By MICHAEL STRAND

Salina Journal

"Lane 22 -- that's the one I bowled a 300 on last year," Jack Derowitsch said as he and the rest of his team settled Saturday afternoon at All Star Lanes, site of this year's Kansas State Mixed Bowling Tournament.

This is the third year All Star Lanes has hosted the event, which is in its 28th year; the tournament continues today and the next two weekends.

Derowitsch, who took second in overall points at the tournament in 2008, arrived a few minutes before the practice rounds, with a wheeled carrier that came up to his waste -- this was no traditional "bowling bag."

"It'll carry up to six balls, plus shoes, towels, cleaner," he said. "I do have an old bag somewhere."

Derowitsch said he started bowling in the 1960s, but gave it up for close to 40 years -- returning to the sport just a few years ago when his son started bowling and needed someone to bowl with.

As other members of his team -- his wife, Mary, and Dave and Cathy Towne -- arrive and start to unpack their equipment, he starts looking at the lane.

Though bowling can be a relatively inexpensive sport, new computer-designed, high-performance balls can quickly lighten your wallet.

Such balls, he said, can run $200 to $300 each: It all depends on how much you want to get into it -- nobody who's serious bowls with house balls."

During a few minutes of practice before a tournament, he said, serious bowlers will throw several balls, to see how each responds; the response can vary depending on how the lane has been oiled.

And, of course, oil gets moved further downlane, and spread across the lane with each ball, he explained. That affects the ball as it goes down the lane and requires bowlers to adapt as the game progresses.

His friend and bowling teammate David Towne said he picked up the sport from his father, starting in 1957 when he was just 11.

"My dad was a bowler, and I got it from him," he said, remembering first using a 10-pound ball. "It's the only thing I'm good at."

Derowitsch said he enjoys this tournament because it's both competitive and "pretty low-key."

"There's no dress code," he explained. "Some places, you have to wear a shirt with a collar."

n Reporter Mike Strand can be reached at 822-1418 or by e-mail at mstrand@salina.com.

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