Nolan records his second 300 game

     Shawn Nolan didn’t even start bowling until he was in his early 20s.

     Now, he has a pair of 300 games to his credit.

     The first one was in 2013. The second of those was this fall, on Oct. 16, while bowling with the Kramer Brothers team in the Tuesday night Panther League at Legacy Lanes.

     Nolan, 38, began with the sport in an unusual way. He won his first bowling ball from Legacy Lanes owner Brian Meyer in a prize drawing during the Great Jones County Fair. He believes it was in 2003 or 2004.

     “I was at the fairgrounds with my wife (Tiffany), and Brian had a stand set up for a free bowling ball,” Nolan recalled. “So I signed up, and I won it.

     “I came down here (to Legacy), and he asked me how I wanted it drilled. I didn’t know anything about bowling. I said, ‘With holes.’ ”

     He learned quickly. Nolan joined a league, and managed an average in the 160s.

     “The next year I was in the mid-180s, and ever since then, it’s been in the 200s for the most part,” he said.

     “For a while there I was doing four leagues at one time, and now I’m down to only two again.”

     He suffered a walking fracture in his right foot a couple of years ago, and has been working to get back to his previous level since then.

     “I had to work on my timing,” Nolan said. “That was a big thing. It’s finally getting back to where it needs to be.”

     His timing has allowed him to work back up to a 198 average this season, highlighted by the perfect game.

     “Actually, my first game was good but not great,” Nolan said. “I bowled a 177. Then in the second game I got lined up, and I shot a 248.

     “In the third game, it all felt good.”

     That is, until it came time for the 11^th ball.

     “I got a little nervous,” he said. “It went way right; I swung it out too far, and got it about 10 boards farther right than what I normally throw. It actually came back in. I got lucky.”

     He had no doubts about the final ball.

     “It left my hand, and I was like, ‘It’s there.’ I didn’t even look. I just knew,” Nolan said.

     Shawn and Tiffany live in Hopkinton, and both are employees at Orbis; Shawn for 16 years and Tiffany for seven.

     Both of them also bowl in the Panther League, but with different teams.

     “It’s always a good rivalry,” Shawn said. “She really brags it up when she beats me.”

     His advice for aspiring bowlers is, actually, to take advice.

     “Don’t just come in here and think you know it all,” he said. “Listen to Brian, because he knows what he’s doing when it comes to coaching and tips.”