Tuesday, April 30, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
As a little girl, Aleta Sill would accompany her grandparents on league bowling outings so she could roll a few frames afterward. By age 5 she took up the game for good; at 17 she turned pro.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Last week, Sill was inducted into the Women's International Bowling Congress Hall of Fame. She has captured 26 career titles, set numerous records and is the all-time leading money winner on the Sam's Town Ladies Professional Bowling Tour.
All at age 33.
Sill is in Las Vegas to compete with partner Jodi Woessner in the $80,000 Storm Doubles through Wednesday at the Sam's Town Bowling Center. The duo made Monday's cut with a total pinfall of 7,609 through 18 games, good for a score of +409. Sill and Woessner stand in 10th place behind leaders Leanne Barrette and Cathy Dorin.
Now in her 16th year as a touring professional, Sill, who makes her home in Dearborn, Mich., said she still has vivid memories of her initial forays into bowling.
"I threw gutter balls and gutter balls and gutter balls," she said. "My granddad finally said 'I'm not paying for gutter balls; you're going to have to start keeping the ball on the lane.' He started giving me incentives like my own ball if I bowled a certain amount. Then it was a pair of shoes, and so on.
"My grandparents were my biggest supporters, but they never pushed me. They let me do it at my own pace."
By age 14, Sill started to concentrate on bowling. She won her first title five years later, and became the first woman bowler to win more than $120,000 in a single season ($126,325) in 1994.
But despite her success, her hall of fame election came as a surprise.
"I dreamed about it, but I figured it would be a long way off," she said. "I thought I was too young. That made it all the more prestigious for me -- to get in at such a young age."
During her tenure on tour, Sill has seen the LPBT grow, albeit slowly.
"It's grown some, but I don't feel it's where it should be," she said. "Getting Sam's Town as the sponsor has really helped us a lot. If we didn't get Sam's Town as our umbrella sponsor I'm not sure what shape our tour would be in right now.
"We need to get corporate America involved in bowling, especially in our end of it. We should be sharing in a little piece of the pie. Golf, for example, is basically a white-collar sport. A lot of business deals are made on the golf course. Even though we're trying to change our image in bowling, we still haven't gotten that same kind of image yet."
Sill annually bowls in every LPBT event, meaning she spends a little less than half the year away from home. She said life on the road can be fun at first, but the travel becomes a burden.
"I know the younger players like to be out on the road, but after doing this for 16 years it gets old being gone all the time," she said. "I do it because I love bowling, and I love to compete, but it is a job.
"That's basically how I look at it now. If I could stay at home every week and still do this, then it would be really great. I love to bowl and I make a decent living at it, so I'll keep doing it until I feel I can't win anymore."
During the tour's winter schedule Sill reached the championship round twice, finishing fifth at the Lubbock Open and earning a fourth-place check at the South Texas Open. While her performance to date in 1996 might be good enough for some, it's not quite up to Sill's lofty standards.
"So far the year's been fair," she said. "It could be worse, but it could be a lot better as well. I've kind of hit a plateau right now.
"You have to know in your mind that you just have to tough it out. Sometimes it's hard because you lose confidence. I'm the type of person normally who could have her confidence destroyed in a week, but I've learned over the years how to bounce back."
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