aspirin (for bad games?) and novelty gifts, such as joy buzzers and squirting rings, are available.

Bowlers are a diverse group, of all ages and levels of experience.

At the Regal Lanes in Orange, a group of kids go through their paces at one end of the 72-lane alley.

The children are barely able to hoist the ball with two hands and have to let it go with a two-handed push.

The ball travels slowly toward the pins, provided it doesn’t make a turn and slip into the gutter. And if the ball completes the distance, it often looks as if it might bounce off the pins instead of knock them down.

Al Bender doesn’t encounter any such velocity troubles.

He’s much more experienced, however. He has bowled since 1973. When he lived in New York City several years before that, he used to bowl duck pins, one of the many variations of traditional, 10-pin bowling.

“It keeps me healthy,” said Bender, who bowls about five times a week at either the Fountain Bowl in Fountain Valley or the Kona Lanes in Costa Mesa.

“It’s just about right for me.”

Bender is 93.

Hop English, Bender’s 63-year-old friend, has been bowling for 40 years.

He competes in two leagues in the summer, three in the winter and often spends Sundays bowling with his wife to stay sharp.

“If I couldn’t bowl I don’t know what I would do,” English said. “It’s a way of relaxing my frustrations. I used to play some tennis, but when I came to California I gave it up.

“Once you get bowling in your system you can’t get it out of you. It’s a good way to meet a lot of nice people. I’ve found only a few people in bowling alleys that I don’t like.”

Donnie Linton of Costa Mesa, 16, has also spent a good portion of his life in bowling alleys.

“I started at age 5,” Linton said. “A friend of my mother’s took me bowling and I made five strikes in the first game and ended up bowling a 206. He told me I was better than most of the people that he bowled with in his leagues.

“I really didn’t understand it then, but I later realized what an accomplishment that was. When you’re 5, bowling 200 doesn’t really mean a whole lot.”

Linton has grown up in alleys. His parents bowled on Friday nights and took him along, handing over to the house’s child-care center.

“We (he and the other children) used to get people angry by playing in the hall,” Linton said. “People would come in to bowl and we would be jumping around near the entrance. That was my introduction to bowling.”