A sport that years ago bowled us over

It's as if someone said "Turn out the lights, the party's over."
The former Legion Lanes bowling alley in the basement of the Minneota American Legion building held its grand opening over 65 years ago. Except for a little clutter and dust collected over the years, the alley still looks like it did when it was the most popular place in town from 1957 until the popularity dissipated in the early 90s and closed.
One of the secrets many people in Minneota didn't know is that there were once four bowling alleys in different buildings over the last 100 years in town, including the Legion Lanes.
The first was owned by W.B. Gislason around 1920 and was located where the current Yellow Medicine Watershed office is now located.
The second alley was owned by W.J. "Fritz" Dero until 1934 in the Dero Recreation Center, which was located in the basement of the current Vietnam Memorial History Museum. It had one lane, a pool table and a dartboard.
The third, owned by Maurice Dero, was in the building that now houses the One More Time thrift store from 1945-54.
In late March of 1957, the Minneota Legion Post 199 unanimously endorsed a plan for installing a four-lane bowling alley in its building after hearing that numerous teams were ready to sign up. The sum of $20,000 which was needed to install the equipment that would be purchased from a Waterville, MN firm, was raised by the sale of $100 debentures at 2% interest, with the money to be paid back after a 10-year period. Nearly three-quarters of the money was raised in the first month.
All of the equipment used in the Legion Lanes Bowling Center was purchased from a firm in Waterville, MN.
Legion Lanes held its grand opening during the Labor Day weekend of 1957.
A full-page ad was placed in the Mascot the prior week, announcing the grand opening in which free coffee and doughnuts would be served by the Legion Auxiliary. Bowlers could pay 25 cents for two chances to pick up a split and win a prize. The alley was open from 1 p.m. to midnight. Bowlers paid 30 cents a line.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony included Len Carlson, district commander of the American Legion, as well as Gerald Olson, E.E. Nordquist, W.J. Dero, and L.R. Christianson. Over 600 lines were bowled over the first weekend. Mrs. Robert Geiwitz and Richard Smishek won prizes for producing the highest women's and men's scores, respectively, over the weekend.
Dr. John Schulte served as the first president of the City Bowling Association. A ladies' league of 12 teams was set up to meet on Monday nights, while three men's leagues of eight teams each played on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. Mrs. George Davidson was the first president of the women's league. Because of his previous experience managing a bowling alley, W.J. "Fritz" Dero was named the manager of Legion Lanes and president of the men's leagues.
After "Fritz Dero", Doug Konold, Larry Lawrence, Carl Lawrence, B.T. and Marilyn Russell, and Lyall Gislason were listed as managing the Legion Lanes at one time.
"My parents (Carl and Audrey) bowled there from when it opened until the 1990s," said their son, Brad Lawrence. "Sometime after Carl retired from his job, he became the manager of the bowling alley."
"(B.T. and Marilyn) were both excellent bowlers in South Carolina before they moved into my grandma's house in Minneota," said Sandy Josephson. "My grandma used to say they worshipped the bowling alley."
Weekly team scores and individual top games, series and averages were listed in the Mascot.
What once was among the most popular recreational sports in town suddenly found the number of participants rapidly decline until it was no longer feasible to keep the Legion Lanes running. The bowling center closed in 2007.
The Legion Lanes re-opened in February of 2012 with Stacey Korman as manager. But that lasted only a few months and the doors have been closed ever since.
Today, the former Legion Lanes take on the appearance of time standing still.
Many of the items used inside Legion Lanes are still in their rightful place. Shoes with size numbers on the back are still visible on the shoe racks. Unopened packets of "Slide Ons", similar to shoe horns, are still sitting next to the shoe rack. A bottle of baby powder with "LEGION LANES" written on the side in black marker remains on one of the scorer's tables.
Several bowling balls of various weights and colors are nestled on several racks throughout the bowling alley. Bright-orange numbered lockers still have shoes, bags and balls inside them.
The snack counter's overhang has a sign with routed letters spelling out "Legion Lanes". A cardstock sign advertising pizza, pop, beer and novelties hangs on the wall inside the snack counter. A few unopened glass bottles of Diet Pepsi remain in wooden pop cases.
"Lois VandePutte and I used to bowl on the Mascot team in the early 70s," said Judy Hagen. "I wasn't a good bowler, but I had a lot of fun. One thing I remember was there was always a thick smoke in there from many of the ladies smoking back then."
Another sign hanging near the scorer's table announces that any bowler getting three strikes in a row wins a free game or a free beer.
Many bowling trophies are boxed up in a small storage room behind the snack counter. A scorecard with the name "Trevor Johnson of North Branch, Minnesota" written on top was still on a scorer's table. Written next to his name was "February 11, 2012, First Bowler, Grand Re-Opening" next to the name.
"That's my grandson," said Gary Buysse, a longtime member of the Minneota American Legion Post 199. "He is now 19."
Trevor, who was 8 years old at the time, had a final score of 20.
With only a few bowling alleys still open for business, it's not worth the time and trouble to repair and try to sell the outdated pin-setting and scoring machines and equipment for Legion members. And with that room in the south half of the basement of the Legion building no longer used by anyone, it has remained the same as when it was filled with people on most nights years ago.