Evening star., 1937-01-12

OW 1t feels to see $500 walk
- away from you'' and be help
less to do anything about 1t
was revealed today by Astor
Clarke who pocketed a cool grand in
winning the National Duckpin Sweep
stakes, but who feels he earned every
jitney of it several times over merely
by watching another man bowl.
The great Nick Tronsky Of Wilt
mantle, Conn, removed 10 years from
the life span of AStor Clarke and 10
pounds from his muscular frame while
shooting the last 10 boxes of the
classic tournament at Waterbury Sat-
urday, to give you Clarke's own i'm
preston Of cracking drammer Of
sport and coin.
Finishing his Is strings we'll ahead
of TronSky, who rolled with a second
squad, Clarke became probably the
most interested bowling spectator in
the history of the game. The dis
tinction Of becoming the first man
to score second triumph in the blue
ribbon duckpin event of the country
he won in 1934-and the first prize
of $1,000 seemed to be his when
Clarke marked up a score of 2,025.
The most dangerous remaining con-
testant was Tronsky, who needed 6Sa
sticks in the final set to top it.
Odds Heavily Against Nick.
THE odds against any bowler to
shoot five-game score of 668 are
heavy, but Of all the bowlers who
might attempt 1t on this occasion,
the one whom Clarke most feared was
Nick Tronsky.
Amid the cheers of a packed gall
lery, Tronsky set himself to the difi-
cult task and. come the final game,
apparently was to succeed. He needed
l19 sticks to beat the fancy score Of
Clarke. 1t was a cinch-or seemed
to be.
When Tronsky came up for the
last game" said Clarke, Il was willing
to sell out for $780," Second prize
was $500.
All went well with Tronsky for six
frames Of the fateful string. In the
fifth he was II sticks ahead of the
box with spare in the sixth.
Clarke. perched in a gallery back
Of the drives, was in a sweat. The
man without nerves on a bowling
alley, the top-ranking performer of
the Nation in his favorite sport and
one of the coolest competitors under
fire to be found in any game, had
the jitters,
TronSkyis Fortune CHANGES.
HONESTLY" said Clarke, 1T was
painful to watch Nick roll. He
was shooting beautiful duckpins and
it seemed to me he simply couldn't
miss. WINGED every time he let 60
a ball, But strange things happen III
duckpins and I kept on hoping.
L thought the jig was up for me
when Nick, II ahead Of his box in
the fifth, spared in the sixth. But
our stock went up again when he cut
through the side for a count of two.
This made it necessary for him to
mark in one Of the remaining three
frames to win.
In the eighth he got a two-pin
break. Nine out of ten times Tronsky
would make this one no matter what
the pressure. / saw 500 iron men
galloping away from Astor Clarke
then start back when Nick picked
of the key pin. Believe me. fol-
lowed that second ball all the way
to the pit.
IF Nick had been as nervous as
was when he came up for the ninth
box he'd have rolled gutter bail.
You can imagine my relief when he
chopped through the head pin. He
cleaned up the wood and this left him
needing a mark and a count Of two
| in the tenth to beat my score"
Rates Ovation, Win or Lose.
WHEN Tronsky rose for the final
w frame, with a spare or q strike
worth $500, the crowd to person rose
with him and the building rocked with
cheer. 1t was an ovation for a
gamester, for Nick Tronsky, win or
/ lose, to come this close to triumph in
the face of weighty odds, already had
proved his mettle.
A concerted groan followed imn1e-
diately as the mighty Nick fired his
first ball through the heart of the
triangle, leaving up four pins on one
side of the alley and two on the other.
The four were so grouped that Tron-
sky hardly dare hope for spare with
out a perfect hit plus the bounteous
favor of fortune in the form of q ay-
back.
You'd think" said Clarke, in con-
nection with that final frame, that
a guy in my position would feel pretty
secure. But, knowing Nick Tronsky
and the crazy things that can happen
on New England alleys with their
Gagged pits, still was in a dither. In
fact. I almost turned away as Nick
let fly with his second ball"
And Clarke's premonition, II such
it was. that Tronsky would pull the
monkey spare, nearly was realized.
AaafR.