Bowling brotherhood

TID tops MID in annual showdown on the lanes

Story and photos by Eric Wolfe

The competitive juices were running high when the black limo pulled up to Yosemite Lanes in Modesto and disgorged a raucous party of IBEW 1245 members from the Turlock Irrigation District.

They’d come to Modesto for the Second Annual Local 1245 Bowling Tournament, and more specifically to avenge last year’s defeat at the hands of Modesto Irrigation District.

Mike Gomes, a member of last year’s winning team, offered this succinct prediction of who would come out on top this year: “MID, of course.”

To the victors there would be spoils: a bottle of Jack Daniels, a set of IBEW-monogrammed poker chips and, most importantly, a full year of bragging rights.

The tournament consisted of three rounds, followed by a championship round between the top team from each company.

The play was a little ragged to start. There were gutter balls. There were faults. There were gap-toothed splits.

But amidst all the cat-calling, high-fiving, fist-pumping, and war whooping, a serious number of bowling pens got knocked down. Is it possible that people’s aim improved with the arrival of each new pitcher of beer?

No one’s aim was better than TID’s Ken Gross, who threw a spectacular turkey—three straight strikes—in the 10th frame of the final game, putting his team in the championship round against MID’s Ken McHale, Wade Wilkinson, Rick Turner and Victor Madrigal.

After that, there was no stopping the TID avengers. Although the lead see-sawed back and forth in the middle frames, emerging victorious in the end was the TID team of Ken Gross, Troy Borges, Rick Brenes, Aaron Baker and Jeff Campodonico, who had been drafted from PG&E for the occasion. (Campodonico’s brother Gregg is a lineman—and bowler—for TID.)

TID members took some ribbing for turning to PG&E for talent. But attracting participation from other Local 1245-represented groups has been part of the plan from the very start. Besides Campodonico, this year’s new recruits included City of Lodi members Josh Raymos and Cody Ellis.

The MID victory predicted by Gomes earlier in the day didn’t materialize. But when you’re enjoying beers together, the line between victor and vanquished gets a little fuzzy.

As Gomes put it, “We’re just trying to build relations, keep the different companies together and keep good relations going.”

TID Teams

Jeff Campodonico (PG&E)
Ken Gross
Troy Borges
Rick Brenes

Sheila Lawton (IBEW
1245 staff)
Gregg Campodonico
Al Borges
Bryan Lovio

Steve Johnson
Anthony Ormonde
Jordan Lellhame
Mike Van Egmond

Cody Sanders
J Daniels
Anilesh Singh
Rafael Battig
Yolanda Battig

MID Teams

Mike Gomes
Dave Ferreira
Brian Houser
Dave Quaresma

Sean Coulson
Sara Coulson
Roby Higgins
Amanda Higgins

Josh Raymos (Lodi)
Cody Ellis (Lodi)
Jeremy Christensen
Shane Haran

Ken McHale
Wade Wilkinson
Rick Turner
Vic Madrigal

Bob Jones
Jim Boere
Brandon Frazier
Johnny Wigt