CLARE — On Dec. 6 Gateway Lanes & Lounge in Clare, the home of the Clare Pioneers bowling team, burned down. The Pioneers have needed a place to practice and hold their home matches, which is now Snowbird Lanes in Harrison. The head coach of the bowling team, Kelli Dingo has said that the team wasn’t concerned with their equipment or the alley itself when it burned down, but rather the alley’s owners, the Gross family.
“The Grosses had just recently got it back, and Jacob Gross was working like nobody’s business trying to get it back up. So, he was there all the time late into the evening, early morning, that was honestly their first question to me was, was Jacob there?” Said Coach Dingo.
One senior on the team, Colton Kleinhardt was close to the alley when it burned down.
“It was crazy. I was sitting outside of Walgreens, um, at the sidewalk, and I could feel the heat, man.”
When people heard about the alley catching on fire, they reached out to support the Pioneers bowling team from all over.
“The bowling community is like we’re not like a sport, We’re like a huge family. Just I mean, Missouri, Wisconsin, reached out to us. The UP, everybody. I mean, it was just it was absolutely crazy. Bowling pro shops and coaches that I have no idea who they are or even where their schools were until they reached out to me.” Coach Kelli Dingo Said.
The pro shop owner at Gladwin drilled balls for the team for free, and the owner of the Harrison alleys, gave the team new and boxed balls for free.
For fellow senior Ethan McKinney, he was able to get even more than he could’ve asked for from the supporting communities.
“We have had several bowling balls, bowling bags, various, bowling equipment just donated to us, and we’re all very thankful and grateful. I’ve gotten basically, everything I’ve lost, I’ve gotten replaced, some better, some just as good.” Said McKinney.
The team has aspiration of bringing a trophy back home to Clare, and say that, “We’re gonna do everything we can to win it.”
