The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

Related Photos

  • Blind bowler Bernice Ellis’ game plan is simple: Roll the ball and wait for a teammate to tell her what happened. John Cross

    bowler 1.jpg

  • Ellis’ bowling shoes are the first and only pair she’s owned. They were a Christmas present from her husband in 1940. John Cross

    bowler 6.jpg

April 6, 2010

Bernice Ellis is blind and almost 91, but she just keeps bowling along

Needs a teammate to tell her what happened

By Brian Ojanpa Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO — A bowling outing with Bernice Ellis typically goes like this:

Teammate: “Bernice, you got a strike.”

Bernice: “I did?”

Ellis will be 91 next month, has a pig valve in her repaired heart and recently rolled a 187, besting her Thursday morning league’s average by about 60 pins.

Incidentally, she’s blind.

“Unbelievable,” teammate Jaci Zellmer says.

Ellis bowls in two leagues and gets by with a little help from her friends. They hand the ball to her, keep her apprised of her performance and drive her to and from the lanes at WOW Zone Family Entertainment Center.

Zellmer says Ellis, the oldest bowler in the league, was making some noise last year about finally stepping away from the game. Then the new season came around and Zellmer got a phone call one day.

“Who’s picking me up?” Ellis said.

She’s been bowling since 1939 — the year “The Wizard of Oz” premiered, gas was 10 cents a gallon and a dying Lou Gehrig told fans he was “the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.”

Ellis’ sight began failing in 1991. Her macular degeneration has reduced those bowling pins to a dim blob.

Essentially, she discerns something white and chucks in that direction.

“She’s usually happy if she breaks 100, but she’s really been on a roll lately,” Zellmer says. 

Ellis began her 187 game with two straight strikes and followed up later with three in a row.

Ellis bowls for the Jake’s Stadium Pizza team in a Thursday league and on Mondays rolls with the Score More squad. But on a recent Monday it was more like Score Less.

“I’m not doing very well today,” Ellis lamented, though she acknowledged it ain’t over ‘til it’s over. Her 187 was preceded by games of 128 and 103.

Ellis and late husband Paul had seven children. She still wears the bowling shoes her gave her as a Christmas present — in 1940.

Her 70-year-old shoes are only slightly longer in the tooth than those of teammate Loren Johnston.

“Got these in 1951, but they’re kinda wore out and crackin’,” he said as an elderly bowler in an adjacent lane was niftily navigating on two artificial knees.

All of which hearkens to the response ageless baseball pitcher Satchel Paige once uttered as he fielded the umpteenth question about his longevity:

“How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?”  

Along with Ellis, Zellmer also embodies those words. She’s still playing softball at 83, outlasting even her children at the game.   

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Local News