Bowlers Journal International - March 2008 - (Page 46)

WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIPS BY THOMAS MADRECKI 54 YEARS LATER, USBC RETURNS TO MOTOWN A Detroit native will go home to bowl in the former WIBC Tournament for a record 62nd time. LADIES, START YOUR ENGINES! THE 2008 USBC Women’s Championships will open April 10 in the Motor City suburb of Canton, Mich., and will wrap up July 6. Why push that tachometer into the red? Well, the Championships coming to “The D” means bowlers will have a huge number of vacation possibilities in addition to their tenpin events, which in turn means they’ll need to be running on all cylinders if they want the “total Rock City experience.” For the estimated 40,000 women heading to Motown this year, however, that experience may seem to have drastically changed since the last time the Championships were held in/near the city. After all, it would be difficult to imagine that many female keglers — except lifelong 3-1-3 residents and frequent visitors to that area code — are familiar with the Detroit area’s evolution in the years after 1953. Fifty-five years ago, the city of Detroit and the sport of bowling were, quite simply, flat-out different than they are now. Oddly enough, though, both were at a crossroads in their histories when the 1953 Championships took center stage. For Detroit, it was then that the city’s white population started migrating to the outlying suburbs, and it was then that racial, social and economic tensions started to intersect and come to a head. The Fifties, for Detroit, was the connecting bridge of years between World War II and the agonizing urban blight that was to ravage the city later in the Sixties and Seventies, when crime rates hit record highs and violent riots nearly became the norm. Bowling, meanwhile, was also partaking in the evolutionary process. Approximately 2.2 million people bowled in sanctioned leagues in 1953, 46 bowlers journal international and that number would escalate at a phenomenal rate over the next two decades. Team bowling was king; in fact, a powerhouse Pfeiffer Beer team from Detroit won the 1953 ABC Championships in Chicago. Ball technology was nowhere near what it is today, all lanes were made COURTESY FODOR'S Ford Field is adjacent to Comerica Park, which also just happens to be adjacent to the Detroit Athletic Club — home to some of the prettiest bowling lanes you've ever seen, and to the largest private bowling league in the country. of wood, and the concept of Sport Bowling oil patterns did not yet exist. B&B Chevrolet won the Team event at the 1953 WIBC Championships with a score of 2931, Jane Grudzien and Doris Knechtges teamed to win Doubles by averaging not quite 204 apiece, Marge Baginski took the Singles crown with a whopping 637 and the aforementioned Knechtges compiled an All-Events total of 1886 to capture that portion of the tournament. Classic Division entrants rolling similar scores in Detroit come April will not come close to winning their respective events. Not all, however, has changed, at least in the case of bowling. The USBC Women’s Championships is set to return this year in the same format as years prior; there will be five average divisions, with the Classic being the most prestigious. The event will be held at a “normal” or “commercial” bowling center — Super Bowl in Canton, Mich. — as the USBC will not make the switch to an arena setting until 2010. As of February 8, the five-person team count stood at 7,141, but the USBC has extended the registration deadline until March 21 so that all local bowlers, as well as others, get the chance to participate. Also starring in the Detroit area are the USBC Queens and Senior Queens tournaments, which will run April 2630. The Championships will actually be suspended on those days to make room for the Queens events, as Queens qualifying will occur at Super Bowl. Senior Queens qualifying will take place at Skore Lanes in Taylor, Mich., and the finals for both events will be contested at Skore. The Queens finals will be aired on ESPN or ESPN2 on April 30 at 7 p.m. Eastern. Finally, a specific bowler’s accomplishments warrant mention. Through all the changes over the years, Mini Tvaska of St. Petersburg, Fla., has persevered. She’s scheduled to make her record-breaking 62nd Women's Championships appearance May 20. Adding to this side-story’s intrigue is the fact that the 2008 event is a sort of homecoming for Tvaska; she is originally from the Detroit area, and is one of only a handful that remember competing in the 1953 event. MARCH 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Bowlers Journal International - March 2008

Bowlers Journal International - March 2008 Contents Leading Off Letters Bowlitically Incorrect Par Bowling The Coach Calendar Inside Line Tournaments The Truth Be Bowled Pro Bowling Back On Track Weber Tales Spares Do Matter Cover Story Up Close USBC Women's Time Capsule Flashback Strategy Session Guest Column Regional Roundup Team USA Trials Military Salute Global Guide No Holes Barred Marketplace Bowling Summit Museum Update Hall Marks Advertisers' Index Rememberance Classified Advertising Intelligencer Business Calendar Business People Strikes Me

Bowlers Journal International - March 2008

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