I was never much of a bowler. I hit rock bottom in the popular sport when I was a freshman in high school. I thought it might be a nifty idea to take my girlfriend Nancy on a bowling excursion.

You remember those dates. Impress the girl with your athletic prowess, trying all the while to not beat her too badly. Yeah. Those are the ones.

Problem was, she destroyed me – and my ego, I should add. After all, the west side pixie was quite a gymnast, too. What I didn’t know was this: She was also a great bowler.

I decided to hang up my rented bowling shoes and pursue other avenues of weekend entertainment which were less likely to embarrass me.

I came across another bowler of some renown recently at the Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.

Andrew Files, a master’s of divinity student at the Bangor Theological Seminary, is also a student chaplain at the hospital. He combines a love for his work with a love for bowling – big-ball tenpin leagues, mind you – and the combination of the two carry him on his merry way as he makes rounds and uplifts people like yours truly, who attend dialysis treatments in Bangor to purify their blood.

In Andrew, patients are likely to get a kind word, accompanied by a bowling story or two. In fact, Andrew is quite a competitor himself.

A weekly participant in two established leagues at the Family Fun Lanes in the Queen City, Andrew is a very serious bowler. He admits the co-ed league isn’t quite as competitive as the all-male version. Patients can always ascertain the chaplain’s success level the morning after such an enterprise based on his demeanor and mood.

As a longtime athlete and coach, I can empathize with success or failure in a game of choice.

I asked Andrew one day if he could offer a theological lesson to his patients, regarding bowling.

The quiet minister smiled, then said, “There is a bowling god.”

We have had many lively discussions in our time together, some which have centered around practice techniques I’ve employed for shooters and would-be shooters in the gym.

Andrew was quick to jump on and master the idea of visualization, a technique I learned from a C.W. Post men’s basketball coach of some renown, Stan Kellner, a number of years ago at a coaches’ clinic in Minnesota.

According to the wily coach, players who can visualize successful free throw and perimeter shooting techniques in their pre-sleep hours can often translate those mental skills into the real world once they are back in the gym.

My years of coaching found this so-called cybernetics to be a worthwhile venture.

Andrew was in a bit of a bowling technique slump a few weeks ago, and I challenged him to give the C.W. Post practice plan a whirl. Guess what? It worked.

The 1979 Bangor High School grad found that the mere idea of getting the subconscious mind to adapt to the proper stroke and release of a bowling ball highly resembled what basketball shooters do during their own mental preparation periods.

Andrew Files is impressive as he goes about the business of counseling and consoling patients on his day-to-day rounds at the hospital. His quiet demeanor aids comfort to hordes of patients, who often need just a pleasant word or comment to get them through the day.

But Andrew’s 215 tenpin bowling average also tells the tale of a man who has two passions: his work and his hobby.

Those of us who spend time with the pensive young man have come to enjoy his approach, which often includes a bowling story or two. Now that, in and of itself, is a perfect game.

30-Second Time Out

A chance meeting with former Penquis Valley of Milo hoop star Richie Grant, No. 34 in the program but, arguably, No. 1 in Penquis post-position annals, triggered a lot of memories for this old coach.

The gentle giant teamed with other hoop notables such as David Carey, Jamie Russell, Jimmy Bishop, Scott Larson and Brent Bailey to form a serious Class B contender in the late 1970s. I was lucky to have such a group in my early years of coaching.

BDN columnist Ron Brown, a retired high school basketball coach, can be reached at bdnsports@bangordailynews.net