Da Godfather (with Tom Mitchell) #bowling #chipmagnet

One of the top finishers at this month’s Twin Cities Queens event in South Saint Paul calls this guest her godfather, while others around town call him coach, or Mitch.

Tom Mitchell of Minneapolis caught the bowling bug as a boy in Richfield, and his parents eventually bought the center where it all began for him.

Bowling took a back seat as his parents got older and needed his help, but he ended up with a memorable tournament win just days after his father passed.

Now, with younger bowlers looking to him as their guide in high school competition, we take a look at Tom Mitchell’s decades-long bowling story in Ep. 155!
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With the f I encourage you to get F what all things the game of bowling helping Bowlers the hand collaps is down and I’m going to try to bowl the best I can 1,000 subscribers and I want to challenge Ted Nelson Tom Corbin Jason B Monte well good Monday evening everyone welcome to another episode of bowling with the fef a platform for you to share your unique bowling story live on our YouTube channel hope you like the new uh show open I kind of whipped that together yesterday really really fast uh

So I’m glad that worked out 10 pin Ben checking in yo yo good to see you here I know the the time difference is a little strange because 10 pin Ben is in the UK but uh yeah I’m glad to see you here uh we this is not the first time we have

Interacted if you couldn’t tell um we’ve got some good stuff uh coming up that I’m going to tell you about soon uh that involves 10 pin Ben uh and he’s actually coming on our show too as well so uh lots to uh discuss on the 10 pin Ben

Front uh as it were but uh like I said just a pleasure to have you on live if you are like Ben and are on live with us feel free to chat it up in the live chat it’s open right now if you’re watching on replay uh leave a comment I see them

All and uh hopefully uh we will uh get in touch that way love to talk to all of you who are fans of the show and of bowling in general well uh yesterday uh Anthony Simonson took his 14th PBA tour title at the PBA Pete Weber Missouri classic Simo qualified fifth ran the

Ladder defeating ajn Johnson Matt Russo EJ tacket and Bill O’Neal and oh Baby that semifinal match between Simo and EJ lived up to its billing tack it forcing Simo to double in the 10th Frame on a lane that he didn’t seem all that comfortable on but uh he made it work

Just in time uh got a couple light swishers to carry and uh went on to the championship match where he took care of Bill O’Neal uh another title for Anthony Simonson in just what’s been a tremendous career for him so far and it only gets better and better uh ptq

Happening earlier today for the PBA Indiana classic uh these are the advancers not in order this was another thing I kind of threw together really fast uro Quintero uh averaging about 246 through that seven game qualifier you got Peter Fox Brandon Flora Dio Bernard pontis Anderson Benji Martinez tan churn Eric Jones Nate

Stubler who has been on the show once before bayy Maverick and Nathan rust lejoy uh joining the regular field in Indiana that tournament starts in Earnest tomorrow TV uh for the finals is Saturday at 6:30 pm Wisconsin time on FS1 well this is exciting uh something

Brand new uh that I haven’t delved into just yet but I’m going to kind of dip my toe in the water are you ready for some merch because bowling with the fef merch is coming uh we are looking to start a merch store uh and that will be coming

Soon uh but right now you can be one of the first through the door you can bust through the door just a little bit early we’re holding a pre-sale uh for items like t-shirts and hoodies uh there’s two different designs uh a variety of adult sizes there are no

Youth sizes with these but if you go to bit. Le bwtf pre-sale it’s all lowercase and it is case sensitive that’ll be up through St Patrick’s Day March 17th you can get your orders in for those shirts and hoodies and on St Patrick’s Day we will collect all the orders and uh ship

Them out so after that at some point we’ll have a more permanent merch store but for now it’s the pre-sale and this is the first time uh we’re getting them out there this is a partnership that I have uh with Sam uh Zappa Henrik Meer to

Get out uh quality apparel uh with the bowling with the fef logo and name on it and I cannot wait for this to start I’ve got a couple uh coming my way so I’ll be able to wear them on camera and uh show you what they look like but again uh that address

Bit. lbwt pre-sale all lowercase it is case sensitive um okay 10 pin Ben saying he was some animal as in Simo yeah absolutely uh flush in the pocket Derek saying hey buddy hey Derek good to see you here live uh Nate stubler is tearing

It up he’s he’s great um I saw him Bowl live at the World Series last year he is something he’s going to be a star and uh if you want to copy link H might have to elaborate on that one Ben I’m not sure what you got there and

This is what I was waiting for Max who’s been on the show before says yes finally some merch and you know we’re starting slow but there will be more as uh as we make some time but like I said just kind of Dipping our toe in

It for now uh watch for more as the weeks pass by and uh thanks in advance to everyone who checks it out really uh appreciate appreciate that and hope uh that you enjoy seeing that kind of stuff well bowling with the fef is brought to you by chip magnet salsa if you haven’t

Tried chip magnet yet what are you waiting for it is time uh chip magnet is a salsa company they are based in oakair Wisconsin they distribute salsa relish barbecue sauce and other food products to stores in more than 38 States and Canada if you’re in the Twin Cities of

Minnesota you can get it at Whole Foods Nolan’s festivals kowalskis luns and ble and most all small Co-op stores and you can always find it at chipm magnet salsa.com and if you enter this promo code at checkout bwtf 2024 if you order $30 or more in product the F the fine

Folks at chip magnet will give you a 25% discount with no limit so a great opportunity to stock up on the planet’s best salsa chip magnets salsa raise your snack standards and as always a huge thank you uh to the fine folks at chip magnet for supporting bowling and

Bowling with the fef Derrick wants to know if I’m GNA sign any of it and increase the price I’m not going to increase the price um it might take a certain kind of marker to sign these um there’s a couple that will go with a a traditional Sharpie um I’d be happy to

Sign them if if that’s what people want uh we can absolutely do that but uh certainly no no price increases these are uh you know I hope they’re affordable I hope you find them that way and uh they you know no interest in jacking up the price anymore uh on uh

This type of thing so let’s bring in our guest he had Parents uh that ended up owning the bowling center where he started uh in our sport uh in Richfield Minnesota he has bold and coached all over the Twin Cities metro area and is currently part of a coaching Trio at St

Anthony High School uh in the Twin Cities of Minnesota Tom Mitchell is joining us live from Minneapolis tonight in an episode we are calling the Godfather Tom welcome to bowling with the F it’s it’s an honor to be here Andrew and uh thank you very much for

Having me on I appreciate it thank you yeah no I I’m excited about this um air Court was a place where I spent quite a bit of time in my high school years we’ll uh kind of get to that when uh you know when we get to that part of your

Story um but I wantan I I want to start out with a rather exciting development that happened uh yesterday as a matter of fact um Jessica Boer who is your goddaughter goddaughter and the young lady who you saw in the graphic in this picture um lit him up at the associate a tournament

The Twin Cities Open championship at Park Grove Bowl in St Paul Park including her second career 300 games so a big congratulations to Jessica and I got to start with that how you know what are your thoughts about that how excited are you for absolutely excited I mean I

Couldn’t be happier for her um uh it’s her second one and to to bowl it at the Twin City Open Championship I mean it doesn’t get much better right I mean bowling it in a big tournament um I will have to say she still has a few to go to

Catch up to me and she’ll appreciate that comment I can tell you two have that kind of relationship oh yeah for sure for sure we we battle back and forth but it’s all in fun and uh love love her very much couldn’t be happier for

Her Max says that uh he has the first ever though check my phone for photo I think he’s talking about a little like coffee mug that that he’s got with the logo on it we haven’t started with those yet maybe somewhere down the line uh we

We get into that as well um but yeah Jessica’s fantastic I was lucky enough to meet her at the pwba stop a couple years ago at Cedar Vil um you know and of course I had to you know I had to talk to her and while we’re on that

Topic of you reminding her she’s got some 300s to shoot before she Catches Up With The Godfather right she told me that she’s the better bowler she said she’s got her first 800 and that you still owe her dinner uh because you made a bet on who could get

Their 800 first yeah she’s 100% correct and uh I do owe her dinner so and uh yeah I came close but not close enough right yeah yeah 797 is no joke I mean hey it’s hard it’s hard to shoot 800 with both hands around your neck right it’s hard to shoot them without

Both hands around your neck right yeah there’s a reason why 800s are so special yeah yep so I do ow her dinner yeah but in all seriousness she went on to say that overall uh you’re an amazing guy hands down the best Godfather a god goddaughter could ask for she says you

Have some mean DJ skills and some good dance moves dancing kind of come with the territory there when you’re a DJ I I always thought that I would DJ so I wouldn’t have to dance you know but uh you know I can I can shake it around on the uh on

The floor a little bit yeah yeah she uh she did uh you know send over some pictures so we gotta kind of get through those I’m guessing this was a couple years ago oh that’s yeah quite a few years ago yep and then of course the the more

Recent times um but uh the the one that I want to ask you about is this one here um because she mentioned that you guys uh went skydiving yeah we did um we had a very dear friend um passed from breast cancer and uh Jennifer Anderson and one

Of her favorite things to do one of her Hobbies was go skydiving and uh at her funeral a bunch of us were talking about you know we should celebrate the the year anniversary at some point and I’ll go skydiving and I’m scared of heights and I had had a few

Cocktails and uh and I said you know what I’ll I’ll go skydiving if you guys go skydiving well I can’t let down my two goddaughters who were both in that picture yeah and uh there was definitely a uh a weight restriction so I I put the pedal to the metal and I

Ended up losing a little bit over 80 pounds to be able to go and do that with them but we did it we did it and uh it was it was something I’ll never forget never forget ever yeah I I’m afraid of heights right there with you um my

Sister-in-law uh went skydiving in fact I I think it was at the same place Skydive Twin Cities in Baldwin yep yep for sure um she made it through I was amazed because let me tell you I never will yeah well I I tell I can tell you

This much it is the greatest amusement ride you will ever go on if you can get out the door it’s unbelievable how cool it is so always gives me a hard time because I won’t go on amusement I I Jessica was the first one to go out

And uh when I saw her go out I was second and I was like my other goddaughter is right behind me I had no choice I I had to go so but we hit the ground and had a beer and and celebrated and and uh and remembered our

Good friend yeah that’s fantastic and uh you know congratul ulations to you for taking the plunge quite literally but uh yeah you know in the in the name of something that’s meaningful like that is really cool um look who’s uh look who’s watching live Mitch dad is watching she’s at work right

Now old Jeffrey yeah for sure uh Derek says I can’t shoot 800 on Xbox let alone in real life hey Tom how are you who who is that uh so flush in the pocket is done uh by a gentleman named Derek misho he’s been on the show uh

This show twice okay but uh yeah he’s in Maine and uh is an avid bowler and like I said does his own show on YouTube um you know kind of in the in a similar vein to this one but uh yeah he’s a big video game bowling guy as well as you

Know real life bowling guy yeah um but yeah he says sorry for the loss of Jennifer um and he also says he’s going off the sheet and challenging me to do my show from on top of the Empire State Building wow how’s the internet strength up there

Yeah well and in the height yeah yeah that too I’m gonna need a that’s a challenge within that’s a challenge within itself right there my goodness okay well we’ll have to see about that I don’t know if I can make that happen but uh you know I’ve been to the Empire

State Building before I just you know kept my feet on the ground for sure yeah amen yeah all right so uh let’s um let’s kind of pivot off of that you know DJs and dancing thing because uh Jessica also wants me to ask you about your gopher dance what is the Gopher dance

Well it it came from the movie catty Shack and if you remember um you know when the Gopher came out of the hole he’d always do you know this whole thing well many years ago going to see um a band that’s up big up in the Upper Midwest which was the Johnny Holm

Band and uh they would always bring me up on stage and ask me and they’d get me on stage and start playing that song and I’d have to do the but then then they usually let me sing along with another song and stuff too so that’s where the

Origination came from and uh and every wedding I’ve been at as a guest uh the DJ ends up playing it and I have to get out there and do the do the dance yeah so that’s where that’s where that came from okay fair enough no good good stuff

Let’s uh let’s get into the the meat of this your bowling story um you mentioned that that it started pretty early for you you’re six years old um yep tell tell us about you know kind of the circumstances that brought you to this great sport sure well my dad D had

Always bowled he bowled over at 38th in nicholet and at that time we were living on 42nd in Chicago and then we ended up moving to Richfield when I was six years old and uh we lived half a block away from Luxury Lanes and uh my dad ended up

Bowling in a league down there and uh found out that they had a junior program and it was a really great Junior program and so I joined my brother uh Bob joined um and uh we had some great great coaches there um Don whips rest of Soul

Um was uh my first coach and uh and taught me everything I knew and I I just wanted to get better from the start and uh um he was instrumental in getting me there he was an unbelievably great guy and knew how to coach young kids which that’s a gift

Right there you know um and still to this day you know my bowling is very traditional because of it you know um uh but yeah I started bowling Junior leagues there and as we got a little bit older um ended up uh bowling in a lot of

The traveling Junior leagues I ended up bowling in the uh junior cbas when they were there now called mjbt um I remember bowling uh the Patty and tournaments down in Elbert Lee with a bunch of people bowed a little bit in college and uh and just fell in love

With the sport so there there is something special and I’m sure I’m not going out on a lyb saying this but when you’ve got a small Mom and Pop Style Center um and you are able to kind of call it your own grow up in the game at

Such a center I certainly did um I know a lot of others did uh tell us about Luxury Lanes what was it like um I want to say maybe maybe a dozen Lanes oh yeah 12 Lanes yep and uh and they had the some some of the first automatic

Scorers um in the Twin Cities um and uh I think because they were first generation they ended up breaking down pretty quick uh but uh um yeah bowling in a small house like that and being six you know you know six houses away from the bowling alley whenever we could we

Would go down there um during Summers you know when me and the other kids would do pickup baseball games on nice days during the summer if it was raining guess where we were we were at the bowling alley you know and uh learned how to bowl left-handed a little bit I’m

Not very good but you know I can I can still probably average about 140 bowling left-handed so okay but uh but yeah and the and the friendships you forge um during those Junior leagues you know are you know because you’re meeting kids from other areas of the town that you

You never met before because you’re stuck usually with the people that live in the four or five block radius of your own home as a kid and and uh yeah we just had so much fun and you know we couldn’t wait to see the score you know

The recap sheets on the next Saturday to see you know hey how close are we to first place you know everything it was just it was a really special time and I loved every moment of it yeah the other interesting thing about this particular Center is not only is it tucked in a

Neighborhood but it’s also kind of in a prominent looking spot off of a major freeway yeah so you can’t really drive through Richfield and Bloomington without seeing it off to the north side of 494 there correct correct and you know and we had other um you know

Centers that we competed with you know you had uh bayen Stadium Bowl was right there we had uh um Lariat Lanes you know both of them are gone um you had uh um Diamond Lake South which wasn’t far um and you know I remember competing against Bobby solstrom from from there I

Don’t know if you remember hearing that name um but his mother was in charge of their junior leagues um you had Cedar Lanes not too far away so there was plenty of people around that uh that were bowling and and we were trying to get them into airport or Luxury Lanes um

For years and years so yeah yeah it said later became airport bll so folks aren’t familiar with the luxury Lane’s name uh that’s what you’re more likely to remember it as just because it was more recent that way uh Tim Peterson says Tom Mitchell one of the nicest guys ever get

Better and hope to see you back on the lanes real soon this must be somebody Yeah Tim Tim is uh one of the other coaches at St Anthony okay um with me along with Lynn Anderson and and Tim is uh one of the nicest guys ever I can

Tell you that much as well um it’s nice to nice to hear from him tonight too so takes one to no one right so um you you know you’re kind of growing in the sport you mentioned that you had opportunities in high school and

College um for a lot of us it you know it’s interesting to kind of from that individual Dynamic to the team Dynamic like you have in high school bowling and college and leagues and things like that um what do you remember about you know bowling for teams for League teams for

High school teams things of that sort yeah I mean as soon as we got old enough to start doing some of the traveling stuff um you know then you know the the relationships even expanded you know um because I think our first set of Junior traveling leagues you basically got drafted to a

Team it was almost like they wanted to mix it up they didn’t want all the airport guys bowling with themselves you know they wanted you to meet others and and I I remember my first team I bowled with uh um Debbie Johnson Debbie lanto um and Lisa

Zang and uh who became good friends of mine um uh and met a lot of them and but that’s really when the competition as a team um really got in the bowling got into my system because you were meeting other really good competitive Bowlers you know um I was one of the better

Bowlers at at airport but there was also four five six other guys that I could compete with just at airport or Luxury Lanes but when you get out there and you see the rest of the world my goodness there’s there’s a lot of special Bowlers

Out there that uh I can now say hey they’re they’re they’ve been lifelong friends of mine it’s been great sure you know but that’s really really where it um stepped up I had to step up my game at that point sure and you mentioned jcba if you’re bowling events like that

You find out really quick who the dream of the crop oh yeah for sure for sure I never won one um but uh I I think the best I did was up in Alexandria one year probably about my junior senior year in high school and I had a couple of high

School Buddies go up there with me um and it was a I think it was a little bit different Dynamic having those two guys with me instead of my dad um for some reason I didn’t feel as nervous you know because those two guys were just like ah

Blow it off come back you know where my dad was maybe a little bit more harsh on that oh yeah tough love yeah right right yeah for sure um who were I mean when you were going through jcva who were some of the stars of the day that you

Know that folks might recognize they uh Carl fitech um Sam lanto um uh John Zang um Debbie Debbie lanto um uh uh my old brain is is shutting off right now so um but uh you know I it’s it’s that group and then you know then we had

Younger guys like Darren Hansen were starting to come around and and uh and the younger guys I I felt like we even better so you know but uh yeah some of those guys that are just uh Bill Fabian was another one Mike Mike L Jr um uh good friend good good friend

Back in the day rest in peace there too so yeah yeah yeah so you’re you’re in high school um you’re on this team tell me about kind of the format back then for me I mean I was in high school in that area in the mid 90s it was all

Baker system was it Baker system for you too yeah it was it was and uh and we loved it because it it it really put the onus on all of us to really Bowl as a team and uh and we were that team from Richfield

Which was uh me and Dan L Dan lson Gordy Larson’s son Gordy was the he and his wife uh Lois were the original owners of Luxury Lanes um Kevin Lindsay Bob spinner um Roland Landry um yeah Rich gustaffson you know all of us B Juniors together and when we got on

That Richfield team I mean I go and Coach the St Anthony team and there’s no team that was that now could could have ever been as loud as we were I mean we were almost obnoxious but but we did very well I don’t know if we ever won anything now

Um can’t remember but we had a really good time and we were we were pretty hard to beat back then yeah yeah you uh you said that you competed in college um where’d you go I went to Normandale for a little little while yep we called it UCLA the university closest to the

Lincoln area so yeah I bowled there and and uh um met some other great guys from around the around the Twin Cities I went there to and we had we had a lot of fun sure um as I mentioned off the top not only did you start at Luxury Lanes but there

Came a time when your parents took it over how did that Happ yeah I I don’t I don’t really know how it all happened I you know I my dad was uh a president for a branch office for Norwest bank and so he was very busy um but loved bowling

And I know that gordi and Lois Larson wanted to get out and uh my my dad said I’ll buy it you know and uh that brought my mom into fold you know working the counter at the bowling alley um during the days while my dad was at work and

Then my dad would go from the bank right on over to the bowling alley and my brother and I were old enough to go and be you know the pin Setters in the back you know making sure any balls that got stuck or anything broke down we were

Back there working and doing our homework you know yeah and uh um but I and I don’t know I think they owned it for five years maybe six years or so um and then uh the white family uh uh Dave and Doris white ended up buying it from

My dad and uh um I think it was just that it got to be too much you know and uh so so they ended up buying it from but I tell you that was some of the best times you know um having your parents on to bowling alley because you know if if

You ever needed to have something to do at night the bowling alley usually closed by 10 o’clock well I I knew where the key was so yep yep so we had yeah it was fun it was fun well you know like I said earlier it became airport Bowl and that

Was a special place to me because um right before I left for college um I went down there a lot and got coached up a little bit by Don White yeah great guy yeah so I I spent you know you know a good amount of time on those lanes and

Certainly learned a lot because as you know Don has a stellar physical game and knows how to teach it um but uh but yeah it’s you know like I kind of described it ear early on uh you know a nice little 12 Lane Center always very clean

Always um just you know nice people and and good quality you know lanes and and seating and all that stuff it was always very well-maintained yeah for sure and uh and you’re right Don Don was you know one of the top coaches in the Twin Cities um you know

And uh I still see him once in a a while I know he was working at cedarvale a little bit during the pandemic and stuff but uh when that kind of calmed down he left uh there but yeah he’s very well respected and as as he should be right

Yeah for good reason really nice guy and yeah I was always happy to learn from him because I mean he had all the smarts and he knew how to you know he knew how to make you better I mean that’s the long and the short of it

Um as you kind of move into adult competition you know you sent me the list of of centers where you bold leagues over the years airport Earl Brown Elsie classic Twin City masters of tatonka I mean it’s all over you were all over the Metro yeah oh yeah yeah I

Started um I I ended up bowling the first place was uh Earl Brown um because uh with my background as a DJ um um they ended up and they and the and uh um W man it’s escaping my head why um the owners of Earl Brown at that point

Knew my dad they knew I was a DJ and they were needing DJs in their bar okay and they brought me in and said you got to hire a couple more people but you guys are going to be our new DJs and so working up there I was started meeting

People and I met people like Jeff Miller and and uh Greg Salmons and Steve Sherman and uh uh Bob Johnson rest of Soul um and we ended up forming a team and bowling up there on Wednesday nights and then I’d fill in on other nights too

When I wasn’t working so uh but that was the first first one um but then uh bowl at the classic was Scott sodergren and my buddy uh Big Mike humberg and Aaron Pollock who is uh owns his own Pro Shop now as well um so bowling with those

Guys was a lot of fun and then I ended up bowling uh at Tatanka in the Twin Cities masters with uh uh um Tony Smith and Dave gin and uh a couple other guys um on that Twin Cities Masters league and and I ended up there I ran into Lisa at some

Tournament and she said hey what are you what are you bowling nowadays and one thing led to another and I was on their team that next year so we had we had a lot of fun and that was a great League back then great League still is from

What I can tell even now that Masters League there has always got top talent uh from you know from the Twin Cities and and uh yeah well respected Bowlers there um one of the other folks that I asked about you was Tom Roberts and uh he mentioned that you go back to his

Senior year of high school he said you managed a b a baseball team that he played on uh he said you lost touch over the years but then we reunited through his wife Sarah um and uh I mean he’s got the love for Van Halen and I know that

You do too um absolutely and that’s you know that’s not a reach considering you know right yeah there you go yep I I figured you know once people started making uh shirts you know that were uh that you know like that I was like you know what I’m gonna get a shirt

That no one has and I’m gonna get Eddie Van Halen stripes on the shirt and of course you’re wearing one tonight too yeah and uh so not the only I’m not the only one that has them uh but they but Tom was like we want some too so we uh

We had those made and uh yeah I it’s a funny funny way that I got back in touch with with Tom was um I had been friends with Sarah for for many many years I met her through her dad Allan Casino um up at Earl Brown yeah and uh um and Sarah

Was bowling in the junior leagues back then but we became good friends Sarah ended up in mine and my wife’s wedding and uh um once one day I don’t know five six years ago Sarah had I had invited her to a barbecue at our house and she

Said is it okay if I bring my boyfriend I’m like absolutely the more the marrier come on over and he showed up and I kind of looked at him I’m like you what’s your name and and then he told me and he I was like oh my God

And he goes yeah you coached me in baseball remember I’m like yeah and I knew and and after I graduated from Richfield I ended up being the inter mural director at the high school for a while and so I knew a lot of those kids

Um that were that you know for six seven years that were behind me as they they were growing up and graduating so yeah so it was fun and it’s it’s great to uh have that connection again and then the last few years I was bowling with

Them at ls’s okay so yeah yeah Sarah and I uh bowled on opposite team she was I think with Earl Brown I was with Spectrum um in the North Metro traveling league for juniors in the mid 90s um so yeah I know her pretty well um she

Mentioned that you guys used to work together at Earl Brown and uh she said you know that you quickly became uh one of her closest friends yeah yep she’s a sweetheart she is a sweetheart yep love her dearly yeah for sure um Tom said the first time he ever

Saw you bowl you shot 300 in the first game uh while bowling on a team with Sarah texaa you remember that yeah yeah I do I do I that was during the Twin Cities Masters league and uh I ended up shooting two um uh not the same year but

Two of them in that League over the years yeah okay yeah yep he came down just to watch I still I still don’t understand people coming to watch us Bowl But but uh yeah it was it’s always fun to see them yeah uh Tom mentioned that you know the Van Halen uh thing and just music in general he said you’re a fan of he says the round mound of sound as you were known during your DJ days which is

Coincidental because you know Jeff brought that too yeah the one and only round pound of sound uh he says gave him a great chance to be a very good DJ he says he owes a lot to you um you had an excellent DJ to youred yeah was that

Jeff yeah Jeff did it but you know but that was his gift to us you know and uh I I think I ended up still paying him more or paying more for him that night than just his gift because I had an open bar for him

So but yeah no we had he did an excellent job and uh and he’ll tell you I taught him everything I that I knew so that’s why he became a good DJ I guess at least that’s what I like to tell him anyway yeah yeah for sure and

That’s good stuff I mean you know I I never did any work as a DJ but it always seems like that’s the the guy or G that’s having fun or you know it doesn’t seem like work I I mean maybe you you disagree but it’s Gotta you got to enjoy

That kind of thing if you’re if you’re in it right yeah yeah you do um and you know but you have to be cognizant that uh when you’re doing someone’s wedding it’s that bride’s day and that bride think about that since she was a little

Girl what her wedding day is going to be like so there’s still a lot of pressure on you um I did end up I did the last wedding two years ago a year and a half ago um and I said I just can’t do it anymore just because I would still have

Um dreams you know leading up to the wedding of I can’t find their first song um there’s a song that’s ending and I don’t know what to play next you know there so there is pressure but when you can control a room and everyone is having fun there’s no better feeling in

The world you know and and uh being able to you know be the icing on the cake at someone’s wedding um I always said to people you know yeah we don’t charge that much but we’re the biggest impact of your day because people won’t remember what they had for dinner at your wedding

They won’t remember what kind of cake you had but they’ll know if they had fun and why they had fun so yeah absolutely Jeff says Mitch I think you should tell him the story about that’s my favorite song oh it’s that it’s a very sweet story but

It was it’s a very fun when when we had the DJ service um we were contacted by the Special Olympics to come and do all their events and uh it was an honor to be able to do those and we’d set up a big sound system on the field when they

Were out there doing all their field activities and then we’d bring bring that in um for their banquet and there would always be a dance afterwards and we would send out some of our newer DJs to that because number one you couldn’t mess it up you could play anything and they would dance

You know um so there was no real pressure there um but we did have one dance and one of our guys came back we’d always get together after all the shows and talk about the shows the Good Bad and the Ugly things that happen and one

Of our guys came back and said you’re not going to believe this this kid came up right after we started and said play my favorite song and then ran back out to the dance floor what is it yeah a little bit later he came up and said

Playay my favorite song and ran back out to the dance floor he came up one more time and goes play my favorite song and the DJ said this is it and the kid just turned around goes yeah which was so so awesome so awesome I mean the joy that those kids have um

It’s you can’t even put words to it and how special it is so yeah yeah it was great to be able to do that and Nick bowinkle was always the MC so it was always kind of fun to hang out with him yeah I bet cool yeah um Sarah mentioned

That you guys used to tailgate before Vikings home games um every home game that became quite a production she said you had former Viking players come to hang out like Joey Browner how how do you get Joey Browner and former Vikings to come join you as your tail gting I’m

You know yeah what one of my friends who started um started doing it uh he had a little sports store where they sold uh um you know Vikings jerseys and shirts and hats and you know other sports too um out at Rosedale and he thought what a great way to promote my

Store by putting together a club and we were the original vwo uh Vikings world order after named after the new uh New World Order from wrestling wrestling and and uh um it got to be so popular that we ended up buying a trailer that you that was a barbecue

That you could do about 150 burgers at a time on it and I would would bring out a sound system and put it on top of his RV and you could hear it for two blocks away um and we’d be just jamming Tunes out there and this was probably started

In 96 95 somewhere in there so it was before the you know the big 98 97 98 years um but we’d have 150 to 200 people that would show up for our tailgate parties and we would just ask for donations you know for food and and beers and and uh it got

To be quite a big deal and we ended up also turning it into where we were giving money back to Charities you know and uh I know that the current vwo still does a lot of that Community work which I’m uh I’m very happy to see that they

Still do that so yeah yeah oh yeah we we would get out there I mean if it was a noon game we were out there by 6:00 in the morning and mind you that’s on a Sunday and I was probably doing a wedding the night before so I probably

Didn’t have much sleep you know sure but we weren’t gonna miss it yeah yeah I think that speaks to this next comment that Sarah shot over says you have the biggest heart would really give you the shirt off your back uh try to help with anything you could uh she says you’re

Funny a great bowler and she loves you well I love her too and that’s very nice of her to say yeah yeah yep absolutely lover to death yeah cool um so tell me about maybe some of your you know your signature moments in Bowling as you’re you know in these

High-powered leagues I’m assuming you get to a tournament now and then um you know what what would you say is you know is your favorite moment or some of your favorite moments on yeah well I my my very first three 300 was at airport bowl

And it was on Lanes five and six um during the Twin Cities hooo League which had been around since the beginning of time and uh um and just having that very first 300 getting that one off off of your back um was unbelievably special and I was bowling with all my buddies

That we played softball with we kind of had gotten to a point where soft ball wasn’t going to be really in the cards much longer so we had like 10 11 guys on one team and we’d Bowl every other week but I’d Bowl every week and so all my

Buddies were there for it and uh even after airport um shut down and they put it on kbid I tried to get the masking unit for five and six wasn’t able to do it because they were selling it as a lot but um that’s that’s one of my uh

Favorites um I I also shot another 300 at the St Paul city tournament at uh um what was that bowling alley in St Paul off of uh off Snelling that you had to go down the stairs Midway Pro Midway Midway Pro Bowl Y and uh so I shot that uh my second one

There um you know the two at uh um Twin’s Masters League um I shot one at Earl Brown as well um a big night was uh my 797 where I almost was the first one to get first one to get the 800 between me and Jessica um you know my dad was in

Failing health and uh and and uh but always loved to still hear the bowling stories and usually would just say that’s just ridiculous you know if I shot something big you’d go you’re just ridiculous you know and uh but I had never had that

800 and uh I really wanted to be able to go and tell him that I finally got it I I didn’t get it and actually that night I I went out to the car and kind of sobbed a little bit because I I wasn’t able to do it but you know it’s stuff

Like that that uh you know are some of the highlights um nowadays I’ve I’ve kind of got reintroduced to the MSC the the uh the senior uh uh tournaments that they have going on and uh going back and seeing a bunch of the oldtimers you know

Like us that like me anyway um and and being able to compete you know against them you know and uh you know seen Johnny Holmes there and and uh um and so I still follow them on their Facebook pages since I wasn’t able to Bowl this

Year but uh seeing a lot of those guys again and and competing with with them again is has been also a big highlight so yeah I’m about four years away from that but man I’ve been to a couple of those events live streamed one of them there’s some good competition out there

I don’t care what age those guys are at right those guys can flat out bow yeah for sure it’s it is fun to watch yeah Derek wants to know what ball Brands you throw um I’m usually throwing Roto Grip now okay yep y d Derrick’s a Brunswick

Guy so he always asks um but uh what about here you uh you you sent this picture over looks like you’re at the open championships in Tulsa yeah yeah that was the very first one I bowled in and and went down there with my dad and

His team down there and uh um that that’s that was the very first one of many that I bowled so that’s that’s a great memory we drove down there in in some guys big conversion ban and uh it was it was it’s a great great

Memory I have with my dad to be able to go and do that with those guys yeah you uh you mentioned that uh uh on New Year’s Day in 2020 uh you had a nice run at the that’s what I do uh New Year’s Day event um you

Said it was days after your father passed away um I I asked Danny Hatton about it uh she didn’t remember but don’t take offense because she couldn’t tell me who won this year’s New Year’s Day T yeah but but tell us about that yeah it was um my dad passed just before

Christmas that year and uh we had gone out for New Year’s Eve at uh Palmer Lake VFW and I was buying shots for everyone and I was also doing that myself um so I woke up the next morning but I was just like should I go and Bowl it and I I was

Just like you know what I’m gonna go bowl for my dad even though how hung over I was I went and bowled and uh I it was a noap tournament so I I felt a little bit better about that because I knew I was okay hitting the headpin um

And did extremely well and uh and ended up winning the uh gold I think it’s their gold division um part of the tournament so yeah that was uh that was special day my wife even came and watched me I don’t know why but again but but yeah it was that was a great

Time and and and Mike Mike Hatton and those guys run great tournaments they’re it’s a lot of fun yeah I’ve bowled many of them and uh yeah he really does for those of us that can’t really keep up you know with the CBA crowd um yeah

That’s uh that’s a good option for me anyway um yeah so you end up getting into coaching too um you had done some coaching in Richfield uh but now but nowadays uh as you mentioned you’re with two other coaches at St Anthony um tell us about how that

Came to be and and why St Anthony yeah you know over the years and as I’ve gotten older I’ve always thought that you know thoughts become things and my wife and I we don’t have kids and um I had done a lot of work with uh Young

Life which which which is is a non-denominational outreach program for high school and Junior High kids just to kind of get them interested in in hopefully going back to their Church you know um but uh my wife and I were talking and I just said I need to do

Something to get back to the community I need to do some kind of volunteering I have the time and I was scrolling through Facebook one night and uh the Minnesota bowling Message Board had uh um we need coaches the high school teams need coaches and I reached

Out to uh Josh hodney um who posted it and uh he called me back the next day and he said well where do you live and I told him I live in Northeast Minneapolis St Anthony area and he said you gotta be kidding me cause C Lynn Anderson who has ran the team

Forever is uh getting I I’m not going to say her age I almost did but uh she’s getting there and age and wanted to find someone else to come in and help and so then I talked to Lynn talked to Tim Peterson and uh they brought me on and

The greatest thing was Lynn said I’ll still do all the paperwork and I’m like I’m in for sure then now you’re talking yeah and uh we have a bunch of great kids from St Anthony and also from Edison and uh we’ve gone to State the last two

Years um and uh it’s just been a joy to be around those kids and trying to teach them you know trying to get them out of the bad habits that we all have you know and uh we have some very very good kids that have come out of that program so

Yeah very cool it’s been quite the experience yeah to have that kind of success at the high school level has got to feel great I mean what does it take to you know to have a team that reaches those Heights that gets to state that you know that wind State um

You know like I said Baker system there’s a little different mindset in that than there is in just your traditional league right yeah for sure and and um you know we really talk about team and we we talk about um you know just like what’s the most important

Thing about golf is what you do around the green and making putts it’s picking up spares and we we go through drills each week um where I have them go and you know uh hit the head pin then they have to hit the two pin then they have

To hit the three and so on and so forth and um and just working on picking up the different pins and um that has really really help them uh focus on on you know where to stand how to approach you know different oil conditions and um yeah it’s still like you know wrangling

Cats at times you know um with the different personalities but when they get on the lanes and they’re competing they really are a team and um you know they’re they’re very close-knit and and you know it’s it’s it’s from what you know me and Tim and Lynn can bring to

Them each week during practice you know so um it’s not us but it is them you know taking those little nuggets that we give them and and really putting them into their game so I’m assuming you have a home a home center where you have practices and things like that yeah

We’re lucky enough to have it at Elsie’s which is just down the road too so yeah and Mike and Tim Tuttle um are great great ambassadors for the game so they’re more than happy to have us you know sure that’s great how uh how long do you see yourself continuing to do

That coach high school I will as long as they will have me you know um you know uh or as long as Josh hodney will let me do it he and I he and I are like this at times but he’s a good guy um yeah but uh yeah I mean as long

As they’ll have me you know and and my work are the the company I work for um we do give back days mine’s a give back season for the bowling and and they’re all about it they’re like you do you go and do it you know I always get all my

Stuff done for sales that I need to do contact everyone I need so I have that time to be able to get back so yeah cool you uh you haven’t been able to you know to bowl yourself in a little while um what uh I guess what what’s it going

To take for you to get back on the lanes and uh and how soon do you think you’ll be able to do that well I I think I could bow now okay um but it’s towards the end of the season so I’m just GNA

Kind of Let It Go um but you know I have it’s an old workman’s comp injury that’s turned into degenerative discs and uh um you know eventually I might have to have surgery on it um but um right now I feel really pretty good and I go to see the

Chiropractor a couple times a week and uh I just actually golfed in a little tournament in California that a buddy of mine puts on just eight guys and uh we put eight pieces of KT tape on my back to uh to allow me to be able to do it

And actually that KT Tape is incredible stuff I felt very very like sec here being able to do it so if I did Bowl I’d have to go and do that and I think I could do it right now but I’m just going to wait till next season okay so yeah

Cool well yeah I hope you’re able to you know get back up to the the level You’re Expecting because uh injuries suck no matter what they are and uh you know always good to you know we all love a comeback especially in this sport so

Yeah LL Cool J once said don’t call it a comeback I’ve been here for years right right that’s right that’s right yeah no doubt um all right so you know on this show that we go off the sheet by asking you to challenge somebody else doesn’t have to

Be the greatest bowler in the world but somebody who’s passionate about the sport and has the unique story to tell to be on a future episode so Tom Mitchell who do you want to see uh coming up in the future on bowling with the FF I’m gonna throw a little

Curveball okay at this um I thought about this quite a bit and um I’m challenging uh Mike and Tim Tuttle um as Proprietors of you know LC’s and and split rocks and tuttles and and uh and uh mermaid right yeah sorry about that guys um but and then other

Proprietors or even general managers like Brent predus or even like uh lumpy Dave Langer to come on in and talk about league bowling cuz all of those places whether it’s cedarvale or any of the tuttles places or Langer out at flare has a great great League following

And where a lot of these houses are doing just open bowling all the time um I was worried for a long time that that our era was going to be the last era of leag bowling until I start going to some of these junior tournaments you know whether it’s the the high school

Tournaments or the mjbt that Darren Hansen puts on and you see the amount of kids that show up but if you take a look at that in percentage there’s still we need a lot more coming through the pipeline and um this is a sport that you

Can do your whole life you know and um I don’t want to see that go away so I my my idea is to almost have like a little uh Round Table of how do you do how do you keep successful leagues going you know how do you bring

Those Juniors back into play and get them into the league bowling you know so take that with uh with what you will and hopefully that’s something that uh that can happen you know I love that idea um I you know as it as it turns out I

Actually do have Brent scheduled to be on another show this spring that we’re going to do live from cedarvale um Lisa Wagner challenged him so what are you gonna do yeah right he better show up up on that but yep no no that’s a that’s a fantastic idea and you’re right

I mean league is kind of the lifeblood of bowling as guys like you and I know it’s y you know it’s the competitiveness it’s the you know the purest form of the game what whatever you want to call it but and you’re right you know without a strong Junior program that produces

Adult Bowers what do you have yeah right so right no that would be awesome to do something like that and I think that I think that has the potential to impact the industry as a whole which is something that could be very special um okay so our next show is coming up a

Week from today um if you want to kind of pin your ears back and uh tell me about Jeff Miller because he’s commented a couple times and uh he’s coming on uh Monday February 26th at so uh give us a little preview what do we need to know

About Jeff before he comes on well you know Jeff is a sneaky decent bowler I I the way I like to say it he is he is he is damn good for the you know the disability with his eyes that he has he’s he’s basically blind in one eye um

And it has amazed me over the years how well he does Bowl you know um and uh he like me grew up bowling his his dad bowled and he’d go and watch his dad and and and uh um I bowled with him for many years he’s one of my favorite

Friends in the world um and just a great great guy um but and he’s even shot some 300s so I mean it’s to hear his story you know with the disability that has is is very compelling and and I think it’s going to be a great show to have him on

For sure I had the Good Fortune to uh speak with him over the phone a little bit and uh yeah you can tell that the passion is C is certainly there and that’s always good to see and knowing Jessica a little bit I mean it’s obvious

Where she gets it from so yeah well she gets more of that from her Godfather let’s face it of course of course we’ll just have to convince Jeff that that’s uh that that’s actually what’s going on here but oh I’ve told him that okay and uh yeah we’ll have him on live

Again Monday February 26 7 PM Central right here on the channel Tom it has been a pleasure getting to know you and your bowling story thanks so much for the time and and for making this work better late than never because we were actually scheduled weeks ago but you

Were good enough to move this back uh for the the sake of my my sanity well we got to keep the gals happy right is what I think I told you yeah no it was it was an honor to be on here I look forward to

The merch I’m gonna get myself a hoodie and I will wear it proudly my friend awesome I appreciate that and uh I appreciate everyone joining us tonight a lot of good uh live chatter which is great um if you’re still on please feel free to subscribe and uh and like this

Video if you like what you saw here uh it certainly helps me make content and uh helps you watch Content