Canyon Lake bowler dominates tournament

Jerry Wood sports his 300 game ring. He’s bowled two perfect 300 games and rolled several games with 11 strikes in a row. Photo provided by Jerry Wood

Canyon Laker Jerry Wood is a fierce competitor when it comes to bowling. He recently won the Laughlin Blast Tournament, a senior no-tap handicap event held twice a year in Laughlin, Nevada. The event draws about 250 bowlers to compete for the $5,000 in prize money.

The 81-year-old dominated the tournament and won the All-Event title. His handicap scores for the three days of competition (nine games) were 904, 876 and 934, for a total of 2,714. Jerry’s 2,714 score is a tournament record total and is the highest All-Events score for the nine Laughlin Blast Tournaments to date.

The Canyon Lake bowler has cashed in all eight Laughlin Blast Tournaments in which he has competed and won more first-place finished than another other bowler competing in the tournament. In the summer of 2015, Jerry won the prestigious Triple Crown when he won all three Laughlin Blast Tournaments at that summer’s event. No other bowler has done that.

Jerry’s love of bowling started more than 70 years ago when his father took him into the basement of an old Methodist Church to teach him how to bowl. He rolled a less-than-full-size bowling ball down a wooden floor aiming it at the 10 pins down the lane. Jerry’s father would do this each week until his father’s bowling league ended.

While in his teens and wanting to earn a little extra money, Jerry and a few of his friends would set pins at one of the local bowling establishments. They were paid a whopping 10 cents a line and occasionally would set doubles or triples in order to earn more money.

“I should have also received hazardous pay as many of the pins would fly to the back of the pit where I sat on a ledge,” said Jerry. “Some bowlers had a mean streak about them; they knew exactly where to roll the ball to make pins fly back into the pit. We had to jump out of the pit very quickly to avoid injury.”

Jerry and Judee Wood. Photo by Donna Ritchie

As the years went by, Jerry’s  interest in bowling shifted to other sports, namely baseball where Jerry excelled as a pitcher. He attended Beloit Catholic High School whose student body was nowhere near the size of the public high school.

Even though his athletic talent was quite limited, he managed to assemble 10 guys who could catch, throw, hit a ball and love the game. This worked well for him as he was the only pitcher on the team.

Before graduating from high school, several scouts from major league teams came to watch Jerry throw a baseball. In his senior year, his small Beloit Catholic High School won the State of Wisconsin’s baseball title. Shortly after, Jerry signed a professional baseball contract with the Milwaukee Braves and played in their minor league system. “This was a fun and exciting time in my life and, unknown to me at that time, I was surrounded by some of the now greats in baseball,” said Jerry.

Eventually, Jerry was released by the Braves. Shortly after, Jerry moved to San Diego where he continued to play baseball for many years with his respective companies — Convair and Solar Turbines.

Jerry has accomplished the majority of things he set out to do in the sports world.  He pitched five no-hitters in baseball, scored an eagle in golf, bowled two perfect 300 games, rolled several games with 11 strikes in a row (just missing the elusive 300 by one strike each game) and received many awards from the United States Bowling Congress, including a 300 game ring.

Jerry and his wife Judee bowl twice a week at Cal Oaks Bowl in Murrieta. They’ve participated in Laughlin tournaments for the past 18 years and bowled in the United States Opens.

At the age of 81, Jerry doesn’t know how much longer he will be able to participate in these sporting events. He exercises regularly and does the things he needs to do to keep active and healthy.

“I am particularly proud of my wife who is a cancer survivor,” said Jerry. “At her age of 78, she is able to keep up with me on my journey to kick sand in the face of old age.”