Lisle's Williamson finds his niche

Lisle's Brandon Williamson is peaking at the right time.

A freshman who has bowled for less than three years, Williamson's six-game series of 1,372 won the Glenbard East sectional with the ninth-best score of all sectional bowlers entering the boys state finals this Friday and Saturday at St. Clair Bowl in O'Fallon.

"I'd say that's the best I've ever bowled," said Williamson, who will turn 15 in April.

At his most consistent at the sectional Jan. 21 at Brunswick Zone in Glendale Heights, he was on the cusp of greatness at the IC Catholic regional a week earlier at the same place.

Finishing in second place, 13 pins down at 1,353, the right-hander came one point from a perfect 300 game when he left a pin standing on his last ball of the third game. He has hit 300 in practice.

"The ball hit a little high in the pocket, so I left the 3-pin," Williamson said. "It wasn't really frustrating, more like just disappointing that I didn't get a 300. But I got over it in a few days."

Lisle has a girls bowling team but not a boys team. The regional was Williamson's first high school bowling tournament, suggested to him by Lisle graduate Garrett Peterson, who bowls with Brandon in a league at Lisle Lanes. His chaperon at the sectional was his Spanish teacher, Kacey Helland, a non-bowler.

Until news of Williamson's achievement came over school speakers during daily announcements, only his friends knew he was a bowler.

In fact, it's kind of surprised his father.

"None of us bowl," Dave Williamson said. "He just started bowling because he wanted to and he fell in love with it. No person inspired him to do it."

More prone to playing computer games with his pals until this all started, Brandon Williamson adopted a two-handed style under the tutelage of Jim Tau at Lisle Lanes.

Encouraged and intrigued - especially by the hook he could put on a ball - he sought further improvement taking additional lessons from Gregg Zicha of Fox Bowl in Wheaton. Though Williamson had lost interest during prior forays into baseball and basketball, he found his stride on the lanes, initially bowling six days a week and up to 15 games a day.

He has since qualified for the 2016 United States Bowling Congress' Junior Gold Championships and is in leagues both Saturday and Sunday mornings. He owns eight bowling balls, all 15-pounders, his go-to being a model called No Rules, by Roto Grip.

"I try to go with my preference, but sometimes the oil forces me to change balls and move around a bit," Williamson said.

Aah, the oil. Though he and Chatham Glenwood's Conner Jones are the only two freshmen competing as individuals in the state finals, that comment signifies Williamson's immersion in bowling despite his relative inexperience.

"It's my first high school (state) tournament," he said, "so I just want to do my best."

State qualifiers from DuPage County also include Fenton senior Jeremy Ames, who rolled a 1,243 at the Glenbard East sectional, and coach Greg Edwards' Lake Park Lancers, who won the Glenbard East sectional.

Winning its first sectional since 2013, Lake Park has reached the state finals 10 straight years and 14 of the last 15 seasons, winning the 2009 state title. At sectional, Lancers bowlers were seniors Jack Bedtke, Chris Rinchiuso and Kurt Wegner, junior Nathan Williams and sophomore Jordan Fischer.

Incidentally ...

If you happen to know of a deserving person five years removed from competition at Waubonsee Community College, the school is seeking nominations until Feb. 1 for the Chiefs Athletic Hall of Fame. Nominees could be athletes, coaches, administrators, faculty, teams, even community supporters.

Nomination forms are available at the Waubonsee athletics website or you can waltz into the Sugar Grove campus' athletic office and pick one up. Call (630) 466-2524 for info.

Class of the Redhawks

After compiling a 63-14 record in seven years as football coach at Tilden High School, where in 1982 he earned the Chicago Public League's first state playoff win, Joe Bunge could have enjoyed a stay in the Michigan State program.

That would have meant a long-distance relationship with the woman he was dating, Cheryl. So, Bunge took an offensive line position at New Trier. The next year, 1986, he arrived at Naperville Central, which got the better end of that deal. Bunge thinks so, too.

"For me it was, because I ended up marrying my wife," said Bunge, among those to be honored at Naperville Central's fifth Athletic Hall of Fame induction in the gym between sophomore and varsity boys basketball games Friday against Neuqua Valley.

"I had a good career, she's been very nice to me," Bunge said. "I'll tell you something, behind every successful coach is an amazed wife."

That may the quote of the year, like Bunge was 1999 coach of the year leading Naperville Central to the Class 6A title, one of three state-final appearances in a 171-win career. He'll be presented on Friday by his offensive line coach, Steve Kenyon.

Fellow inductees in the Class of 2017, with year of graduation, are: all-state soccer player Jim Davidson (1989); 15-time state medalist and All-America swimmer Brett Lullo (2007); Matt Nolan (1980), an All-America distance runner whose 1,600- and 3,200-meter school records stand 36 years later; Courtney Peters (2003), a state basketball champion who starred in three sports; the late Ed Sieben (1964), a state high-jump medalist and leading scorer on the 1963 and 1964 basketball teams; and Jessica Yanz (2006), the Gatorade Illinois volleyball player of the year.

Also posthumously, Bud and Barb Perry, the Hall's first "Friends of Athletics" inductees for doing everything from working the scoreboard at Memorial Stadium to digging the holes for its first light standards.

For a bit after his 2006 retirement, Bunge's health was precarious, but he says he's "doing really good."

"I'm really honored," said Bunge, who adds to his 2010 Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame membership.

"I'm really proud of all the kids, not just the kids that played on the field but all the kids who participated in the program. More kids participated in that football program than any other program in the school," Bunge said.

"(When) we decided to two-platoon some people thought the reason I did that was to win games, but really the reason I did that was to have more kids play football. But as it turned out, it also helped us to become more effective."

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

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