
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 4, 1991                   TAG: 9103040149
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RANDALLSTOWN, MD.                                LENGTH: Short

PRO BOWLER HAS NOWHERE TO HIDE

Del Ballard Jr. picked up his ball, grabbed his stuff and left. It was the bowler's ultimate humiliation, and now Ballard owns what may be the most famous gutter ball in PBA Tour history.

Call it the gutter ball.

It cost Ballard $14,500 and a lot of sleep.

Ballard needed just seven pins on his last roll to beat Pete Weber in the final of the $150,000 Fair Lanes Open on Saturday. He got none.

"My adrenalin was flowing too fast," Ballard said. "I just ran up there and threw it. I didn't take my time and use my head."

Weber wound up winning 213-207 and claiming the $30,000 first prize for his 16th victory since joining the tour in 1980. Ballard won $15,500.

"It's just unbelievable. I feel so bad for Del I don't know what to say," Weber said.

Ballard needed consecutive strikes in the 10th and final frame to pull within range of Weber. ABC-TV network analyst Nelson Burton Jr. remarked that he never had seen Ballard so excited.

"It was over when he threw that second strike in the 10th," Weber said.

Ballard said he purposely decided not to throw his last ball down the middle "because if you barely hit the head pin, you could only get five."

This one didn't have a chance to get anything. It left Ballard's right hand quickly, headed straight for the gutter and went in about a quarter of the way down. Ker-plop!

Weber threw his arms into the air, then put his hands on top of his head in disbelief. Ballard tried to pull off his bowling glove, then picked up his equipment and left for the locker room without saying a word.

by CNB