Julian Dullinger bowls 16th perfect game
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When it comes to bowling a perfect game, Julian Dullinger reigns supreme. As a young boy, Julian grew up in a bowling alley, just like his father Gary did. Now, at the age of 26, Julian has bowled not only one perfect 300 game, but 16.
“He’s continually knocking ‘em out,” Gary said. “He gets a lot of respect from people around here.”
“I enjoy the high games,” Julian said. “This has been my dream, and my job has always been around bowling.”
When Julian is bowling, he says it can be stressful if he’s on track to bowl a perfect game.
“Up to the last frame can be nerve wracking,” Julian said. “Once you get it, it feels great that you got it. Even though I’ve bowled several 300s, it’s never the same.”
Julian currently lives and works in Missoula, where he spends his days working at Westside Lanes. Once a week, Julian dives up from Missoula to Ronan to bowl in the Sunday Mixed League, where he and his mother Sherry are part of the Ronan Radical team with Don and Nancy Smith.
But that’s not the only reason he makes the two-hour round trip.
Since her diagnosis in 1999, Sherry has been battling muscular dystrophy, a group of inherited disorders that involve muscle weakness and loss of muscle tissue, which get worse over time. In 2000, Sherry lost 40 pounds of muscle, and her weight dropped to 75 pounds. Until last year, Sherry was bowling on Thursday and Sunday evenings, but now she only bowls on Sunday.
“One of the main reasons I still come up here is to help my mom bowl,” Julian said.
“It’s the highlight of her week,” Gary smiled.
“It means a lot to me,” Sherry agreed. “If not for him, I wouldn’t be bowling.”
Each time Sherry is up to bowl, Julian helps his mother approach the lane and guides her stance prior to releasing the ball.
“This will probably be her last year,” father Gary said. “I used to bowl, but I have a bad back. When (Julian) can’t help his mother, I help her balance.”
In the past five years, the Ronan Radicals have won three championships, and are the current defending champions after taking first overall last year.
The Dullingers began bowling in leagues in Portland, Ore., before moving to the Mission Valley in 1998.
Each year, Lucky Strike Lanes holds an awards banquet where everyone who bowls a 300 gets a cash prize.
“Julian gets ‘em every year,” Gary said. “We’re just fortunate to have the time and money to pay for him to play.”
According to Gary, he used to collect soda cans to pay for his son’s bowling.
The Dullingers are striving to keep bowling in the family, as Julian’s sister Chelsea Adams and niece, 9-year-old Melanie Adams, are also involved with the sport.
“Melanie is averaging an 80,” Gary said. “We’re gonna keep bowling in the family.”
For now, Julian plans to remain an amateur and bowl in his leisure time, rather than go professional and leave his family and Western Montana.
“He’s very admirable - a special kid,” Gary said. “He wants to go professional, but he wants to stay and help his mom bowl.”
