BIRTHDATE / PLACE: July 1, 1972 in Detroit, Michigan

CITY OF RESIDENCE: Waldorf, Maryland

SOCIAL STATUS: Single – and accepting applications!

EDUCATION: 1995 graduate of Western Michigan University with a dual major of organizational communications and Black Americana studies. I also have several hours towards my masters in elementary education.

CURRENT JOB: Educator slash ball technician at World Class Pro Shop at Capital Plaza.. I’ve always been a teacher. This past year, I stepped away [from teaching fourth and sixth graders at Morningside Elementary] to get more involved in my bowling and to take it professionally. Even though I’m not necessarily in a classroom, I still look at myself as a teacher. It’s always going to be in my blood, and the possibility of returning to teaching always will exist. But because I work with the kids on Saturday mornings [at Capital Plaza] and I work here, and it’s always a constant education, part of that need I have to be a teacher or an educator is kind of fulfilled.

EARLIEST BOWLING MEMORY: Picking up the 4-7-10 split at age 9. I was mad and I didn’t see it.

CURRENT LEAGUES: Saturday Night Ramblers and Sunday Morning Rollers at Clinton and the Jackpot Trios at Shirley.

MOST RECENT BOWLING ACCOMPLISHMENT: Finishing 50th and missing cashing by just four spots in my first PBA regional tournament in Baltimore.

HIGH GAME/SERIES: Seven sanctioned 300s and an 824.

BEST TOURNAMENT FINISH: Placed second last year in the Ed Woodbury Memorial at Crofton.

BEST PART OF MY GAME: The fact that I’m still willing to learn. I don’t know it all.

WORST PART OF MY GAME: My spare shooting. Even though I think I’m a pretty decent spare shooter, that’s the weakest part of my game.

GREATEST BOWLING MOMENT: When I stopped throwing a full roller. Since I’ve done that, my game has escalated, and I’m able to play areas of the lane I couldn’t before and do things with the ball that I couldn’t before. Consequently, my scores and my average are much higher than ever before.

WORST OR MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT: Missing a 4-pin in the tenth frame as an anchorman to cause my team to lose a league in college.

BEST TACTIC I USE TO HANDLE PRESSURE:  It’s monitoring my breathing and making sure that I’m always concentrating on whatever it is I need to do. Try not to get distracted and get a deep breath.

ALL-TIME FAVORITE BOWLER: Norm Duke. He’s the first pro I ever met in a pro-am. I like his game, his versatility. He’s able to play any shot.

PROS I ENJOY WATCHING ON TV: Norm Duke and I also enjoy watching Pete [Weber] because you never know what he’s going to do. I often dream about beating Pete on television because he’s so boisterous, so outlandish at times. The whole sunglasses thing brings an element to bowling that’s so against the norm.

LOCAL BOWLER I MOST ADMIRE: I don’t particularly care what people read into this because I won’t be able to give an explanation, but I’m going to say Bobby Hall II because of his perseverance. Bobby’s always been able to throw the ball, but a lot of character issues and issues with other people have kind of clouded just how really good he is. Throughout all of that, throughout all of the negativism and all of the negative press and negative things that people say about him, he’s still able to come in and perform. That says a lot about your mental character because no matter how good you are, if you have people who are constantly talking bad about you and saying negative things and you let that get into your psyche, it’s going to bring you down. And he’s not let that happen. And for that, he’s probably the bowler I admire the most in this area.

SPARE-SHOOTING RATING (10=BEST): 7

MOST DIFFICULT SPARE COMBINATION: 2-8. It’s caused me more problems because I’ve learned to throw my spares straight. If you thrown it straight at the 2-8, you have to be perfect because it’s really easy to miss a little bit this way and chop it.

THE THING I LEAST UNDERSTAND ABOUT BOWLING: Why is it bowlers think that a ball makes their game as opposed to them taking lessons?

INTERESTS OUTSIDE OF BOWLING: I love {Sony] PlayStation. I’m a product of the video game generation. I like music – all types of music. I find it to be very relaxing. I love poetry. I like writing as well as reciting. I probably like reciting more than anything. Movies – I’ll catch a matinee in the middle of the day by myself. I like theatre, books. I like books like Waiting to Exhale or Sister, Sister – relationship books.

NICKNAME: Detroit Dre

FAVORITE MEAL: Lasagna – my lasagna. I cook better than most women.

FAVORITE TV SHOW: “Playmakers” on ESPN.

NON-BOWLING PRODUCT I WOULD FREELY ENDORSE: Speed Stick deodorant. I don’t deviate from that. I love that stuff.

THREE FAMOUS PEOPLE (DEAD OR ALIVE) I'D INVITE TO DINNER: Angela Bassett, Tony Dorsett, and Sugar Ray Leonard – people I grew up idolizing, except for Angela Bassett, who I kind of still idolize!

PET PEEVE: Teammates who show up late.

THE ONE WORD THAT BEST DESCRIBES ME: Persistent. If I have a goal, I’m going to obtain my goal.

SUPERSTITIONS: It’s kind of crazy, but I notice that I do it. If I’m bowling, and I walk to the lanes a certain way, I walk that way all the time that day. If I walk to the right of a table to get to a lane, for instance, I come back the same way.

ONE THING I'D CHANGE ABOUT MYSELF: I would be a little less quick tempered. I may not do anything or say anything, but emotionally inside I feel myself worked up.

IMMEDIATE BOWLING GOAL: To obtain my PBA card and bowl professionally for a living, not just on the weekends.

PARTICULAR TALENT I WISH I HAD: I wish I could sing.

LIFE GOALS (10 TO 20 YEARS FROM NOW): I hope to be able to say that I’m in a successful, productive marriage and have progressively upwardly mobile children. I want them to be productive; I want to be able to contribute something to society as opposed to just being a being.

PHILOSOPHY OR MOTTO I LIVE BY: Success is moving from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm. That is something that has really helped me since I stepped out and decided I wanted to pursue my bowling career.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I’d like to get this in because I know a lot of people inquire about this. Before I bowl, I always pray before I throw my first ball in a league or tournament. It’s not so much that I’m a religious fanatic, it’s just that in 1995 I lost my temper and I hit this glass pane, cutting my right wrist and the tendon in my thumb in two different locations. This was the last time I lost my temper and lost control. I was told that I would never have a full range of motion in my thumb and that I’d never be able to bowl, and there were certain things I wouldn’t be able to do. God willing, I’m able to bowl, and I’m able to use my thumb, and I thank Him for that every time I get ready to bowl because it is something I really cherish and I love, and I almost had it taken away from me because of my own stupidity. So I’m thankful that it wasn’t, and that’s why I give thanks. It helps me remind myself, you know, you really enjoy this, before you start, so all this frustration and you get mad, let it go and just concentrate on the things you really enjoy and what you really want.