How Johnson Started the Ball Rolling : Bowling: Panorama City woman received early boost in her development into top professional.

The idea of putting a bowling ball in a 2-year-old’s hands to keep her out of trouble does not appear to be strikingly brilliant.

On the surface at least.

Roy Johnson, manager of a bowling center in Hayward, used to bring his 2-year-old daughter Letitia to work every once in a while. For someone with Letitia’s youthful energy, a bowling center must have seemed like a cavernous romper room, and Roy needed a plan to keep his toddler busy. A big, heavy plan that would be difficult to carry, if not carry out.

“He put a bowling ball in my hands,” Tish Johnson, now 27 and a resident of Panorama City, recalled. “He figured I would be all right if I had something to do.”

The first couple of times down the lane, the five-pound ball did the bowling. When her toes weren’t being banged up, Johnson was sent reeling toward the pins. Tiddlywinks, this was not.

And thank goodness for that, because one usually does not make $90,000 a year playing tiddlywinks.

In her 10th year on the Ladies Professional Bowlers Tour, Johnson has hit pay dirt. Last season, she made $90,000, good enough for third place on the money list.

This year she has won $47,420 and last week claimed the AMF Cobra Tournament title at Chesapeake, Va., rolling strikes in 10 of 12 frames in the championship match against Aleta Sill. She banked $20,000 for the victory.

“The first five years I was out on the tour, the money wasn’t that good,” said Johnson, who took in $128,130 in her first eight years. “It’s still not as good as the men make, but it is getting there.”

Even though her first experience with bowling was not without pain, Johnson loved it and found a hobby for life. Or so she thought.

Johnson turned down three bowling scholarships to play basketball at the College of the Redwoods in Eureka. For most people, bowling means recreational leagues, an occasional family outing or get-togethers with friends. Johnson figured it would be that way too, despite the efforts of the University of Wyoming, Wichita State and Penn State.

“I have always loved bowling,” said Johnson, voted Southern California woman bowler of the year in 1985 and 1986 and co-bowler of the year in 1989 by Southland sportswriters. “When basketball was my life in college, I still bowled after basketball practice. I have been doing it since I was 2 and I don’t think I will ever stop.”

Johnson started making a living in bowling after a serious knee injury ended her basketball career in 1980 at Redwoods. She suffered torn cartilage and ligaments in her right knee, and doctors were not sure if she would ever walk properly again, let alone play basketball. After five operations and rehabilitation, it became clear that bowling would be her best option.

“Bowling never gets boring,” said Johnson, who averaged 228 last year. “I learn something every time I pick up the ball. If I didn’t learn something, there is no point doing it.”

Earlier in her career, Johnson said she planned to bowl until she was 50 or 60 years old. Now she hopes to bowl professionally until she is at least 40.

“I don’t see there being a point where I want to do anything else,” Johnson said.

Which is what Roy Johnson had in mind 25 years ago.