By George Kulas

When Larry Secord walked into Parkway Bowling Lanes on Wednesday carrying his Ebonite “The One” bowling ball, little did he know that by the time he left he would be “The One.”

At 74 years young, Secord is now the one with the highest three-game series ever rolled by a senior league bowler in Fond du Lac.

Secord hammered out the record 859 series on games of 300, 279 and 280 in the Personal Touch/Pizzaville Senior League.

“It’s pretty hard to believe,” said Secord, a lifelong Fond du Lac resident.

“Thirty four out of 36 strikes is something you never think is going to happen, you know, in a three-game series.

“They turned the lanes on in practice for free bowling, and I had like four or five in a row.

“I said, ‘I’m not going to waste any more; that’s enough.’ I went into the first game, and they just kept coming.”

According to the USBC Fond du Lac Bowling Association 2008-09 Yearbook, there are five other bowlers ahead of Secord and one tied with him, but those were rolled in non-senior leagues.

Here are the top six scores in the FBA: Jon Gross, 888; Carey Slater and Kelly Thomas, 878; Brian Burgess, 868; Mark Marschall, 867; and Steve Kocos and Secord, 859.

Kocos was on the senior all-star team for 2008-09, but his 859 series came March 24 in the L & R Construction Business Early, a non-senior league.

Kocos was the only other senior in the top seven.

In the pocket on every shot, Secord struck 34 times out of a possible 36. Secord would have become a co-world record holder with a 900 series had those two pocket hits struck.

Not many bowlers noticed Secord’s start to his first game until around the seventh frame when word was passed down that “Secord’s got the first seven.”

After rolling his ninth strike, anticipation grew, and other bowlers’ attention turned to lanes seven and eight. His demeanor didn’t seem to change as he calmly approached the lane for each of his three shots in the 10th frame.

Secord said that Ray Serwe, a horseshoe throwing partner, calmed him down going into the 10th frame when he came over and said to him, “Think like you’re throwing horseshoes — just enjoy it.”

Secord did enjoy it as he fired solid rockets to the pocket amid cheers from other league members on his first two strikes in the 10th.

When he struck on his final shot for the perfect 300 gem, thunderous cheers and applause rang out in the building after which Larry was inundated with wholehearted handshakes from his cohorts. Larry previously bowled a high game of 299, and he was ecstatic to finally get his first 300, which according to the United States Bowling Congress the odds of shooting are 11,500 to 1.

But the day wasn’t over as Secord strung strikes in the first four frames (a hambone), and observation once again returned to his shots. After leaving and then converting the 10-pin in the fifth frame, Secord struck out to finish with a whopping 279 game.

Again, handshakes and congratulations surrounded the calm, relaxed Secord, and word spread that a 221 game would give him the coveted 800 series — a score much more difficult to achieve than a 300 game and one that the many bowlers will never attain.

While a 221 game itself is difficult to shoot for many good bowlers, it could be that much more difficult with the added pressure of knowing shooting it would result in a lifetime achievement.

It looked like Larry was going to run them out again as he started the third game with a strike. Then a stubborn seven pin in the second frame stood, and it looked like the 221 would not come easy.

But his teammates — Larry Wetzel, Joe Schroeder and Elmer Hintz — helped keep him relaxed with small talk. Secord converted the spare and then went on to strike out finishing with a dazzling 280 game, resulting in a thunderous ovation from the entire league.

“It’s still unbelievable,” said Secord, who retired in 1995 from St. Agnes Hospital after 33 years as a painter. “I went there to the bowling alley relaxed, and they just came so easy that it was unbelievable.

“It’s something I never thought I’d reach.”

He has been bowling in the senior leagues for a little more than 10 years after coming off his second rotator cuff surgery in his bowling shoulder.

Secord has now set the standard for all senior league bowlers in Fond du Lac by cranking out an 859 series to earn the title of “The One.”