For many, May is the end of a long, nine-month league season. For one person, it is the end of a 30-year love affair.
Since 1974, G.G. Wright (left) has been the secretary of the Fort Hood Officers’ Mixed League. During that time, she has watched the league grow steadily and also saw the difficulty associated with being part of a military community and watching your friends and neighbors go off to war.
“We know that’s part of our life and we deal with it in many different ways,” she said. “But, I was an Army wife for 23 years, and I know the friendships made through bowling and the companionship offered by the league members is very comforting.”
G.G. became secretary of the league when the former secretary, Lou Edmonds, an Army Major at the time, was transferred to the Pentagon.
“We still send Christmas cards,” she said. “We were a small league at the time and other than my husband Don, only three of the original members are still part of the league.” Earl and Betty Trabue, both 79, and Bill Wood, 88, original members, still compete.
“Every year, for many years, we had a baby born to a league member. We had marriages, promotions, graduations, and deployments,” she said.
The leanest time for the league was during the deployment for the first Gulf war when the league lost more than half of its membership.
“We started the season with 18 teams, and overnight we were down to eight. But, we kept the league together throughout the year and maintained a close relationship with the spouses of those deployed.”
Historically, the Fort Hood Officers' Mixed League has been a mix of retired and active duty bowlers. The retirees outnumbered the active duty, but recently that has changed, too.
“The 2003-2004 season started out with about a 50-50 mix,” she said. “Unfortunately, many of the soldiers had to drop out, and we lost two complete teams. When you’re the home to both the 4th Infantry Division and the 1st Cavalry Division, you have to expect that soldiers will move on a moment's notice.”
“Over the years, my league has been fortunate to have new bowlers. People who had never before bowled but heard about the league through friends decided to try. I encouraged them to compete in local tournaments and some have, in fact, won first place money and trophies. Many now even compete in state events.
“One of the things I am particularly proud of is our end of the year awards banquet. We have had an awards banquet each year for 30 years, and it’s a thrill to see the faces of some of the bowlers who were unaware they had earned an award. Many leagues present their awards during bowling and have a league payoff usually at the bowling center. I never liked that. Half of the time you can’t understand what is being said when the award is announced and there is no formality to it. Having an awards banquet brings attention to the recipient and more meaning to the award.”
The league is unique in another way. Currently, there is one bowling center on Fort Hood, a 48-lane, smoke-free facility known as Phantom Warrior Lanes, which replaced two other bowling centers, Bowlers Green and Albee Lanes. The Fort Hood Officers’ Mixed league bowled in all three of the Fort Hood centers. The league originally began at Bowlers Green and moved to Albee Lanes after it opened.
“I guess people just wanted to bowl at the new center,” she said. However, after bowling at Albee for a few years, the league decided they wanted to go back to Bowlers Green where they remained until those facilities were turned into office space and a new center was built.
In 2002, G.G. knew that something was wrong. For more than a year, she sought help from her family physician to no avail.
“I was beginning to think he thought I was a hypochondriac or some woman that needed attention,” she said. But in reality, she was very close to death.
G.G. had always been an athlete. A world-class swimmer in her home country of Germany and an avid bowler, aerobics and walking and jogging were all part of her routine. Now she was losing weight, strength, and ambition. Doctor’s informed us they had found a mass in the right side of her head and determined it was a tumor attached to the brain.
Surgery took nearly six hours and the doctor was not optimistic.
Release from the hospital simply meant the road to recover was just beginning. Her oncologist informed her that chemotherapy did nothing for this cancer and scheduled her for six weeks of daily radiation treatments. After six weeks of radiation, loss of her hair and no guarantees came another MRI. It was then she was told there was no evidence of the tumor. After a lot of tears, the doctor said, “Now you can go bowling.”
In December, G.G. entered a local tournament and captured first place in the team event and tied for first place in All-Events, earning the nickname “The Comeback Kid.”
In May, she bowled in her 25th WIBC Nationals at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada.
“During that time, my league was so supportive, and between Don and me, we kept things running as usual. But I realize it is time to slow down and turn the league over to a younger person and retire.
“I’ll continue to bowl on this league as long as I can. The love affair has always been the people, not the duties.”