PeterB
Elite Armchair Athlete
There was the bomb scare of '91. The day the lights went out in California. The gutter ball heard around the world and what about the blatant display of opponent psyching ever witnessed? Or the time the Bowler of the Year had his ball disappear forever in the middle of a frame back in the days when one ball was all you had. Then there was the extracurricular antics such as field goal kicking the foul light casing 2 lanes away on national TV or somehow targeting a spare shot via the bowling centers ceiling.
Those are some, although certainly not all of the weirder moments in PBA history, many of them recalled by Harry Golden, who had a 6 month pro bowling career followed by a 29 year stint, from 1962 to 1990, as the PBA's national tournament director.
Over the years, there have been bomb scares and other threats. One time, there were armed guards on the roof during the Brunswick World Open. On other occasions, TV coordinator Frank Esposito briefed bowlers about the possibility of a disruptive situation. But the only time such a threat became public was the afternoon Chris Schenkel and Bo Burton opened the telecast of the 1991 Tournament of Champions from the parking lot of Riviera Lanes. There, among the cars, they interviewed the bowlers, one of whom, in the rush to exit the center, didn't have time to grab his street shoes and stood there in his socks.
What followed for viewers was a replay of Jack Biondolillo's 300 game during the 1967 Firestone, which was a pretty weird situation in itself. The shows producer was calling the shots along with Bob Strampe because the networks announcers and the other union personnel, including the usual microphone team of Schenkel and Billy Welu were on strike.
Unfortunately, whan natural disasters and other calamities haunt a PBA telecast, there is no reversing the air time that is lost. Viewers saw a couple of highlights of David Ozio eventually winning the T of C when the title match concluded after the shows allotted time slot. Same in Pinole, California, in 1989 when an electrical outage throughout most of the town delayed the semifinal game for more than 15 minutes. Only those few hundred on hand saw Ernie Schenkel defeat Dave D'Entremont for the title when play resumed.
If you are a sports fan though, there is no way you missed seeing Del Ballard literally throw the 1991 Fair Lanes Open title in the gutter. Even those who missed the live broadcast had a chance to see the infamous misfire via highlight tapes and sports recaps on most stations thoughout the country.
Back in 1964, they didn't have replay capabilities, or even the expertise to easily light a pair of lanes without creating shadows. So when top seeded Johnny King, a player with a long established reputation for playing by his own rules, saw an opportunity to distract his opponent, he made the most of it. Allegedly, King figured out how to cast a long shadow just past the foul line by standing in a certain spot, which he suddenly proceeded to do just as opponent Glenn Allison was approaching the line to shoot a 7 pin. Allison flinched on the follow through, missed the spare by a foot and King went on to win.
As a golfer, Jim Stefanich probably loses a ball now and again. But the most costly ball he's ever lost was not a Top-Flite. But rather a hard rubber AMF variety. Steffy had used the ball almost exclusively to set a single season money earnings record in 1968 when, in the last tournament of the year, as he stood amongst the leaders, he threw it for the final time. The ball never came back, never was found and he didn't win another title for over a year.
While Stefanich's was presumably lost underground, at the same bowling center a few years later Palmer Fallgren, with a split staring him in the face, tossed his ball into the roof. Even if the circumstances are suspicious, Golden says the dent in the ceiling was not intentional. It was rather the result of a strong and momentarily angry young player getting locked up in the thumb hole as he tried to hurl the ball at 30mph down the lane.
Then there was Marshall "Mt. St." Holman, who was not a happy man when he left the bucket on an important shot in the 9th frame of a title game of the PBA's 1980 Doubles Classic. As team mate Mark Roth and a national TV audience looked on, Holman took out his frustrations with a swift and forceful kick into the foul light unit. Usually those things stay put, but what a spectacle ensued when metal pieces started flying through the air as the foul light and buzzer activated. A subsequent suspension kept Holman off the tour for the remainder of the summer, but could not stop him from eventually becoming the PBA's all time leading money winner.
Courtesy of the 80th anniversary edition of Bowlers Journal Nov 1993
Those are some, although certainly not all of the weirder moments in PBA history, many of them recalled by Harry Golden, who had a 6 month pro bowling career followed by a 29 year stint, from 1962 to 1990, as the PBA's national tournament director.
Over the years, there have been bomb scares and other threats. One time, there were armed guards on the roof during the Brunswick World Open. On other occasions, TV coordinator Frank Esposito briefed bowlers about the possibility of a disruptive situation. But the only time such a threat became public was the afternoon Chris Schenkel and Bo Burton opened the telecast of the 1991 Tournament of Champions from the parking lot of Riviera Lanes. There, among the cars, they interviewed the bowlers, one of whom, in the rush to exit the center, didn't have time to grab his street shoes and stood there in his socks.
What followed for viewers was a replay of Jack Biondolillo's 300 game during the 1967 Firestone, which was a pretty weird situation in itself. The shows producer was calling the shots along with Bob Strampe because the networks announcers and the other union personnel, including the usual microphone team of Schenkel and Billy Welu were on strike.
Unfortunately, whan natural disasters and other calamities haunt a PBA telecast, there is no reversing the air time that is lost. Viewers saw a couple of highlights of David Ozio eventually winning the T of C when the title match concluded after the shows allotted time slot. Same in Pinole, California, in 1989 when an electrical outage throughout most of the town delayed the semifinal game for more than 15 minutes. Only those few hundred on hand saw Ernie Schenkel defeat Dave D'Entremont for the title when play resumed.
If you are a sports fan though, there is no way you missed seeing Del Ballard literally throw the 1991 Fair Lanes Open title in the gutter. Even those who missed the live broadcast had a chance to see the infamous misfire via highlight tapes and sports recaps on most stations thoughout the country.
Back in 1964, they didn't have replay capabilities, or even the expertise to easily light a pair of lanes without creating shadows. So when top seeded Johnny King, a player with a long established reputation for playing by his own rules, saw an opportunity to distract his opponent, he made the most of it. Allegedly, King figured out how to cast a long shadow just past the foul line by standing in a certain spot, which he suddenly proceeded to do just as opponent Glenn Allison was approaching the line to shoot a 7 pin. Allison flinched on the follow through, missed the spare by a foot and King went on to win.
As a golfer, Jim Stefanich probably loses a ball now and again. But the most costly ball he's ever lost was not a Top-Flite. But rather a hard rubber AMF variety. Steffy had used the ball almost exclusively to set a single season money earnings record in 1968 when, in the last tournament of the year, as he stood amongst the leaders, he threw it for the final time. The ball never came back, never was found and he didn't win another title for over a year.
While Stefanich's was presumably lost underground, at the same bowling center a few years later Palmer Fallgren, with a split staring him in the face, tossed his ball into the roof. Even if the circumstances are suspicious, Golden says the dent in the ceiling was not intentional. It was rather the result of a strong and momentarily angry young player getting locked up in the thumb hole as he tried to hurl the ball at 30mph down the lane.
Then there was Marshall "Mt. St." Holman, who was not a happy man when he left the bucket on an important shot in the 9th frame of a title game of the PBA's 1980 Doubles Classic. As team mate Mark Roth and a national TV audience looked on, Holman took out his frustrations with a swift and forceful kick into the foul light unit. Usually those things stay put, but what a spectacle ensued when metal pieces started flying through the air as the foul light and buzzer activated. A subsequent suspension kept Holman off the tour for the remainder of the summer, but could not stop him from eventually becoming the PBA's all time leading money winner.
Courtesy of the 80th anniversary edition of Bowlers Journal Nov 1993
