Super Senior: Rita Brooks

RUTLAND, Vt. (WCAX) - Rita Brooks and Dave Ballou are regulars at the Bowlerama in Rutland.

“It’s getting pretty heavy,” Brooks says as she picks up a bowling ball from the locker. “I think it gains weight while it sits in here.”

The two play a few times a week. It’s mostly for fun, but not without a healthy dose of competition.

Reporter Joe Carroll: You’re a better bowler than Dave, I guess, is that accurate?

Rita Brooks: Oh yeah.

“You’re hot today,” Ballou said following a few frames.

The two of them have been an item after both lost their spouses. At first, though, Brooks wasn’t bowled over by Ballou when he tried to strike up a conversation. “I thought he was a pain in the butt,” Brooks said.

Reporter Joe Carroll: Did you think you were a pain in the keister?

Dave Ballou: Everybody tells me that.

Reporter Joe Carroll: What changed?

Rita Brooks: Oh he was just so insistent. He kept hounding me, bringing me chocolate chip cookies.

A sweet gesture. But when it comes to bowling, Brooks doesn’t spare her feelings. “I enjoy it, and I enjoy it more if I beat him,” she said.

“Oh yes, I hear her all the time,” Ballou said. “It gets awfully quiet in the car if I win.”

Last December, Brooks competed against the ladies at the lanes in the Vermont State Seniors Women’s Championship. “I won it for the Super Senior -- 75 years and older,” Brooks said. “I was 89 then, and I still am.”

With the win, Brooks earned a trip to the USBC Senior Championships in Ohio. When she competes in July, she’ll be 90. Ballou will be joining her, but not as her coach. “If he told me to do something, I’d probably do the opposite,” she said.

Brooks has a bowling average of 142. But on this day the pins aren’t falling as much. She wins the first two games but Ballou wins the third. “He’s determined to win one game,” she said.

It’s all good-natured ribbing, far from gutter talk. “Oh it’s been fun,” Brooks said.”

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