Dunbar’s absence will be excused

Carmen Dunbar will miss her regular bowling in the Classic Knights and Ladies League at Lakewood Bowl at 4 p. m. Sunday. With good reason.

She reached the women’s finals of the 56th Beat the Champions. The finals, at Bluebird Lanes in Chicago, begin at noon Sunday.

“Everyone said, ‘ Don’t worry about it; just wait until you win that $ 500,’ ’’ Dunbar said.

That would be the $ 500 the champion earns for the prize fund of her league if it has 100 percent entry in BTC. Classic Knights and Ladies is a 100 percent league, as are all but one of the 32 leagues of the finalists.

The top prize for the champion — all finalists take home a prize — is $ 7,500.

“This is my first tourney as an adult,’’ said Dunbar, 34, an IT specialist/ medical assistant from Richton Park. “The first tournament since high school [ at Rich South]. I have been bowling since I was 9.’’

She already visited Bluebird one time to acquaint herself with the lanes. “They are different than Lakewood; I will have to adjust,’’ Dunbar said.

There is another adjustment in the finals. Unlike the three games of the sectionals, bowlers roll four games, jumping a pair of lanes after each game.

“Everybody just told me to be me and bowl like I normally do,’’ said Dunbar, who carries a 179 average and will have 111 pins of handicap. “Don’t be nervous.’’

In the handicapped charity tournament put on by the Chicagoland Bowling Proprietors Association, with the SunTimes as the media sponsor, bowlers averaging below 210 receive 90 percent of the difference as handicap. The important number is the more than $ 2.8 million raised for charity by bowlers in BTC.

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