Rolling record

Who: Jeff Phipps

What: A 247.89 bowling average. That is a national record for a leeague series with a minimum of 66 games.

The series list:

750, 741, 784, 801,
765, 747, 752, 730,
799, 710, 751, 646,
725, 710, 775, 718,
716, 773, 790, 754,
693, and 731.

High Game: 300 Oct. 12

Phipps quote:

"After awhile, I wanted to smash the record, and get it as high as I could."

Jeff Phipps averages 247.89 in his Monday night league.

By Joe Petshow
The Statesman Journal

Salem's Jeff Phipps can finally rest his gimpy knees and sore back.

His national bowling record is in hand. Well, almost.

Pending sanctionag by the American Bowling Congress, Phipps is the national record holder for the highest average in a league season.

The 37-year-old co-owner of Salem's Cherry City Bowl and Regal Trophy Co., completed play Monday in the Capital Classic League with a 247.89 average - for 66 games.

"I think the success that I had here is because I trained myself to throw one ball at a time," Phipps said. "That is almos an unrealistic average."

He used the same ball - a blue Hammer made by Faball - the entire season.

"This season was basically a season where I bowled real consistently," he said. "I had three games under 200 in 66 games and two series under 700."

Phipps topped the previous national recored of 245.63 set in 1989-90 by Doug Vergouven of Harrisonville, MO.

The minimum requirement to be considered for a national record is 66 games. That's exactly the number Phipps rolled in Capital Classic play, which concluded Monday.

Phipps' high series during the scratch league was an 801 Oct. 5; he rolled a 300 game Oct. 12. He capped league play Monday with a 731 series.

Phipps said he received a lot of support from his younger brother, Lee, 32. Lee also is a scratch bowler; he and Jeff co-own Cherry City and Regal Trophy. Their dad, Dick, opened the bowling center in 1956.

"Sometimes, you have people who root against you when you're going for something like this," Phipps said. "I had a lot of people here rooting me on. They seemed to be having as much fun as me."

Phipps, whose knee problmes often limit he number of games he can bowl each week, had a sore back Monday.

"Last night, I was experiencing a lot of back pain," he said. "I was stiff and had some aggravation. But to tell you the truth, I would have bowled witih a broken leg."