The Tournament of the Americas, an Impossible Dream, moving to Orlando By Dick Evans

Three years before Joe Robbie brought the Miami Dolphins into the Orange Bowl, Lee Evans brought the Bowling Tournament of the Americas into Cloverleaf Lanes. Evans, news-bureau director for the City of Miami, dreamed of uniting the Americas through an amateur bowling tournament and he pulled it off without much support.

The only bowling official who didn't laugh at his idea was Earl J. Reed, president of the American Bowling Congress in Milwaukee. He encouraged Evans to chase what Reed called 'his impossible dream.'

I discouraged my brother, I told him it never would work.

For two years Lee Evans, a former boxing editor for The Miami Herald, called, wrote and rode small prop planes into almost every country and island in the Western Hemisphere and on July 26, 1963, the impossible happened:

The impossible Tournament of the Americas became a reality with a handful of countries sending a male and female champion. This was long before international amateur tournaments became popular across the world and the oldest annual event.

Lee Evans, a paratrooper in Europe During World War II, died after the 1978 tournament at age 53 but by then the event was luring elite adult bowlers from up to 28 nations. In 1979 the City of Miami changed the name of the event to the Lee Evans Tournament of the Americas.

Under the direction of the late John Smith and now Paulette Watson, the tournament added junior and senior divisions and lured fields up to 200 bowlers. The tournament continued to be a Miami sports fixture every summer until they closed Cloverleaf Lanes three years ago.

Watson moved the tournament to Sawgrass Lanes in Broward County in 2005 but it was a short-lived association since Sawgrass Lanes was destroyed by a hurricane before hosting its second tournament.

Then came two years at Tamarac Lanes but the bowlers were restless. They were tired of driving up to Orlando to enjoy Disney World before the Tournament of Americas. So last fall Watson decided to move the 2008 Tournament of Americas to Orlando.

"When I informed the bowlers and delegates of my decision to move the tournament to Orlando, they seemed very excited with the decision because now they can take their vacations and bowl in the same city," Watson said Tuesday.

One of the benefits for junior bowlers this year will the tournament dates. Watson revealed that the Lee Evans Tournament of Americas immediately will follow the World Youth Championships, which is scheduled to lure junior stars from 50 plus nations to Boardwalk Bowl in Orlando July 19-26.

"We will start the Lee Evans Tournament of the Americas July 27 at Boardwalk and conclude August 2," Watson said. "For the first time there will be no day off in the middle of the tournament for the bowlers to rest their aching bowling arms/legs and go shopping."

Over the past 45 years some of the United States' greatest bowlers have participated in the Tournament of the Americas including future amateur and pro greats like Les Zikes, Mary Lou Graham, Bob Hart, Rod Toft, Rick Steelsmith, Suzie Reichley Gordon Vadakin, Lynda Barnes, Chris Barnes, David Garber, Kelly Kulick and Diandra Asbaty to name only a few.

Among the international greats were Mexico's Edda Piccini, Benjamin Corona and Alfonso Rodriguez, Panama's Adela de Cardoze, Canada's Glen Watson, Cathy Townsend, Bill Rowe and Joanne Walker, Venezuela's Gabriela Bigai and Brazil's Walter Costa.

Paulette Watson also announced she is moving the old Miami International Tournament for adult bowlers to Orlando. It now will be called the Florida International Tournament and will be contested May 3-10 at AMF Kissimmee Lanes.

It's sad to think what has happened to bowling's proud heritage in Greater Miami. The Professional Bowlers Association visited South Florida every year from 1964 to 1994.

In addition, the Women's International Bowling Congress held two National Championships Tournaments in Miami (1956 and 1978), the American Bowling Congress rented the Miami Beach Convention for 75 days to run its National Tournament in 1967 and the Bowling Proprietors Association of America set up temporary lanes in the Miami Beach Convention Center for 11 days in 1962 to run its National All-Star Tournament. The WIBC held a third national tournament in Fort Lauderdale in 2001 and the PBA also staged several tournaments in Broward County.

The Lee Evans Tournament of Americas was the last great bowling tournament to leave South Florida.

The Orange Bowl wasn't moved, it was torn down.

How sad, bowls and bowling are taking a beating in Miami.


Email address: Evans121@aol.com