Eleven strikes in a row. One more and it would be a perfect game.
Not that it mattered to Keith Odette.
He had just rolled a 300 in the previous game — his 71st lifetime — and, to be honest, he said, he wasn’t feeling that great. Odette was still experiencing the effects from a skateboarding accident earlier this year, with unexpected dizzy spells and blurry vision among the reminders of the serious head trauma that had him hospitalized for several days.
One last ball … and Odette knew he’d leave at least one pin standing the moment he released his Storm Marvel S down the lane at Leeward Bowl. He watched as No. 10 held its ground in the right corner, almost mockingly, as another pin slid its way but just missed a KO.
A 299. Still, not just any 299. This one capped the three-game 279-300-299, giving Odette an 878 series on Oct. 22, 11 days after his 32nd birthday.
It also gave him the Hawaii state scratch series record, eclipsing the 875 in 1982 by Dan Maglangit.
"I think everyone is making a bigger deal of it than me," said Odette, who runs the bowling pro shop at Waipahu Lawn Equipment & Bowling Supply. "Everybody keeps asking me about being excited, how did I feel, how did I do it. Storm (his sponsoring company) called. I didn’t know what to tell them.
"I was throwing OK, but it was just that the lane was pretty good, better than normal. The lane pattern and ball matched up. It wasn’t necessarily me. Last week, the lane was off. That night it wasn’t."
Otherwise, it was a normal night for Odette. Another night in league play at Leeward Bowl where, he estimates, 60 of his 71 300 games have been recorded. And another 800 series, one of more than 30 for the right-handed modified hooker who averages 230.
"When it was happening, other people knew I was getting close," he said. "I wasn’t thinking about the record, but I kind of knew that whole last game what I needed. After the 300, I knew I needed the first 11 strikes.
"If I had been feeling better, there might have been more pressure, but since I wasn’t feeling good, I wasn’t thinking about it. That last ball … I wasn’t thinking 300. I just threw it but knew when I released it … I didn’t expect it to strike."
However, the expectations that Odette — the 1997 high school state bowling champion out of Waipahu High — would eventually break the record have been there for some 10 years. It was about the time that he came out of the junior ranks, started dominating Hawaii TV Bowling and moved into PBA play, where he was on circuit briefly.
"For us, we knew it was just a matter of time, the not if but when. I’m not surprised," said Terrence Fernandez, co-owner and vice president of WLE Bowling Supply. "I knew something had happened when my phone was blowing up with text messages. So I asked him when he came into work, ‘Did you break it?’ He quietly said yes. It’s just how he is, very humble.
"People think it’s a weird combination, a lawn shop with a bowling pro shop, but it works. There’s a jewelry store in Waipio that has a pet store on the other side.
"It made sense for us bringing him on board, with his talent, knowledge and what he does for the bowling industry. People get intimidated sometimes by him when he’s at a bowling center. He has his game face on, he’s in his element. But if you sit down and talk to him, he’s a different guy. You can absorb a lot about the sport from him."
Odette will give advice to those who show a genuine interest. Many don’t realize how technical the sport can be, the math and angles involved, the analysis of lanes, what kind of oil is used, how often lanes are cleaned.
It’s not always about having the best equipment, although Odette is an expert at that. He has learned the art of the ball, honed it for almost 10 years at WLE, and is hands-on with his knowledge of weighing, sanding, polishing, drilling holes and doing adjustments.
"Business is OK, different since we’re not in a bowling center," said Odette, who also works when needed in the WLE side of the building. "It picks up after June, when the companies come out with their new stuff at the bowling expo in Las Vegas.
"Some people want the latest ball, like one that is more aggressive, will cut into the (lane) oil. But sometimes they overthink it, want the same ball someone just got a 300 with. It doesn’t mean it will happen for them. It’s not the ball, it’s you."
Odette showed a natural ability early on, encouraged by his parents Joseph and Yvonne, themselves bowlers who would drop off Keith and his siblings for junior bowling.
Odette has encouraged his son, Tristan, to bowl, but the 7-year-old "is a better golfer," Odette said. "He plays baseball, too, but golf is his better sport. I’ve told him to stick with it, go where the money is."
Odette knows about that, saying he would have had to spend a lot of time on the mainland to make a living. He chose not to stay on the circuit for his son and the weather.
"Me and cold don’t get along," Odette said.
Bowling is a lifetime sport and Odette said he’d like to see it become more popular. He’d also like to see the return of Hawaii TV Bowling, a popular but time- and money-consuming venture that ended two years ago.
"I think the interest is there," he said of HTVB. "I’d like to figure out how to get something like it going again. But you need to make sure it’s worthwhile."
It’s a challenge that Odette may be poised to take on. One that doesn’t require dusting, as with the few trophies he allows to be displayed at WLE Bowling Supply.
