Darren Campbell
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 10/99) - When George Lund was growing up in Charlottetown, P.E.I., he never pictured himself managing a bowling alley for a living.

"I probably felt I would be a policeman or something like that," says the affable Maritimer. "I guess as a teenager I didn't have any solid goals. I more or less drifted along."

However, being an avid bowler since the age of 11 (he is now 48), Lund eventually drifted into doing exactly that. He has been manager and part-owner of the Polar Bowl Lanes and Pub in Yellowknife since 1986. And with his involvement in the sport as a player, coach, league organizer and fund-raiser, Lund is as synonymous with Yellowknife bowling as the Statue of Liberty is to New York City.

When Lund arrived in Yellowknife from Edmonton in April of 1986, it marked the second time he had lived in the NWT's capital. The first time came in 1977 but the stay was not long -- Lund hung around for six months before heading to Edmonton.

Was it a job that made Lund come to Yellowknife like so many other people from his part of Canada? No, he had a good job working at the county jail in Charlottetown, but he was just wrapping up a divorce so he decided to head west for a fresh start -- not that he knew what he would do when he arrived.

"At the time I had no idea what I wanted to do. I guess I just wanted to put bad memories behind me and come up here," says Lund.

He had family support in Yellowknife. Two sisters, Sandy Penkala and Karen White, were already living in the city. But even that family support didn't keep Lund in the city.

"Trying to find a place was god-awful," Lund recalls. "It was a totally different experience for me. I came up in September or October and winter was setting in. I had never experienced cold like that. The place was just so small. They didn't even have live TV."

Lund decided to head down to Edmonton after six months to capitalize on the boom that was happening in Alberta's capital. He would work as a cab driver first before settling in as the maintenance man at the Bronx Bowling Lanes in northwest Edmonton.

He says he enjoyed his time driving a cab in Edmonton. While the boom rolled along in Alberta there was good money to be made. The job allowed him to meet all kinds of interesting and famous people as well. During his cabbie days, he chauffeured the likes of Boston Bruins legend Bobby Orr and singer Harry Belafonte in his cab.

But as the number of cabs increased and the boom died down, Lund would change jobs and work at the Bronx Bowling Lanes. He may not have gotten rich driving his cab but he remembers those days fondly.

"If nothing else I got to know the city well, got to meet some interesting people and see some interesting things," says Lund.

Working at the Bronx Lanes was a natural fit for Lund, as he was spending plenty of time there. But one day in 1986, he got an offer he couldn't refuse -- to become the new manager of the Polar Bowl Lanes in Yellowknife. Lund had worked and played in many a bowling alley but he had never managed one before. However, he jumped at the chance to try something new.

"I didn't have a background in it but it was just a great opportunity for me," says Lund. "I had reached a point in my life where I had an opportunity, I figured I better do something with it."

Having remarried to his current wife Janet, Lund packed up for stay number two in Yellowknife and has been here ever since. Lund says he enjoys his job and the fact the other owners were patient with him in his early days as he got his feet wet in the managing game.

While Lund may have been a novice at managing a bowling alley, he had no problem hanging around the place. He had been around bowling lanes and played in them all his life. He was interested in other sports, particularly boxing. He even represented P.E.I. at the 1971 Canada Winter Games in Saskatoon as a boxer and boxed professionally for a time as a light-heavyweight.

However, he says bowling was always his sport of choice.

"I've been around it since I was 11 years old. I've just always loved it," says Lund. "There's no judges. It's strictly what you do on the lanes."

Not surprisingly, Lund's love of the game also extends to the people who play it. A working-class man himself, the Maritimer says he enjoys his time with bowlers - - a good thing considering he can spend up to 70 hours at the Polar Bowl.

"Most bowlers are working class, blue-collar, down-to-earth people struggling from paycheque to paycheque,' says Lund. "Every walk of life bowls and 98 per cent of them are awfully nice people. Of course, you do get some turkeys."

None of those turkeys seems to come from the younger crowd that Lund has helped introduce to the game. Always a fine bowler himself (he bowled the first perfect game in NWT history in 1988), Lund has drifted further away from playing competitive bowling himself. Instead, he has become more involved in the youth bowling program in Yellowknife, something he has done for 13 years now.

With the youth program, Lund gets to be coach, league organizer and chief fund-raiser. But the work does not bother Lund, who says the kids appreciate his efforts.

"Running the youth program is definitely the best part of the job. The rewards you get from teaching the kids are awfully good," says Lund. "If I'm here (at the lanes) they're the first ones running to tell me if they've bowled a good game or a score. Over the 13 years, I've had so many kids and they've all been good. It's been a pleasure."

And just how long will Yellowknife's "Mr. Bowling" man his post at the Polar Bowl? Not forever. Lund says he plans to retire in seven years. Although he does admit he feels the odd tug of home, he says there is a 50/50 chance he will stay in Yellowknife when he collects his last Polar Bowl paycheque.

"Yellowknife's been good to me. I've been offered a few jobs down south but I haven't taken them. I've made friends here. It's become home," says Lund.