By Rubin E. Grant
Bowling wasn’t on Michael Kimble’s radar a few years ago. He wanted to play basketball at Spain Park, but when the Jaguars held tryouts during the spring of Kimble’s eighth grade year at Berry Middle School, he didn’t make the cut.
His friend Luke Eaton suggested Kimble try bowling, something Kimble had never done. So, he joined the Jags’ middle school bowling team.
The initial results were predictable.
“I wasn’t that good,” Kimble said.
That’s when Kimble’s dad stepped in. With students at home and learning virtually in the spring of 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kimble’s dad took him to Oak Mountain Lanes, one of the few things open for business, almost daily to teach his son the fundamentals.
Kimble didn’t only learn the fundamentals, he became strikingly good. Spain Park volunteer bowling coach Lillian Singleton took notice.
“Coach Singleton said, ‘What happened to him? You’ve got a darn bowler,’ and she just walked off,” Kimble’s mother, Sandy Kimble, said with a laugh.
“We were just coming up to Spain Park for ninth grade tryouts and he had changed so dramatically,” Sandy Kimble added.
Since then, Michael Kimble has developed into one of the top high school bowlers in the state. In 2022, he helped Spain Park win the Class 6A-7A state championship and in February he helped the Jags to a runner-up finish to Sparkman.
Kimble recently was selected the Alabama High School Athletic Association 2023 Boys Bowler of the Year by AHSAA bowling coaches.
“It was a surprise,” Kimble said upon learning he had been chosen. “I feel proud, but I feel it’s a team award as well as an individual award.”
Kimble, a junior, finished second to teammate Ethan Lee with 606 pins over three games at the Class 6A-7A state bowling tournament in February. Lee, a senior, had 615 pins.
For the season, Kimble had the highest scoring average on the Jags’ team with a 211 total.
Spain Park coach Stephen Hobbs raves about Kimble’s development.
“No. 1, he loves the sport of bowling,” Hobbs said. “He lives, eats and breathes it. He works hard every day. He wants to continually get better.
“He throws plenty of strikes, but what he does best is he constantly makes spares. It’s rare when he leaves an open frame. He has a very high conversion rate.”
All-State Teams
The AHSAA bowling coaches selected All-State teams for the first time since the sport was restarted in 2015-16 after being discontinued for 37 years. The coaches selected eight top bowlers for the first and second team All-State squads.
Kimble, Eaton and Lee, who has signed with Spring Hill College in Mobile, were selected first team, and teammates Liam Hilson and Luke Mitchell were selected second team.
Vestavia Hills’ Michael Brewer also was selected first team and his Rebels’ teammate Chandler Long was chosen second team.
Oak Mountain’s Emma Hawkins was named to the girls first team All-State squad and her teammate Grace Smith was named second team.
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