Dysart cashes in at Vegas tourney

loading...

He was overcharged by $10, but Sim Dysart won’t be asking for any refund.

The 63-year-old Hancock resident paid the sum to enter a six-week competition at Family Fun Lanes in Bangor and try to earn a free trip and three-day stay in Las Vegas to compete in the inaugural Hal Woody $250,000 Bowling Shootout.

Dysart and fellow Bangor league bowler Ed Cotter (who was only charged $10) of Levant not only won the expense-paid trips to Vegas, they came back with more money than they flew out there with.

Of course, Dysart has undeniable bragging rights since he beat Cotter’s $500 winnings by $154,500.

Dysart not only won his division, he advanced all the way to the winner-take-all $150,000 final round and beat another division champion and two professional bowlers to earn more money in two days than he made in two years while working for the U.S. Navy.

“When I finally realized I won, I called my wife and told her, but she didn’t believe me,” said the retired senior chief petty officer. “I had to get [ESPN broadcaster] Dave Ryan on the phone to tell her.”

Mary Dysart, who used to be a league bowler, finally believed her husband after he showed her the six-figure check when they met up in New Hampshire last weekend.

Sim (short for Simeon) has been bowling (10-pin) competitively for more than 40 years. The Brandt, Ohio native and Eagle Scout earned the trip after finishing his Monday Night Men’s League season with a 171 average. This qualified him to be one of four Mainers to go to Las Vegas. He competed in the Class A (180-below average) division while Cotter went in Class D (201-over).

The other two Maine entrants were Roger Blackmer of Hampden and Justin Bearce of Waterville. They were part of a field of 300 bowlers from 38 states competing in the two-day, made-for-TV, skins game tournament.

“I used to carry over a 200 average, but I’ve had a lot of trouble with my right shoulder after I injured it years ago in the Navy, so I guess it’s affected my bowling,” said Dysart, who had rotator cuff surgery for the injury.

It didn’t seem to bother him in Vegas, however, as he rolled a 123 in the first round of the unique, one-ball-per-frame competition, a 144 in the second, and then won $4,500 (which was also his ‘score’) in the third on the first day to advance to the four-man final on May 3.

“When I got up to bowl, I put the ball where I wanted to put it most of the time,” Dysart said. “I bowled 20 strikes that first day.”

Two of those were particularly crucial, and they both came in his second round string.

“A guy got a strike and I needed one when I got up or he’d win,” Dysart explained. “I hit 7 and I got a backdoor strike. It was a sloppy strike, but hey, it got me into the next round. That was the last frame.”

He then rolled another strike – the only one – in the sudden-death 11th frame to win and advance.

“I wasn’t nervous, but I had butterflies,” said Dysart. “I bowl better in tournaments than I do in leagues anyway. I guess it’s the adrenaline. As far as my injury, I didn’t even feel it on May 3rd. I said to hell with the shoulder.”

Dysart’s final round exploits can be seen on Sunday when ESPN broadcasts it at 2:30 p.m.

Dysart wasn’t overwhelmed on the second day either, despite a potential $150,000 payday, the glare of network television lights and cameras, and the pressure of playing pros Chris Barnes and Pete Webber.

“That really didn’t bother me. I was nervous when I first started because I bowled with Pete Weber’s father [USBC Hall of Famer Dick Weber] 30 years ago, but my goal was just to bowl with Pete,” Dysart explained. “Once I got on there and threw a couple practice balls, I felt comfortable and pretty relaxed.

“Everyone thinks the pros are stuck up, but they’re really very nice.”

Other than buying a new ball he had used for only nine games before the Shootout, Dysart couldn’t really say what it was that was the key to his two-day performance.

“I don’t know,” said the 1981 and 1982 All-Alaska champion. “I’ve bowled better, but I think the best thing about it is we didn’t rotate lanes. That helped me learn where to put the ball and get to know the lane better. Plus, whenever we had two guys roll a strike, I’d just experiment and move around a bit just to see where the best place to stand and put the ball was.”

The “skins” format meant whenever the first two bowlers rolled strikes, the frame was an automatic tie and the payoff would carry over into the next frame. That’s pretty much how the entire final round went on Thursday.

“We were all tied after that string, so it went to sudden death,” Dysart explained. “Chris Barnes went first on the 11th frame and left the 7 pin. I went after him and got a strike after a pin came around and knocked the 8 pin down. Joe [German Sr.] went next and left the 8. Pete Webber went last, and he threw a split with seven pins.”

The split made Dysart $150,000 richer.

“Well, a lot of it is going to pay my house off. I had a new one built in 1995 and I have $79,000 left on it,” Dysart said.

He’s not sure what he’ll do with the rest, but he’ll have plenty of time to think about it as he prepares for his next trip to Nevada. Oh yeah, Dysart has also qualified for the National Seniors Championship in Reno June 26-27.

So what about that extra $10?

“I was one of the first to sign up at Family Fun, but they couldn’t find it, so I had to sign up again and pay another $10,” Dysart explained. “Oh well, it’s the best $20 I ever spent.”