The elusive 300: Fred Murawski achieves bowling perfection

Fred Murawski was a multi-sport athlete at Leavenworth High School (Class of 1952). It was a career without many highlights, however.
“I didn’t have any coordination or timing. ... I played basketball — on the bench, most of the time,” Murawski said.
How times have changed. One might even call Murawski a “perfect” athlete.
And for good reason.
Murawski, now 72, achieved perfection — bowling a 300 game — as part of the Commerce Bank senior men’s league on Dec. 19 at Skyway Lanes.
The perfect game was 55 years in the making. Murawski’s previous best was a 278 score and highest series (737) came in 2003.
His average finish last season was 183.
“It was a great feeling,” Murawski said. “I’ve been bowling since I was little, and I never expected this would happen. “I thought I’d be dead before this could happen.”
Murawski, who also plays golf on a regular basis, is a member of the USA Sinkers club in the Commerce Bank league. The Leavenworth native also bowls in Eagles men’s league at Crown Lanes on Thursday nights.
He believes athletics can keep the body, mind and spirit young.
“We all need something when we get older to keep up that will to live,” Murawski said. “Like, when I play golf, I never use a cart. I always walk. If I couldn’t get in the exercise, I wouldn’t do it. You get out there, get to breathing heavy and it provides that physical exercise.
“I’ve been active my entire life.”Murawski’s two sons, Ken and Kevin, also bowl. In fact, Ken has already produced his own 300 game. But this is the father’s time to shine.
News of the perfect game spread so fast that Murawski’s wife, Mary, knew of the 300 score before her husband arrived home from the bowling alley.
“By the time I got home that night, it seemed like everyone in Leavenworth knew about (the perfect game),” Murawski said.
By NEIL FULLER, Times Sports Editor