By Mark Travaglini ’69
A convivial cluster of Northland alumni and friends converged on Baltimore’s venerable Patterson Bowling Center on Saturday, September 12, with ducks in mind. Duck hunting season had yet to begin in Maryland, but duckpin bowling is on the card year-round. For the uninitiated, duckpins are a smaller version of tenpins; and you roll three balls per frame, not just two. There are other differences, but we’ll leave that to the experts out there to explain. You know who you are.
This, the LumberJack and Jill Duckpin Bowling Night, was the Mid-Atlantic Club of Northland College’s (aka MACNC) latest event in an occasional series of gatherings over the past few decades. And the first foray into the world of “kegling.” Look it up; those who studied bowling at Northland already know. Teams were loosely composed of Northlanders whose graduating classes spanned the administrations of Northland presidents from Richard Bailey (late 1960s) through our current one, Mike Miller. Eight in all!
Prizes—a potpourri of Northland shirts, trinkets, and recordings by Northland alum and “Prairie Home Companion” celebrity Pop Wagner—were awarded for Best Team Score and Best Individual Score.
Team McKinley captured the former; and Eric Geiger, who was a guest of alumna Erin McKinley ’10, earned the latter. In the interest of modesty, and to avoid snarky name calling, the actual scores shall not be revealed. Especially those of Team Travaglini.
Some snappy new MACNC t-shirts were sold. And a table full of munchies were consumed, helped along with appropriately representative malt beverages—Leinenkugel’s Original imported from Wisconsin; and the very emblem (some say the Mother’s Milk) of the Chesapeake Bay area, National Bohemian.
The featured topic on this event’s agenda was the announcement of a scholarship fund. This fund, named for Mid-Atlantic alumna Linda Zurflieh ’70, is intended for Northland students from our region and thereby assist the College in their efforts to recruit more from the region.
With the announcement came the presentation of a ceremonial check in the amount of $3,000. Newly named Northland Trustee Ann Hartman Maier ’81 accepted the check on behalf of the College. Thus the initial step in attaining our goal of $25,000, the amount necessary to make the fund a permanent, endowed scholarship. Those of you who read this are encouraged to lend a hand and contribute to the effort—especially those who knew the indefatigable and effervescent late alumna.