Karen Young's Tribute to Bill Olive

These last few days are days that I have been dreading for a long time.  I know that Bill is in a better place but I am selfish and I miss him terribly.  Bill didn’t mind talking about when his time on this earth would end.  We actually had many conversations about it.  He might have been ready but I was not.  I take great comfort in knowing that he no longer feels any pain but I would be lying to say that my heart does not ache.

The email messages I have read and the stories I have been told over the last few days have so many similarities.  Bill affected so many people on so many different levels.  He mattered to a lot of people and we are all going to miss him.  There was hardly a league night (and I bowl a lot of leagues) over the last couple of years that somebody did not come up to me and ask about Bill and how he was doing.  That is a man that truly mattered.

Bill Olive was a man that I loved and respected with all of my heart.  That is not always the easiest thing for me.  We had a very special relationship.  He just always had a way of making a person want to be better in everything they did.  Not just in bowling but in life itself.  That is a gift that not many people have. 

I remember bowling a few times with my family when I was younger.  Then I bowled some in PE class for school.  I thought it was fun but nothing too special.  I took a bowling class when I was a sophomore at William Woods College.  I always got to class early so I could get this one ball that had some name engraved on it.  I averaged 167 in that class.  It was during that class that I realized I might want to spend some more time bowling. 

My first official league bowling was on a late league at Rainbow Lanes.  I knew nothing about the game.  I averaged 142 that first year with a house ball.  After the second year at Rainbow we decided to move to Midstate Lanes to bowl.  It was at that time of my life that I really got hooked on bowling.  My sister, Susan, told me that in order for me to get better that I needed my own bowling ball drilled just for me and she was going to pay for it.  She talked to Dave Scott and they decided what ball I needed.  Remembering how much I liked that ball when I was in college I only had one request.  I wanted “Karen” engraved on it.  Dave told Susan that if I wanted that done that we would have to go see Bill Olive for that part.  I had no idea who Bill Olive even was. 

I always thought it was funny that Bill and I ended up so close because to be honest when I first met the man he scared the hell out of me.  I did not even want to have to make eye contact with him because I thought he was so intimidating.  He basically told us that he could put my name on the ball but it was a pretty stupid idea because nobody ever did that anymore.  Nonetheless he liked seeing younger people getting into the game of bowling.  I would give anything to still have that ball!

I never bowled league at West Gate Lanes until the last year that Midstate Lanes was open.  It was at that time that I would run into Bill more often.  I was still scared to death of him so anytime that I needed anything I would have Susan go get it for me.  It was not until I actually sat down and had a conversation with the man that I realized he was not so scary at all.  Over the next few years I even tried to find excuses to go talk to him because I enjoyed listening to him talk.

For years things were great between us right up until I said that I wanted to be a better bowler.  Next thing I knew I was going everywhere with him.  He took me to the scratch league.  He took me to Mexico to bowl on New Year’s Day.  He took me on the traveling league.  We started practicing what seemed like every minute.  We started fighting about just about everything.  He would always say that I was the one that said I wanted to be a better bowler and I had to learn to listen.  There was a time or two that the lines between love and hate became blurred.  Of course I could never hate that man but I can say that there were times that I just knew we were the two most stubborn people on the planet.  That was until I really got to know Keith.  Smile…that’s another story!

Bill and I had our moments but it was during the last few years that he was able to bowl that we really became close.  That is when I fully began to understand just what an icon he really was.  I knew that I had to spend as much time with him as I possibly could or I would miss out on the knowledge that this man had to offer.  In the last few years that Kegler Pro Shop was open there were not many Friday nights that I did not spend hours with him just talking.  I loved hearing about the Bowl-A-While days.  I loved hearing about his tournament days.  I loved hearing about anything he wanted to talk about.  It was during this time that I got to learn so many other things about him than just bowling.  Some of my most special memories did not even involve bowling talk.  I loved hearing about when he was growing up.  One of my very favorite conversations is when he told me about meeting his future wife and when he knew that she was the one.  We had countless conversations about life and love and family and what it all meant.  It was during this time that I decided that I wanted to be a part of carrying on the legend of Bill Olive.

I will never truly be able to carry on the legend of Bill Olive but I sure will try.  Digitaltalk.com will not be the same without him but it won’t disappear.  His tournaments will not be the same without him but they won't disappear.  I made promises to Bill and they are promises that I will not break.  I could never thank him enough for everything he did for me.  He was truly one of the most important people in my life and I will never ever forget him.

Karen Young

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