Early on he set his sights on becoming a major league fastballer. But as Robert Wayne “Tex” Thornton would happily discover, a strike is a strike — be it 60 feet, six inches through the heart of a 17-inch rubber plate or 60 feet of hardwood into the mix of 10 stubborn pins.

Some 55 years, 37 championships, countless trophies and reams of memories later and being named to the Kokomo Men’s Bowling Association Hall of Fame (1990) by his peers, Thornton is slated for an even bigger honor. He’ll be inducted into the Indiana State Bowling Association Hall of Fame, March 4 in Anderson, site of the 2006 Men’s State Tournament.

Several bowlers were nominated by state delegates, and Thornton and Gordy Baer of Hammond were selected to which Thornton offered: “I heard they’d been getting information on me, but I had no idea why. I was substituting for Don Sparks in a Monday league at Lowry Lanes, and they announced it on the public address system. I was shocked.”

Growing up in the tiny surroundings of Quanah, Texas (population 4,000) that had nary a bowling alley or golf course, baseball became Thornton’s main escape in Quanah and later in Port Arthur, where he finished high school after the family moved.

Notice by professional scouts served to whet Thornton’s baseball dream.

But after a promising beginning in 1948 in the Sunset and Texas leagues; winter league excursions with Havana, Cuba in the pre-Fidel Castro days and a jump to Seattle in the old Pacific Coast League under the scrutiny of Major League Hall of Famer, Manager Rogers Hornsby, the dream came to a stunning halt.

It was 1950 in Seattle, and Thornton’s baseball future vanished instantly with Hornsby’s trip to the mound after Thornton felt a strange pop in his arm. “Shoulder or elbow?” Hornsby barked. “Elbow,” Thornton replied, “but it doesn’t hurt.” Hornsby shot back: “It will tomorrow, you’re outta here.”

Baseball was suddenly an afterthought, the $800 per month (plus per diem) Major League shot gone.

Thornton was drafted in 1950 and spent 18 months in the Army with the 24th Field Artillery where he served as a liaison with a Columbian outfit all over Korea. Military discharge found him in Paducah, Ky., doing construction work.

He started taking bowling seriously in 1954 and became part of a classic league in St. Louis that included the famed Budweiser and Falstaff teams against the likes of Steve Nagy, Don Carter, Ray Bluth, Dick Hoover and Dick Weber. He arrived in Kokomo in 1955 with a 190-plus average and spent his bowling nights with the heavyweights at Play Bowl, Recreation Lanes on North Main Street and John Cox’ Sycamore Lanes.

The long line of titles began its run in 1960 that included events all over Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Tennessee and wherever the challenge of main events took place.

Granted, his 300 game at the age of 68; the 258-288-256—802 he shot in Cleveland in 1960 and the 903 actual in the 2000 Indiana State Seniors, the numerous 700 sets (he had 40 in one year) and the many 298 games are all part of an incredible bowling legacy.

But the 1961 BPAA Regional title in Detroit fashioned by Thornton, Wayne Kitts, Tom Dinwiddie, Mike Wikel, Bill Thompson and Don Johnson that led to a fifth-place finish in the BPAA Nationals in Burlington, Iowa may be his topper.

Now a spry 76, he laughed and remarked: “I wanted to shoot a 275 on my 75th birthday, but I slipped up and shot a 279.” He’s spent countless hours tutoring youngsters but does so only to those who listen.

Of course, Thornton met a lady named Sue in 1958, and they’ve been a grand bowling double for 45 years. Sue was elected to the Kokomo Bowling Association Hall of Fame in 1989 — one year ahead of Thornton.

The game has changed considerably in Thornton’s marvelous 55-year run with new ball, lane, pin and surface innovations. But there is and forever will be one constant, the enthusiasm for, approach to and the love of the game, that of the guy with the silvery mustache, Thornton.

Talk to Carl Babb, Jack Bender, Loren Guge, Sparks, Kitts or any Hall of Famer who has stepped to the line with him, and the response is the same — “Thornton is special.”

Dinwiddie offered: “He’s as dedicated to the game as anybody I’ve ever known or bowled with. He’s just a tremendous guy and always willing to help if you ask him. It was just great to be on a team with him.”

Jon Kelley, the jurisdictional director of District 6, remarked: “Thornton is always low-key, but he’s a real student of the game, extremely knowledgeable and eager to help anybody.”

Thornton’ fastball is gone, but the strikes are easier than ever.