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APRIL 2013 -
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bowlingworld.com
by
INDIANAPOLIS – With owner Billie Jean King on the bench cheering
every shot, the New York City WTT KingPins presented by GEICO fin-
ished the inaugural Professional Bowlers Association League champion-
ship match with a string of seven consecutive strikes to defeat the Mo-
town Muscle, 440-407, and claim the Elias Cup at Woodland Bowl.
The KingPins, the top qualifiers among eight teams that competed in
five preliminary rounds earlier in the season in Detroit, put together a
string of five strikes to take a 202-181 lead after the first game of the two-
game, total pinfall championship match. But the Motown Muscle, owned
by former Pittsburgh Steelers star Jerome Bettis, rallied to tie the match
after five frames of game two.
In the Baker format contest, where each of the five team member bowls
two frames to complete a game, the tide turned when the two teams
switched lanes after five frames. After struggling to strike on the right
lane, the KingPins didn’t miss in their final five frames on the left lane.
Consecutive strikes by Tommy Jones of Simpsonville, S.C.; Jack Jurek
of Lackawanna, N.Y.; John Szczerbinski of North Tonawanda, N.Y.;
Scott Norton of Mission Viejo, Calif., and newly-crown Barbasol PBA
Tournament of Champions winner Pete Weber of St. Ann, Mo., locked up
the title for King’s team.
After throwing the decisive strike in the 10th frame, Weber benched
himself and brought in KingPins’ supplemental draft pick Kelly Kulick of
Union, N.J., to finish off the match. The only woman in the PBA League
field threw two more strikes to conclude the contest.“We knew the Mus-
cle had to come back on the right lane after five frames and they hadn’t
bowled on that lane in 10 frames,” Weber said. “We ate up some oil and
they just didn’t make the adjustments.
“My team is the best team. I knew from the start we were going to be
hard to beat,” he added. “We started communicating in Detroit and I
knew at that point we were going to be something special.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to have Billie Jean King as our team
owner,” Weber continued, “and it’s an honor and a privilege to give her
the first Elias Cup trophy.”
King, who admitted she doesn’t know a great deal about bowling, was
an avid cheerleader for her team.
“I was so calm playing tennis, but I was not so calm watching today,”
she said. “I was dying. The match was so close.
“I loved my team right from the start,” King added. “I watched them on
ESPN; I even watched one match on a Jet Blue flight, but I could tell they
worked together great. I was very happy to be here for the finals.
“I love it; it’s exactly what I believe in. If you watch a World Team Tennis
match, you’ll see my philosophy on life: it’s men and women working
together, because we’re in this world together and we have to help each
other.”
In the opening match of the finals, Terrell Owens watched his Dallas
Strikers (Bryon Smith of Roseburg, Ore.; Amleto Monacelli of Venezuela;
Rhino Page of Dade City, Fla.; Mike Machuga of Erie, Pa., and Norm
Duke of Clermont, Fla.) strike on five of their final six shots to defeat
actor Jesse Williams’ BROOKLYN STyLES (Walter Ray Williams Jr. of
Ocala, Fla.; Jason Sterner of McDonough, Ga.; Ryan Ciminelli of Cheek-
towaga, N.Y.; Ryan Shafer of Horseheads, N.Y., and Sean Rash of
Montgomery, Ill.), 217-172.
Motown (DJ Archer of Friendswood, Texas; Jesse Buss of Belvidere, Ill.;
Tom Smallwood of Saginaw, Mich.; Ronnie Russell of Indianapolis, and
Mike Fagan of Dallas) then eliminated the Strikers, 216-190. Fagan
threw three strikes in the 10th frame to force the Strikers’ Duke to throw
two strikes in his 10th frame, but the PBA Hall of Famer left a 4-6-7 split
on his first shot to give Motown the win.
The Elias Cup was named in honor of the PBA’s founder and long-time
leader, Eddie Elias. Elias’ wife, Peggy, and daughter Annie Elias made
the trophy presentation in Indianapolis. The winners shared a $75,000
team prize.
by
Wesley Low Jr.
, at age 15, became the youngest
bowler ever to win a PBA Regional title – breaking a
34-year-old record set by PBA Hall of Famer
Pete
Weber
in 1979 – when the two-handed competitor
from Palmdale, Calif., defeated
Deeronn Booker
of
Anaheim, Calif., 299-234, to win the PBA Non-
Champion West tournament at South Point Bowling
Center in Las Vegas on Friday, March 29.
Complete story in May’s issue of Bowling World Newspaper
