Gladys Bettis took her son to the Central City Lanes in Detroit when he was seven. "She felt going bowling was a way to keep me out of trouble in the inner city," Bettis told the
Los Angeles Times. "I learned to love it because it's a sport in which you are in competition with yourself. You can only beat yourself. That's what I love about it."
Two-way threat
Bettis dreamed of becoming a professional bowler--like his hero Mark Roth--but he also played basketball and football at McKenzie High School in Detroit. He earned three letters in football, serving as the team's captain in both his junior and senior seasons. In his senior season Bettis gained 1,355 yards and scored 14 touchdowns as a fullback, and also averaged 15 tackles per game as a linebacker. "I loved it," he recalled in Sports Illustrated, referring to playing defense. "I just wanted to crack somebody."
Bettis earned the Circle of Champions Michigan Player of the Year award his senior season. Parade magazine awarded him a spot on its All-American team and the Sporting News and USA Today each named him one of the top-100 high school seniors in the country.
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