Bowlers Journal International - November 2008 - (Page 16) Inside Line News, Notes And Perspective Honor Scores: Back on the Rise in ’07-08 WAS THE 2006-07 bowling FLASHBACK 50 YEARS AGO Tom Hennessey snags his second Southern Match Game Championships title to win $1,000. Budweiser teammates Ray Bluth, Don Carter and Dick Weber monopolize the next three spots The newly-formed PBA holds its first business meeting the night before the Southern event starts Republican Nelson Rockefeller takes a fling at bowling in his bid to become the Governor of New York. BJ takes one look at his form and calls him a “candidate for lessons” “The BJ” tournament announces a big change in its upcoming St. Louis edition by opening the field to women. BJ labels the change “startling” The Feedrail, a traveling “service car,” is introduced for use behind pinsetting machines, enabling bowling mechanics to quickly service machines that require work. It is equipped with tools, parts and pins to expedite service. 25 YEARS AGO Dick Weber wins the Columbia Senior title in Canton, Ohio. He now has a PBA championship in each of four different decades Anne Marie Pike gets WIBC’s blessing for a record 1977 8-game block in an LPBT stop in Dearborn, Mich. In the press release, LPBT admonishes two unnamed sportswriters for implying her score was shot on “illegal” lane conditions. It was later learned that the writers were George Pufcast of the Detroit Free Press and Charlie Rayman of the Rockford Register-Star Sweden’s Mats Karlsson goes to Crawley, England to win his first PBA title, the AMF Grand Prix Len Nicholson, one of the Tour’s original lane men, rejoins the PBA as Lane Maintenance Supervisor ABC buys George Allen’s in-depth report on bowling. Allen had spent a year researching his report The Fair Lanes chain celebrates its 60th anniversary. 10 YEARS AGO Parker Bohn III avenges the previous year’s title match loss by winning the PBA Japan Cup. The victory was doubly satisfying in that it came with his mother, Jean, in attendance Now a bowling proprietor, John Handegard has to switch his focus to win the Senior Tournament of Champions at The Villages Even though Strike Ten no longer is in the picture, the Women’s Tour negotiates a new TV deal with ESPN After six runner-up finishes, an overdue Carol Gianotti-Block breaks through for a Women’s Tour win in Delaware Phil Ozersky catches Mark McGwire’s 70th home run ball, then loans it to the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame — which shares space with the Cardinals’ Hall John Blancher, owner of Mid-City Lanes in New Orleans, also owns another famous property: sole rights to use the phrase, “rock ’n’ bowl.” season just a blip on the honor score radar screen? During that season, the pattern of declining USBC membership combined with increasing numbers of 300 games and 800 series was snapped for the first time in more than 20 years. True, the membership rolls again declined, but so did the honor score count. Some credited the honor score drop to the increasing popularity of Sport Bowling leagues, surmising that some bowlers who annually rolled multiple perfect games had migrated to Sport leagues, seeking a greater challenge. It was a nice theory, but apparently that’s all it was. Sport Bowling membership continued on the upswing during the 2007-08 season, standard USBC membership continued to decline, but the number of honor scores in standard competition was back on the rise after the one-season drop. USBC members in standard leagues piled up 52,229 perfect games last season, up 672 from 2006-07. They also rolled 16,872 series of 800 or higher, up 237. Meanwhile, virtually all “numbers” associated with Sport Bowling were up in 2007-08. Membership increased more than 13% to 31,582, the number of 300 games increased from 60 to 104, and the number of 800 series went from eight to 23. There were almost 200 more Sport Bowling leagues floored in 2007-08, jumping to 892 from 693 in 2006-07. PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS USBC National Youth Committee member Frank Wilkinson has been named Local Youth Sports Administrator of the Year by the National Council of Youth Sports Ken Lang and Troy Stus have been elected to the Michigan Majors Bowling Association Hall of Fame. Stus will join his father, Gene, in forming the Hall’s first father/son combo Talk about being in a rut: USBC members rolled 10,133 triplicates in 2007-08. BJI WEB POLL PBA SENIOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR THOSE WITH VOTES THAT COUNTED anointed Tom Baker the PBA Senior Player of the Year for the fourth consecutive season (see story on page 40). But participants in the BJI Web Poll came to a much different consensus. We gave visitors to bowlersjournal.com four voting options: Baker, Kenny Parks, Wayne Webb and “Other.” Baker and Parks tied, each with just under 22% of the votes cast, while “Other” garnered just over 13%. That made Webb the winner with 43% and change. It has been a strange year for Player of the Year awards in the PBA. On the circuit formerly known as the Denny’s PBA Tour, a Player of the Year point list — separate and distinct from the Tour’s point list that determines exemptions — was instituted for the 2007-08 season. Chris Barnes topped that list, and thus was named PBA Chris Schenkel Player of the Year. Meanwhile, the main points list was led not by Barnes, but rather by Walter Ray Williams Jr. Yet in the BJI Web Poll that dealt with the Player of the Year selection, Norm Duke beat out both Barnes and Williams, receiving 53% of the votes cast. 16 Bowlers Journal International | November 2008 www.bowlersjournal.com http://www.bowlersjournal.com http://www.bowlersjournal.com
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