A matter of hours after he was surprised as the 2016 recipient of the Jim Jaryszak Laneman Award at International Bowl Expo on June 29, LaGrange, Ill., native
John Forst was found unresponsive on the Mandalay Bay property. Forst, who was suffering from terminal brain cancer, was 55. At Bowl Expo, Forst (pictured in the middle of a Storm group) had a final opportunity to reunite with a horde of friends, colleagues and former competitors from his days working with Storm Products, Kegel, USBC and PBA competition.
The United States Bowling Congress has affirmed the decision to revoke USBC approval of the Motiv brand Jackal and Jackal Carnage bowling balls. Motiv requested an appeal of the March 15, 2016 decision to revoke approval of the balls. The USBC Equipment Specifications Committee heard the appeal, reviewed the facts and circumstances, and has affirmed the revocation decision.
John Forst of West Jordan, Utah, who worked several national championships as a lane technician for Kegel, is the 2016 recipient of the Jim Jaryszak Laneman Award. The award was presented at Bowl Expo on Wednesday. The award, determined by the United States Bowling Congress Equipment Specifications and Certifications team, recognizes a person for their behind-the-scenes work as a laneman. Forst is the sixth recipient of the award, presented annually at Bowl Expo.
Nicholas Hoagland of Indianapolis will lead the lane pattern development program for the United States Bowling Congress, working with USBC tournament directors and Kegel, the official lane maintenance provider for USBC events, to set lane patterns for competitions. Hoagland has been involved in bowling most of his life, and worked for the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) from 2001-2005 as Manager of Consumer Programs. During that time, he was responsible for the launch of the PBA Animal lane patterns.
The United States Bowling Congress Equipment Specifications and Certifications Team recently analyzed new ball gripping layouts being used to create different ball reactions and how it affects specifications for bowling balls. These layouts allow bowlers to grip the balls in different configurations, which create different ball reactions depending on which holes the bowler uses to deliver the ball. This has led to questions concerning USBC's gripping-hole specification.
In a move to add greater clarity and fairness to ball specifications related to bowlers not using their thumb while delivering the ball, the United States Bowling Congress has modified the specifications on bowling ball gripping holes. The rule change strictly addresses the use of the thumb hole and only affects bowlers who do not use their thumb for gripping the ball during a delivery. The change will go into effect at the beginning of the winter bowling season, Aug. 1.
The World Tenpin Bowling Association's study on factors that influence scoring in the sport will now be joined by the Hong Kong Sports Institute in addition to the United States Bowling Congress. The study is being conducted to determine new lines of specifications at the sport of bowling's elite level. WTBA, USBC and the Hong Kong Sports Institute will work jointly on the project and make recommendations to the WTBA Congress. A status report will be given on all items in August 2013.
Each year, hundreds of new bowling balls are put on the market and before they reach consumers, prototypes are inspected thoroughly by the United States Bowling Congress to ensure they meet specific standards. The USBC Equipment Specifications team has developed a battery of tests to make sure every bowling ball that makes it to the consumer market is legal based on USBC rules.
United States Bowling Congress (USBC) test robot E.A.R.L. recently made headlines as the cover story of Design News magazine’s Mechatronics supplement.
Design News is a leading technical resource, providing technology news, opinion, and analysis, for engineers and engineering managers. The article detailed how designers created E.A.R.L. (Enhanced Automated Robotic Launcher) with the ability to release a ball with precise accuracy under a wide range of velocity, loft and axis rotation variables.
The United States Bowling Congress has named Herman Glenn (pictured) to the position of Director of Equipment Specifications for the sport's national governing body. Glenn will oversee the USBC team which primarily performs advanced testing and research on bowling balls, lanes, pins and lane dressing to ensure that all equipment meets guidelines set by the organization before it is used in USBC competition. Glenn, a USBC Bronze coach studied electrical engineering at the University of Toledo. 
In an epic battle of man versus machine, the newest member of the Equipment Specifications and Certifications team at the USBC showed off its skills against USBC spokesperson and PBA star Chris Barnes (r.) at the International Bowling Campus on Tuesday. Barnes prevailed, 259-209, but he knows the score does not reflect how
significant E.A.R.L. ultimately will be in industry research. 
After months of calibrations and testing, the newest member of the Equipment Specifications and Certifications team at the United States Bowling Congress is ready to be introduced to the world on Oct. 19. The new addition isn't a scientist, however, it's a state-of-the-art ball-throwing robot named E.A.R.L. (Enhanced Automated Robotic Launcher), which is designed to be able to simulate any type of bowling style with an accuracy and consistency on the lanes that no human bowler can achieve.
Keeping up with the modern and complex work of ball drilling and ball motion is now easier than ever with the Ball Motion Analysis Form and accompanying video tutorials by the USBC Equipment Certification and Specifications team. Let USBC Technical Director Steve Kloempken (pictured) guide you through a series of helpful video and written instructions that detail the process of identifying key bowling ball dynamics such as axis tilt and axis migration.
For the past several months, the United States Bowling Congress Equipment Specifications and Certifications team has been testing the new USBC Red, White and Blue patterns, newly created "house" oil patterns designed to present bowlers with conditions of varying difficulty as they progress from beginning bowlers to USBC Sport Bowling members. To date, the results of all field tests have fallen in line with USBC's intended and predicted ranges regarding scoring pace and equity to bowlers of all styles.