Stayrook Rides Luck Into Bowling Finals

Bowler Jess Stayrook has no qualms about Friday the 13th.

“It’s my lucky date, in fact my luckiest,” he said after a day of good fortune in the AC-Delco PBA tournament at Cal Bowl in Lakewood. “I was born on Friday the 13th-- Friday, April 13, 1959, to be exact.”

Starting the final 16 games of the match play semifinals Friday with a 279 game, the left-hander from Tempe, Ariz., shot to the front and stayed there.

His 42-game total of 9,716 earned him the No. 1 seed in today’s finals, beginning at noon.

Joining Stayrook, 32, in the showdown for the $45,000 first prize will be right-handers Bob Learn Jr. of Erie, Pa. (9,654 total); Dave Arnold of Gilbert, Ariz. (9,599); David Ozio of Vidor, Tex. (9,553), and Parker Bohn III of Jackson, N.J. (9,520).

The championship roll could turn out to be a family feud. Stayrook and Arnold are brothers-in-law.

All the finalists have won PBA titles, Ozio being the most successful on the national pro tour with nine victories.

Stayrook, who moved to Tempe from San Diego not long ago, has two PBA titles. He took up bowling at 13 under the wing of his father, Max. The elder Stayrook was named to the 1994 Southern California senior all-star team.