Jewish Chronicle Layout - Bowling

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 1, 2007

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JEWS AND BOWLING

A bigger shidduch than you may think JONATHAN MAYO The Chosen 1s

Joel Kundin surveyed the Squirrel Hill scene and realized something important was missing from Jewish life here — bowling. You heard me. See, when Kundin lived in Charleston, W.Va., years ago, he played in a Jewish couples bowling league and enjoyed it immensely. He and his wife, Peggy, used to hit the lanes when they were dating. “Let me put it this way. If you can date someone in a bowling league, you can deal with just about everything,” Kundin joked. “We got married despite the bowling league.” Now, years later, with a daughter at Allderdice High School and a son in eighth grade, he’s looking to fill that void in his life. An attorney who came to Pittsburgh to go to law school and never left following his graduation in 1992, the Congregation Beth Shalom board of trustees member is starting a league for Jewish couples of all shapes and sizes. Prior bowling experience is not essential. “It occurred to me that my parents had bowled in a Jewish couples bowling league on Sunday nights in Schenectady, N.Y.,” Kundin said. “I was surprised here in Squirrel Hill there was nothing

for couples, so I figured why not give it a shot. They’re just doing it to socialize. Forward Lanes makes it easy.” The league will start on Sunday, Feb. 11, from 3 to 5:30 p.m., timed so it won’t

interfere with Hebrew School or SAJS schedules. He placed an ad in the Jan. 25 Chronicle and was a little surprised at the lack of response. “I thought it would be a lot better,”

Kundin said. “I’ve got about eight couples, mostly people that I knew. That kind of surprised me. Maybe Pittsburgh Jews don’t like to bowl.”

B e lieve it or not, Jews and bowling have a long history together. Samuel Karpf and Louis B. Stein helped start the American Bowling Congress back in 1895. It was Stein who set up 300 as the score in tenpin bowling and established the official weight of the ball at 16 pounds. If you go to the Bowling Hall of Fame (a must stop in St. Louis, by the way), you can see Jewish legends like charter member Mort Lindsey, Phil Wolf (ABC champ in 1928) and Sylvia Wene Martin (woman bowler of the year in 1955 and 1960). Norman Meyers, Al Cohn, Mark Roth, Marshall Holman and Barry Asher are all there as well. That’s right, there’s a minyan at the Hall of Fame. Kundin is nothing more than a casual bowler these days. But back in the day, he owned his own shoes and ball. He bowled all the time — there isn’t a whole lot to do in Charleston, he explained — and he even had a favorite bowler. “When I was bowling way back when, my favorite pro was Roth,” Kundin said. “He had a wicked curve. I always hoped he was Jewish. Everybody liked Dick Webber, but I liked Roth.” (Jonathan Mayo, the Chronicle’s sports columnist who also writes for MLB.com, can be reached at mlbmayo.com.)

Chronicle illustration by Jane Muder