BOWLING / DANA HADDAD : Gurney Finds Perseverance Pays

Hunched over and groaning in pain Monday inside a Missouri motel, Barry Gurney begged his wife to pack up and take him home. “I can barely walk,” Gurney said. “How can I possibly bowl in a tournament?”

His request was denied. Two days later, Gurney was in the championship game of the $65,000 Springfield (Mo.) Senior Open.

The West Hills resident shrugged his shoulders trying to explain the 48-hour ordeal. Just another week on the PBA Senior Tour.

Nearly 30 hours of driving through deserted countryside, six hours of tossing and turning at a rest stop. A twisted back, a 300 game, a $3,000 paycheck.

Gurney sat in the No. 1 spot throughout the qualifying. But bowling for the championship Wednesday, Gurney faltered and lost to Darrel Curtis of Kent, Wash., 218-195, in the final.

Join the Senior Tour. Ride the roller coaster.

Gurney, 52, a former heavy-equipment operator for the city of Glendale, hopped on board the roller coaster last year and won $13,350. A decent year’s pay for a rookie.

But this year, Gurney, who sponsors himself, was about $4,500 in debt when he and his wife/coach Joan loaded their van and headed for the Midwest. And during the long drive, in which they stopped only once to sleep, Gurney wrenched his lower back.

When qualifying blocks started Monday, the pain and stiffness had gotten worse. But when her husband suggested withdrawing, Joan was adamant. She gave Barry two anti-inflammatory pills and told him to bowl.

“The first five frames, I was grimacing in pain,” Gurney said. But when the pain reliever took hold, his fortunes changed dramatically. Having survived his painful opening game, Gurney rolled a perfect 300 in the next and raced off with the top qualifying spot.

Gurney averaged 229.76 through 42 games and finished qualifying with a 327-pin lead. But awaiting his turn to play for the title while four others battled for the chance to face him, Gurney was bothered by nerves. He led most of the title match but left the 7-pin standing five times and couldn’t topple the 6-pin in his final frame--opening the door for Curtis.

But Gurney, who said he was beginning to doubt his ability, was recharged after the PBA gave him a ring for his 300 game and fellow player Robby Robinson, 72, of Burbank, helped him correct a defect in his delivery.

Ironically, Joan had been pointing out the same flaw for weeks. But Gurney had ignored his companion’s urgings.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Gurney, “until Robby told me.”

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Tish and Romeo: Tish Johnson and Robin Romeo, top players on the Ladies Professional Bowling Tour, will come home Aug. 28-29 to play in the Mission Hills Open, a regional event to be hosted by Mission Hills Bowl.

Johnson of Panorama City, the LPBT player of the year in 1992, and Romeo of Van Nuys, player of the year in 1989, will join fellow LPBT mainstays Dede Davidson of San Jose, Stacy Rider of La Habra and Paula Vidad of Rancho Cucamonga. Wendy MacPherson of Las Vegas, winner of the 1993 Tournament of Champions, has also entered.