04/21/08
Column
Tom Clark's move from USBC to PBA will be felt in many ways By Dick Evans
Not much media attention has been paid to the recent announcement that Tom Clark was moving from the United States Bowling Congress to the Professional Bowlers Association in mid-May. But may I say right here that it's a big deal for both organizations. Three years ago the USBC hired Tom away from USA Today where he wrote bowling and several other sports. If it were a baseball trade, it would have been labeled a great steal for the USBC.
04/04/08
Column
An Insight into Norm Duke, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Tom Clark By Dick Evans
Sometimes the best ideas do not end with the best results. Last season the PBA decided to change the way it selected its Player of the Year in order to create more interest. The PBA dropped its voting by members after the season ended to a running point system that would produce more publicity throughout the 2007-08 season. It worked in January, February and through mid-March but then the two front runners stumbled, especially in the closing U.S. Open Championship and all of the excitement disappeared.
02/26/08
Column
Did you watch the 2008 Denny's World Championship on ESPN? By Joe Lyou
Did you watch the 2008 Denny's World Championship on ESPN? The annual Professional Bowlers Association "major" tournament was staged at Woodland Bowl in Indianapolis. Woodland Bowl? They should have called the brickyard the "Woodlake 500 Bowl - after the original "brickyard" that hosts the famed Memorial Day 500-mile auto race. You know why? Check the scores posted in the World Championship by "the greatest bowlers in the world," as the PBA likes to refer to its members.
02/25/08
Column
Looking through Peggy Elias' eyes it's obvious that Eddie Elias had a love affair with his family and his adopted PBA 'Boys'
Wife of PBA Founder takes time to answer 12 questions from Dick Evans
Eddie Elias was many things to many people, but not many people really knew what made this genius tick and how many lives he impacted in the sports, entertainment, television, advertising and business worlds. Most members of the Professional Bowlers Association knew him as the man who founded the PBA in 1958. A few PBA members like Don Carter and Carmen Salvino knew him as a shrewd business man and their agent.
01/30/08
Column
Everything seems to be falling into place for Haugen By Joe Lyou (Tenpin Slants)
Either Chris Barnes has a black cloud hanging over his head, or Michael Haugen Jr. has a good-luck angel sitting on his shoulder. There's no other way to explain how Haugen rolled to victory in the H&R Block Tournament of Champions—one of the Denny's PBA Tour's four majors of the season—that unfolded on Jan. 23-27 at the plush Red Rock Lanes in Las Vegas. While Barnes started the TV championship match with three strikes, a spare and a double, Haugen ran into two splits, no doubles and trailed by 52 pins (148-96) in the sixth frame. If it had been a boxing match, the referee would've stopped it and awarded Barnes a TKO.
01/30/08
Column
Haugen and PBA come up big winners at Red Rock By Dick Evans
Haugen climbed out of gutter in final four frames to win TofC; PBA expects to escape red ink
We should all hope that the
Professional Bowlers Association finishes the last seven tournaments of the 2007-08 Denny's season the same way that Michael Haugen Jr. finished the final four frames of the H&R Block Tournament of Champions. And, at the same time let's pray that the PBA avoids being snake bitten like Chris Barnes is on national telecasts.
01/25/08
Column
Stars of Today and Yesterday attend PBA Tournament of Champions Welcome Party By Dick Evans
PBA TV Ratings on ESPN Get a Boost.
When you blend the greats of today with the greats of yesterday you get the Great of the Greatest and that's exactly what is happening at the Red Rock Hotel/Casino/Bowling Center this week. Before the H&R Block Tournament of Champions started, 54 players gathered for a celebration in the 12-lane VIP section of this ultra-modern Center. If cold weather continues to plague the nation then the PBA ratings on TV could soar. Last week the combination of cold weather and a late starting NFL game enabled the PBA to garner a tremendous 1.39 rating.
01/22/08
Column
The USBC Masters Tournament….A Truly Major Event By John Jowdy
The
United States Bowling Congress Masters will reunite with the USBC Open Championships next season. The two events will be conducted at Cashman Center in Las Vegas with the Masters tentatively scheduled to be held February 8-15, 2009. The Masters is one of the most prestigious bowling tournaments of all time. Moreover, it has taken an even greater significance since becoming one of the "Majors" on the Professional Bowling Association tour.
01/20/08
Column
PBA's 50th Anniversary By Dick Evans
It's amazing what Eddie Elias did for bowling's image
The Professional Bowlers Associations needs somebody like the late Marilyn Monroe to sing happy birthday to the
50-year-old organization in order for the PBA to receive world-wide publicity like President Kennedy did many years ago. That's right friends, the upstart bowling organization that Akron attorney Eddie Elias conceived in 1958 is 50 years old but no one seems to be impressed or even interested. There has been no big Golden Anniversary celebration announced to the best of my knowledge. What a shame.
12/06/07
Column
On the PBA Road with Missy Bellinder -- Part Four of Four By Missy Bellinder
When we returned for for the fourth and final stop of the PBA Women's Series on the PBA tour, several of the men said that they had missed us last week. They mentioned that last week, the whole mood of the field had changed and everyone seemed to be more edgy and stagnant, as opposed to the weeks before. Over the four weeks of the PBA Women's Series, bowling alongside the men and at the same venue each week was a great experience. We practiced and qualified together, shared the paddock, ball spinners and equipment workout tables together.
11/22/07
Column
On the PBA Road with Missy Bellinder -- Part Three of Four By Missy Bellinder
Each week as a PBA Women's Series competitor, we get the same perks and discipline as any of the PBA exempt bowlers. We have roll-call before our qualifying and match-play blocks and can be fined for being late.
We also have to make sure our scorecards are added correctly and that we verify our opponent's score card.
If either scorecard is wrong, both the person and the verifier will be fined.
11/14/07
Column
On the PBA Road with Missy Bellinder -- Part Two of Four By Missy Bellinder
Into each life some rain must fall, especially when visiting Niagara Falls
Last week the PBA and PBA Women’s Series traveled to Thruway Lanes in Cheektowaga, NY for the
Etonic Championship. Every week of the PBA Women’s Series, we (the women) are bowling at the same venue as the PBA tour. We are also bowling the qualifying portion of the tournament at the same time as the men, crossing with them but competing in our own separate tournament. Last week the scores were high! Getting to the pocket was not too difficult, but getting all 10 pins to fall was another story for some.
11/10/07
Column
Where are they now? By John Jowdy
What do professional bowlers do after they retire from their chosen profession? Sadly, some of them who failed to secure their future wind up working odd jobs at minimum wages. Some merely retire on Social Security. Fortunately, many continue to be involved in bowling earning a comfortable living. A great majority of them operate successful pro shops. Many earn livable wages as coaches or instructors.
11/09/07
Column
On the road with PBA Tour By Missy Bellinder
Last week, was the start of the inaugural PBA Women's Series. For our first stop, we traveled to Taylor Lanes in Taylor, Mich. Each week starts with an official practice session on Wednesday and then an all-day bowling affair of qualifying on Thursday. After two 7-game blocks of qualifying, I was leading the women with +407, averaging 229. However, match play was a different story. n a single elimination best-of-seven format, the lanes had plenty of time to constantly transition.
10/17/07
Column
Hero in Dolphins' unbeaten season once gave PBA Tour a shot By Dick Evans
Larry Seiple joined the Miami Dolphins as a seventh-round draft pick out of Kentucky in 1967, one year after the Dolphins began play in the Orange Bowl. Before his Dolphin career ended in 1978, he had played on two Super Bowl championship teams and was instrumental in the Dolphins' unbeaten season in 1972. when he ran 37 yards from punt formation – a play that sparked the Dolphins to an AFL playoff victory over the Steelers. Every blue-blood Dolphin fan in America knows about Seiple's dramatic fake-punt run but few know that he once gave the Professional Bowlers Association tour a shot.
