A twinge of fate: injury forced Scott Devers to put a successful career on the shelf, but he's found another calling at the lanes - Arrowhead - Then & Now: Scott Devers - Statistical Data Included

Bowling Digest, Feb, 2002 by Dick Denny

BEFORE THE START OF THE PBA Miller High Life Open at Woodland Bowl in Indianapolis last fall, several of the tour's top players drove to Lafayette, Ind., to participate in the fifth annual Meet the Pros event at Mike Aulby's Arrowhead Bowl.

"I'm very fortunate these guys go out of their way to make the night so special," says Aulby, who took over the 32-lane Arrowhead Bowl in 1997 along with partners Don Mitchell, Jesse Sims, and former PBA tour regular Scott Devers. "I can't think of any other place in the country that does something like this, to have so many outstanding players give their time to bowl with amateur players and local celebrities before they are scheduled to compete in a tour stop."

Joining Aulby on the lanes were Pete Weber, Parker Bohn III, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Jason Couch, Chris Barnes, Bob Learn Jr., Mika Koivuniemi, and Ryan Shafer. The players signed autographs, answered questions from the crowd, and donated memorabilia for a silent auction, which helped raise $1,400 that went to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund for victims of the September 11 attacks.

No one had a better time than Devers. Arrowhead's general manager. "This event is like a small reunion for me," says the four-time PBA titlist, who was forced to leave the tour at the end of 1994 because of severe leg pain. The pain resulted from a herniated disc in his lower back that went undetected for six years before Devers had surgery in 1994. "The guys ask how I'm doing and when I'm going to come back out."

The answer to the first question is fine, because Devers is working for two men, Mitchell and Aulby, for whom he has great respect. Mitchell is the retired general manager of Royal Pin Leisure Centers in Indianapolis (of which Woodland Bowl is a part) who sponsored Aulby on the PBA tour in his rookie year of 1979. Aulby, of course, has gone on to superstar status while continuing a close relationship with Mitchell.

"When I went back home to Indiana after retiring from the tour, I managed the Richmond 40 Bowl," says Devers, who started there in 1995. "The whole deal was I was going to eventually purchase the center, but Don Mitchell heard that Arrowhead Bowl was available. He and Mike made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

"I feel everything happens for a reason, and I feel very fortunate to be general manager and part owner of Arrowhead Bowl. I look up to Don and Mike, and to be chosen by them for my position is an honor. They weren't going to buy the center unless one of two people Don had in mind to join them said yes. He has always said I was the catalyst for the purchase."

There will be no return to tour duty for Devers, who turned 40 on January 31. Since moving to Lafayette, he only bowls in the Indiana state tournament.

"I shot a 300 game in the state tournament a couple of years ago, but other than that tournament, I don't bowl at all," Devers says with a touch of sadness. "Do I miss it? Yes. I miss the competition, but I don't miss being away from home."

In a 13-year pro career, the Centerville, Ind., native competed in 253 tour events, made 21 TV appearances, won four titles (at Tucson and Rochester, N.Y., in 1987; at Austin, Texas, in 1988; and at El Paso in 1990), earned $449,149 (with a one-year high of $94,268 in 1987), and averaged 210.71.

Devers isn't one to play the what-might-have-been game, but the thought has crossed his mind. "I never won 20 titles, but I think I could have won more if I had stayed healthy," he says. "Before I got injured, Walter Ray Williams Jr. came to me and said, `I realize most people don't think much of your game, but you are good.' And Parker Bohn III made the comment to several people that he admired my game."

That game began to take shape at Do-Ri-Me Lanes just outside Centerville, which is five miles west of Richmond. Devers' parents were league bowlers, and they placed their son in a youth league at age eight. "I would bowl every Saturday morning, then hurry home to watch the PBA tour on TV," Devers says, smiling. "I would dream one day that I'd be out there."

George Downing, who bought out his two partners in Do-Ri-Me, died in the fall of 1978. A month later Devers went to work for Mike Downing, George's son, at the center. "It's kinda crazy, but on January 20, 1979, just a month after going to work at Do-Ri-Me, I shot my first 300 game," Devers says. "I had no idea what I was doing, but bowling had become my passion. In the next two years, my average jumped from 140 to 201. I practiced and practiced, and I loved every minute of it."

In 1982, at age 20, Devers got his first PBA card and bowled in his first tour stop, at Woodland Bowl in Indianapolis. "The only thing I remember about that tournament was I tied Dave Husted for 53rd place and the last paycheck," Devers says. "I thought there were good things to come. But I quickly realized I wasn't as good as I thought I was."

For the next two years, Devers bowled on a part-time basis, competing in 16 events throughout the Midwest. He would drive home and go to work the next day at Do-Ri-Me if he didn't qualify out of the rabbit squad. "I failed to cash in all 16 events and I was depressed," Devers recalls. "But I didn't give up."