“I’m retiring,” Cyndy Dykes said. “I’ve got 30 years tied up in that building. I am not going to rebuild.”
An undetermined malfunction in a commercial upright freezer in the kitchen area caused the fire and $4.5 million damage to the building and its contents, said Thomas Pechal, spokesman for the Temple Fire Department. The fire was an accident.
In 1977, Mrs. Dykes founded the bowling alley with her husband. After the fire gutted the bowling alley interior last December, local bowlers including 900 league members scrambled to find places to bowl.
Today, a temporary chain-link fence with “keep out” and “danger” signs attached surrounds the bowling center. Workers from a demolition company worked inside on Thursday morning, preparing it for the bulldozer.
Mrs. Dykes said a corporation of which she is president still owns the land underneath the bowling alley and it is for sale.
Temple bowlers now drive to lanes in Killeen, Waco or Georgetown.
Although this is a sad end to a Temple institution, there is hope for Temple-area bowlers. The Temple Chamber of Commerce has been in touch with folks who want to bring bowling back to town.
“There are people interested, but there needed to be a final decision on what the owner of Action World was going to do,” Chamber president Ken Higdon said.
“We have groups that are interested in building a bowling house inside the city limits so we are looking forward to that,” Higdon said. “It is a major investment, but there are a lot of leagues . . . folks that want to bowl and different tournaments that can be brought in.”
Higdon said a new Temple bowling alley would have a positive economic impact on the community and could improve tourism.
fafflerbach@temple-telegram.com
