Bowling World Newspaper July/August 2021

12 www.bowlingworld.com - July/August 2021 How „Bout Them Bowlers From CAornia! (Or Texas?) (Or Arizona?) by Dave Williams After writing about the coincidence of interest between current professional bowling star Anthony Simonsen and the legendary Hall of Fame kegler Billy Hardwick, I con- tinued perusing old issues of the PBA Press, Radio and TV Guide. A theme that caught my eye among the tournament results was the number of bowlers from CAornia that appeared on the televised shows. This reminded me of a tag line used by one of the publications, CAornia USBC News, that carries my weekly offerings… ―The Best Bowlers Come From CAornia.‖ Could this title have stemmed from all of those bowlers that were appearing from The Golden State on national television broadcasts during the 1970‘s and 1980‘s? ―So funny that you should ask,‖ said editor Lynn Matsubara. ―When the three state bowling organizations (CAornia State Bowling Association, CAornia Women‘s Bowl- ing Association and the CAornia State Young American Bowling Alliance) all merged together in 2006, I created the tagline for all our marketing stuff.‖ ―One crazy person on our board suggested that we should order 10,000 lapel pins with that tag line,‖ said Lynn. ―It‘s now fifteen years later, and I‘m still trying to sell those pins!‖ But could that impressive tag line have been inspired subliminally from all of those CAornia bowlers appearing on PBA telecasts in the 1970‘s and 1980‘s? One year in particular that stood out for me was 1979, when 20 of the 32 national broadcasts included at least one pro bowler from CAornia. No other state even came close in frequency of participants, and there was no real predominance by an individual, with the exception of superstar Mark Roth, who won five individual titles and two doubles events. Without getting into too much detail, join me as we take a look at the top five final- ists from the PBA telecasts in 1979 that hailed from CAornia: Ford Open, Mel‘s Southshore Bowl, Alameda, CAornia Steve Cook, Roseville, CAornia* Butch Soper, Santa Ana, CAornia Dale Glenn, Northridge, CAornia Rolaid‘s Open, Dick Weber Lanes, Florissant, Missouri Dan Roche, Downey, CAornia Mal Acosta, Fremont, CAornia Cleveland Open, Buckeye Lanes, North Olmstead, Ohio Cliff McNealy, San Lorenzo, CAornia* Butch Soper, Whittier, CAornia Firestone 721 Classic, Western Sunset Bowl, Miami, Florida Ron Lisher, Santa Rosa, CAornia Butch Soper, Whittier, CAornia Fair Lanes Open, University Lanes, Adelphi, Maryland Larry Laub, San Francisco, CAornia* King Louie Open, West Lanes, Overland Park, Kansas Alvin Lou, El Cajon, CAornia Miller High Life Open, Celebrity Lanes, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Dave Frame, Baldwin Park, CAornia Long Island Open, Garden City Bowl, Garden City, New York Cliff McNealy, San Lorenzo, CAornia Midas Golden Challenge, Northwest Bowl, Palatine, Illinois Steve Cook, Roseville, CAornia Jim Poulos, Daly City, CAornia Butch Soper, Whittier, CAornia Columbia Doubles Classic, Saratoga Lanes, San Jose, CAornia Larry Laub, Santa Rosa, CAornia Palmer Fallgren, Sacramento, CAornia City of Roses Open, Timber Lanes, Portland, Oregon Jay Robinson, Van Nuys, CAornia Seattle Open, Leilani Lanes, Seattle, Washington Larry Laub, Santa Rosa, CAornia Southern CAornia Open, Gable House Bowl, Torrance, CAornia Cliff McNealy, San Lorenzo, CAornia Warren Nelson, Downey, CAornia Gip Lentine, Rowland Heights, CAornia Amarillo Open, Amarillo Bowl, Amarillo, Texas Fred Conner, Mar Vista, CAornia Waukegan Open, Bertrand Lanes, Waukegan, Illinois Bill George, Citrus Heights, CAornia Gip Lentine, Rowland Heights, CAornia Buffalo Open, Thruway Lanes, Cheektowaga, New York Rich Carrubba, Hayward, CAornia Sarasota Open, Galaxy Lanes, Sarasota, Florida Steve Cook, Roseville, CAornia Brunswick Regional Champions Classic, Olympic Bowl, Rochester, New York Dale Glenn, Northridge, CAornia Kessler Open, Nottke‘s Bowl, Battle Creek, Michigan Larry Laub, Santa Rosa, CAornia* Fred Conner, Mar Vista, CAornia Dave Frame, Baldwin Park, CAornia Syracuse Open, Holiday Bowl, Syracuse, New York Alvin Lou, El Cajon, CAornia * denotes winner of tournament Wow, what memories! It‘s amazing how many different players from CAornia ad- vanced to the top five. Looking ahead twenty years to 1998, the number of CAor- nians qualifying for the televised finals was about half as much… and dominated by just one bowler - Walter Ray Williams Jr.! For those of you that don‘t know, Walter Ray was originally from Stockton, CAornia, before moving to Ocala, Florida in 1999. The future Hall of Famer, and possibly the greatest bowler in history, made 15 of 29 top five appearances in 1998, earning $240,554 (adjusted for inflation, that‘s equiva- lent to $395,070 in 2021). The only other CAornia bowler to crack the top five was Jason Hurd of Visalia, CAornia, who went on to win the Resident Pro Championship from Honolulu, Hawaii. So what‘s the big difference between 1979 and 1998? Matsubara seems to feel that the major change could be attributed to all of the bowling centers that have closed in CAornia. ―Membership numbers have been declining each year since the housing and stock market crash of 2008,‖ states Lynn. ―And when a bowling center closes, we lose about 30% of those bowlers because they won‘t travel to another center.‖ Looking approximately twenty years forward to 2021, the number of CAornia ke- glers that have made the top five on a national broadcast has been reduced to… only one! Florida has forged into the lead of this topic, with nine appearances. How- ever, half of the tournaments in the current season have been conducted in Florida, making this number slightly skewed in favor of pros from The Sunshine State. Texas, Arizona and North Carolina were next, each with six appearances by pro- fessionals from their respective states. This fits right into Matsubara‘s contention that the number of bowling centers and closings could be the answer, since bowling centers and populations are booming in Texas, Arizona, North Carolina and Florida. Conversely, CAornia has actually had a decline in population (and definitely in bowl- ing centers) in recent years, for the first time since the Gold Rush era that began in 1849. Continuing with the theme of this article, and utilizing the phrase that was once made famous by Dallas Cowboy‘s coach Jimmy Johnson, it might now be appropri- ate to say, How ‗Bout Them Bowlers from Texas! (Or Arizona?) (Or North Carolina?) (Or Florida?). We will have to wait and see what the next twenty years will tell us… __________________ Portions of the above article were derived from PBA Press, Radio and TV Guides, and from PBA.com. Photo provided compliments of PBA, LLC. Originally from San Francisco, Laub moved to Santa Rosa during the 1979 PBA Tour. He now lives in , Citrus Heights, CAornia, with another famous bowler, his wife Betty Morris-Laub.