Beware the Charging Rhino!

I sat with Rhino Page at Red Rock Lanes in Las Vegas and found that at the tender age of 24, this young person already has it together. Like his fellow TEAM USA members and the pro players, he has an overwhelming passion for the game and sport of bowling. In turn, bowling has been good to him thus far.

All the achievements are too numerous to mention, but among them are: an automatic berth on 2008 Team USA, two gold medals last July in Rio de Janeiro, five years on team USA, two years on Junior Team USA, being crowned 2005 US Amateur champion, and being named 2004 Intercollegiate bowling Championships Most Valuable Player at the University of Kansas, the same year he was named to the National Collegiate bowling Coaches Association All-America First Team.

He won the July 2007 edition of the High Roller Tournament in Las Vegas, and has come within tasting distance of his first pro title, finishing twice in second place under the television lights, and most recently placing sixth in the Bayer Classic PBA Tournament in El Paso, TX with a 10-6 match play record.

Rhino Page decided to get his PBA card in October and found the tour far different from Team USA qualifying. "You only have 7 games (in the TQR). It's a sprint and you are all fighting for a certain amount of spots. The beginning of the year was tougher for me, as I never saw those (PBA) oil patterns before. There is more pressure on the tour qualifiers. I could have no paycheck and face six days of doing nothing." Fortunately he has a sponsor in Mike Pelligrino.

The high points of his career thus far were "representing the USA and winning the world championships (team title) for the first time since we won in 1972. Then being able to come out here on tour and to finish second twice, as well as fifth and sixth."

His low point? "There are many bumps in the road. You have your ups and downs and can't think about the low points. I try not to think about the negatives. Ron Hatfield (who works with TEAM USA Coach Fred Borden) worked on my mental game and I give him a lot of credit for that."

One of the biggest influences on Rhino's outlook was his days as a collegiate bowler for the University of Kansas, his home state. "Bowling in college prepared me for team play. In our sport, it's difficult to be a team player. For the first six months of my college career I was a selfish player because I didn't know any different.

During my sophomore year, we won the national championship and I saw the importance of team play. We weren't that great, but we persevered. That's when the light came on (for me). When I came out for Team USA we knew each other's game, each other's personalities and we talked to each other."

Page's immediate goals now are to "stay in the top 40 on tour in points to make an exemption for next year. I would like to stay in the top 16 (he was 10th before this week) and go to the Japan Cup. Down the road it would be great to be Bowler of the Year and to be able to win ten pro titles, but for now I just want to make it out of the tour qualifiers, get a steady paycheck and go further."

His other goal is to get more respect for bowling within the USA. "Other countries respect it for what it is, in part because they don't all have the many sports that we do. Their governments pay them. Team USA, especially with the addition of pro players, has a great opportunity to foster American bowling and the image of the American bowler."

The biggest demon haunting Rhino is that "I had a bad temper as a junior bowler. I have worked hard for the last five years to be a better person on the lanes, but some people still have that old image in their head."

On a personal note, Rhino says that he's a miracle. That's not his ego talking, either. His parents Rick and Karen decided that after the birth of their daughter, Tracy, they were not going to have any more children.

"Let's just say that a procedure was done and leave it at that," Page said. Several years later Karen found she was pregnant, and even the obstetrician whom she worked for was perplexed. "So, I'm not supposed to be here," Rhino jokes. "I'm a miracle, but I think that I've been put on the earth for a reason."

That reason is probably to be an ambassador for bowling through Team USA and to be a top player with the Professional Bowlers Association.

And, by the way, if you're wondering, his nickname did NOT come from a Brunswick ball.

"When I was four years old and played T ball, the coach said I was aggressive, like a Rhino, and he kept calling me that (even though my name is Ryan), so it stuck. Years later I saw a Rhino (bowling ball) and said, 'How cool, that ball has my name on it.'"

Keep your eye on the 2008 Team USA's tournaments as well as the pro tour. Page will be a force to be reckoned with, and as you know, there's no stopping a charging Rhino.