There's just about no way to keep a good bowler down.

After nearly a five-year hiatus, Ron Dewey is ready to hit the lanes again.

Dewey recently retired from 25 years of working at the Plainville Turkey Farm and with the time that has opened up in his life, he is ready to get back to his passion.

“I wasn't able to bowl when I was working,” Dewey said. “I'd throw my back out and then I couldn't work, but now I'm retired and looking forward to getting back into bowling.”

Dewey said he started in the junior leagues in Jordan when he was 10.

Dewey's parents were also avid bowlers that helped pass along the game to their son. But it wasn't until high school when he began to take an active interest in the sport.

“This was 1955 or '56,” Dewey said. “But there were four bowling alleys in the school and that got my interest. When I was a junior and senior, I'd work setting pins there and that really got me started.”

As a young bowler, Dewey tried some unique things.

“I bowled 72 games in a row,” Dewey said. “I was 19 then. I bowled for 11 hours. I was jumping from alley to alley, trying to beat 215. My thumb was all torn up and I was exhausted, but I averaged 217 over 72 games.”

At 18, Dewey made the jump from the juniors up to the men's leagues, bowling in Baldwinsville for a number of years before moving over to his home lane - Rainbow Lanes.

“Rainbow wasn't there at the time,” Dewey said. “But I've been bowling there pretty much ever since they opened.”

At Rainbow, along with the 72 games in a row, Dewey racked up some of his proudest accomplishments.

“I got one 300 game,” Dewey said. “And I got two 800s. It was 1986 or '87. I threw 28 strikes in a row in league play to get one of the 800s - that was where I threw the 300 too. We looked it up in the book of world records and at the time the record was 29 and I had 28.”

In 1992, at age 50, Dewey was inducted in the Auburn Bowling Hall of Fame, an achievement he believes is a true honor.

“That was the first year I was eligible,” Dewey said. “And I made it in there my first year.”

Dewey was also a part of The Citizen Masters over the years; where he earned a fourth-place finish from the loser's bracket, going on to win 10 in a row.

Taking the break from the game, Dewey still stayed interested in the sport. He always watched his family bowl, including stepdaughter Michelle Crowley and her husband Michael and his other daughter, Lorrie Bradtke, who recently bowled a 700 series in The Citizen Masters.

“It is in the family,” Dewey said. “They are all really great bowlers.”

Since it's the middle of the season, Dewey will be jumping into the senior league at Rainbow Lanes, but is looking forward to getting back to regular league play next year.

“I just love the game,” Dewey said. “I like my friends and family. I enjoy being with all these people and having a lot of fun playing this game.”