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O’Keefe Wins Over Milwaukie Youth

Milwaukie Bowl welcomed home Shannon (Rondeau) O’Keefe on Saturday January 26. Shannon made the trip back to the Northwest to attend the Oregon State Athlete of the Year awards banquet where she was honored with a nomination for Oregon female athlete of the year. Although her roots are in Oregon City and Milwaukie she has become quite the world traveler as a perennial member of Team U.S.A. During the course of a question and answer session Shannon described some of her travels that included South America, Asia, and Russia.

At one point one of the youth bowlers inquired of how it felt to be a member of Team USA and while trying to explain how it felt to represent her country and hear the national anthem played in a foreign country for a Team USA victory she became a little tearful. Later Shannon expressed mild surprise at the emotion but I wasn’t a bit surprised.

Milwaukie Bowl celebrates Shannon O’Keefe’s visit.

Although many of the junior bowlers were a little tentative at first, by the time they spent some time on the lanes with Shannon and even got a few tips they were all, as I am, full- fledged fans of Shannon O’Keefe and Team USA as well.

We count ourselves lucky to have been able to spend an afternoon with Shannon and are looking forward to watching her continued success with Team USA and hopefully with a reborn women’s professional organization. In the end the “Oregon State Female Athlete of the Year” went to world-class distance runner Kara Goucher but Shannon O’Keefe will always be our “Star of the Year”.

Shannon gives a tip to Milwaukie Jr. Masters member Chloe Bartlett.

Shannon poses with fellow Silver Level Coach Jeff Combs.