The union times., 1948-05-01

Jimmy Smith died the other day. His was the first big name that bowling produced, deep back in the Mauve Decade of more than 40 years ago. Bowling, then, was a major sport and Smith had the stuff, plus, that makes a sports genius. For more than g years he hOurished as the greatest match play kegler. He was terrific. Once Smith achieved a cluster of 19 suc- cessive strikes during an astonish- ing 3O-game average of .243.
 Last time 1 saw Jimmy Smith was about 10 years ago. His sparse hair had frosted. He wore white jacket with Jimmy Smith" emb1azoned on it. He was an instructor, for free, in a New York bowling alley. His job was to attract customers, boost bowling
 ''I was great guy in the money spOt," observed Jimmy. ''I shot per. feet scores three times in big match play. But others made most of the money betting on me-" Sadly he re- called: ''If had bet plenty on my self I'd have been a millionaire to- day, or near it. But I always was a chicken feed bettor. Why, when beat the great Johnny Voorhees, there was side-bet of $500. I took only $25 of it, others put up the rest"
 His face wrink1ed with regret as he continued: Another big match play against a C1eve1ander, Franz, called for $2,000 aside. Wish I had laid the whole amount on myself My risk was $500. It was home and home affair, and left New York for Cleveland with lead of 634 ins. I lost only 34 of 'em on Franz home alleys! Yet l made good living out of the game. And I was happy just bowling"
 Jimmy switched from his cautious gambling to explain his alley art. He said the secret of good bowling is footWork
 Personally, I never took more than a 12-foot run. Beginning with the right foot, that meant counting four strides. That gave me good con trol The idea is to hit the 1-3 pocket, the one on the right side of the head pin. Then you hardly ever miss a strike"
 ''Just matter of aim?" I asked.
 ''No, not exactly. It's just a knack you get that can't explain 5 he observed.
 Smith claimed he could get you rolling reasonably well in four Ies- sons, using straight ball before applying hooks.
 ''You either throw a hook, a straight ball or a reverse" said Jimmy. ''I always use hook start ing from the right hand corner of the alley with quick snap of the wrist. Gives me a better follow through. l learned that by watching a lot of good and bad bowling when l was kid pin-sticker.'
 Smith never sobbed over newcomers having surpassed some of his records.
 "It's easier to register high scores now than in the old days" he conso1ed himself. "Pins, balls and alleys are much improved. Once, a 195 average was good enough to win but now it takes a 225 to turn the trick.
 Women" he pointed out, "are easily taught and they frequently hit 200 nowadays. Fine. Makes it a more sat isfactory game for the public. It's human nature to want to do a thing well. Now, you can be a good bowler with little concentration
 That wasn't the way Jimmy came up, though. He practically lived on the alleys. Once, on tour, he cover ed 48 states four times running That meant 80 games a week against all corners.
 Bet Jimmy's still at it. ''That's better, St. Peter Just a I2-foot run four strides and a Iit- tie concentration You're doing fne."