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.

Everybody knew Tom Clark (pictured right) was an outstanding writer, but few knew that he was an exceptional promoter and had a magic touch when it came to TV productions that featured novel VIP areas alongside the lanes.

He also exercised a great deal of influence over the USBC Hall of Fame Board, which at Tom's urging changed its 20-year rule last year so that bowlers like Mark Roth, Marshall Holman and John Petraglia – none of whom had bowled in 20 ABC/USBC Opens – would suddenly become eligible for induction into the USBC Hall of Fame.

In every positive move, there are also some negative repercussions and I wrote at the time that altering USBC requirements for induction into the USBC Hall of Fame was going to delay the induction of Del Ballard, who many feel should have garner the necessary 70 percent of the vote three years ago and already be a member of the USBC Hall of Fame.

Under the new rules that make more great champions eligible who for one reason or another ignored the ABC Masters, I wouldn't be surprised if Del Ballard has to wait three more years to get the necessary 70 percent vote.

But enough of that, let's concentrate on what Clark achieved as head of the USBC media department.

He organized and staged popular media bowling events in major outlets like New York City and Los Angeles to promote bowling as a challenging sport.

Then last year he worked with ESPN and the PBA and Tom came up with the idea of reviving the U.S. Women's Open but with a dramatic new format.

Bowling writers who are long on tradition and short on change took target practice at calling such a revolutionary format with five TV tapings a shame.

But the women bowlers liked it, the viewing audience liked it, ESPN liked it and the PBA liked it.

From the unique format came the 16 women who bowled in four PBA events last year.

Clark's latest TV production will be Bowling's Clash of Champions during the USBC Convention May 8-9 in the Kansas City Municipal Auditorium.

CBS, which was the last national network to carry a live PBA telecast, will tape the event and will show it Saturday, May 10 at 5 (EDT) and Sunday, May 11 at 6 (EDT). And league bowlers can get in on the act by securing special TV drawing numbers at their local centers.

The TV winner will earn $50,000, which is huge since the field is limited to 16. And there is an outside/longshot possibility that the champion can be a 17-year-old high school bowler because the bowlers (8 men, 8 women) represent the champions from USBC events last year.

If I were a gambling man and Kansas City had a sports book, I would bet on Pete Weber, Sean Rash, Wendy Macpherson or Kelly Kulick to take home the beef from Kansas City.

They will set up the lanes in the auditorium where the convention will be held so there is a possibility that up to 2,000 live spectators could witness the event. If league bowlers were as eager to watch bowling's as league tennis players are to watch pros, I would bet that every delegate in town would jam into the auditorium to watch the competition.

As they say in cowboy movies, you can lead the horses to the watering holes but you can't make them drink the water.

Tom Clark is going to give the delegates a rare chance to watch bowling at its best, but there is no guarantee they will drink in the competition.

So sad.

But it is not sad that Tom Clark will be moving over to the PBA as vice-president of marketing and communications.

I predicted as soon as Tom Clark accepted the PBA challenge that he would push for the women to appear on the PBA telecasts again next season. That was a no brainier because Fred Schreyer, Commissioner and CEO of the PBA, and Chris Peters, one of the three owners of the PBA, had told me in January that they hoped to do more with the women during the upcoming season.

And the PBA announced as much after a recent announcement that the USBC will renew the U.S. Women's Open, but this time in the Chicago area. I think the move from Reno to Chicago will produce more entries but a lot of the dramatic impact of the colorful event will disappear since it will not be held in the National Bowling Stadium.

I also think within the next two months you will see Tom Clark swing into action and announce some big things for the PBA's 50th anniversary season starting next October...maybe in the form of Peggy Elias (wife of the late PBA founder Eddie Elias) throwing out the first ball for the 2008–09 season. Or maybe a mini-event among the PBA founding members like Don Carter.

While with the USBC, Tom Clark was blessed to have the support of President Jeff Boje and the Board of Directors and that resulted in an open end expense book.

The USBC did some big first class promotions, but the events took a required major financial support.

Tom Clark could do even better things with the PBA, although I doubt the three former Microsoft executives who already have lost about $20 million since buying the PBA in 2000 will give Tom Clark an open check book.

But if novel and new things can be done to drum up interest in the PBA tour that results in improved TV viewership, he will find a way to get the job done.

I personally also hope Tom brings some of his USBC Hall of Fame zeal to the PBA.

In the opinion of many veteran bowling writers, the new PBA has an antiquated Hall of Fame policy that virtually eliminates any new inductees until the age of 80 because bowling is a lifetime sport.

I think the LPGA Tour has a point policy that is on the right track. On April 13, Mexican star Lorena Ochoa became the second youngest player to qualify for the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame.

She did it by accumulating 27 points in her brief career. A woman pro golfer earns one point for every victory and two points for a major victory.

There is one stipulation Ochoa did not meet...she has not been on tour 10 years so she has to wait until 2012 to be inducted at the ripe old age of 30.

It is a shame in my opinion to prevent legitimate PBA Hall of Fame bowlers from being inducted because they are still active on tour. Who would have guessed 20 years ago that a 48-year-old Walter Ray Williams would still be out on tour. Even more amazing, in what other sport would a 48-year-old veteran fall three points shy of being the 2007-2008 season's Player of the Year.

Fortunately, Williams was inducted before the new owners changed the old PBA Hall of Fame rules.

Hopefully under Tom Clark, the PBA will review its Hall of Fame rules and possibly even change them.

Before closing this point, I should tell anyone who doesn't know that Pete Tredwell, a former junior bowling champion in the New York area and a two-time Emmy Award winning ESPN producer, has been named to head up the USBC media department with the departure of Tom Clark.

The former collegiate bowler has served as a director-at-large with the USBC Board of Directors since 2006 so he knows the trials and tribulations with the upcoming move from Greendale, Wis., to Arlington, Texas.

I do not know Pete Tredwell but people I respect speak highly of him and expect great things of him. I know he has a good TV background but I hope he doesn't ignore the print media. Without the print media reminding readers of the upcoming TV shows, the PBA telecasts would not have shown a slight increase in overall ratings last year. Matter of fact, they may have plunged.

Email address: Evans121@aol