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- DECEMBER 2014
SERVING THE BOWLING INDUSTRY SINCE 1967
A Very Sad Farewell To AMF
Legend,
Bent Petersen 1932 – 2014
By Anne-Marie Board
QubicaAMF is saddened to hear of the passing of for-
mer Executive Vice President, Bent Petersen, who died
peacefully at home on November 21, 2014. Bent, a
much loved and respected member of the AMF family,
retired from the company in 1998 after 36 years of loyal
service. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife
Julia, children Karin, Jens and Anne Marie, grandchil-
dren and great grandchildren at this sad time.
Bent joined AMF in 1962 in Sweden and was heavily
involved in the development of bowling in Sweden and
Denmark. The first AMF centers in Denmark were
opened during that time and both Sweden and Denmark
are two major bowling markets today. In 1965 he trans-
ferred to Japan for a short assignment and which lasted
for 11 years. Bent's major achievement there was the
establishment of a joint venture with C-Itoh to develop
and promote bowling in Japan, which then saw phe-
nomenal growth and
went on to become the
biggest market outside
USA. In 1970 he had
become president of
AMF‟s operations in
Japan and the Far East.
From Japan, Bent Pe-
tersen transferred to the
United Kingdom in 1976
with responsibilities for
Europe and the Middle East.
In 1980, Bent move to the USA as President of AMF
International and was based at AMF‟s International
Headquarters in New York. His brief this time was to
introduce and develop bowling into a new market every
year - one of these was Korea which entered the bowl-
ing market in a big way and again tenpin bowling has
proved to be a tremendously popular leisure and sport
activity.
1988 Bent returned to the UK from where he handled
all bowling sales to countries outside the United States.
From 1995, Bent Petersen was responsible for the de-
velopment of bowling in Eastern Europe and the Indian
Sub-continent. The first 8-lane state-of the-art-center
opened in Moscow in the Autumn of 1997 and another
15 centers followed close behind.
Bent Petersen looked after the Bowling World Cup until
1998 when he retired to Spain. The BWC is the most
prestigious amateur singles tournament on the bowling
calendar where countries send their best man and
woman to compete in this annual event for the best ama-
teur man and woman bowler in the world.
BOWLMOR AMF Becomes
Title Sponsor For
Bowling’s U.S. Opens
Partnership includes television production,
hosting for women and men
By Terry Bigham
ARLINGTON, Texas – Bowlmor AMF, the largest op-
erator of bowling centers in the world, has made a
commitment to host and provide television sponsor-
ship for Bowling‟s U.S. Open and Women‟s U.S Open
in 2015.
The tournaments will be conducted in AMF and
Brunswick centers with more than $250,000 in funding
f o r b r o a d c a s t t e l e v i s i o n p r o d u c t i o n .
“Bowlmor AMF is thrilled to reinforce our commitment
to the sport of bowling by sponsoring the U.S. Opens,”
said Tom Shannon, Chairman, CEO and President of
Bowlmor AMF. “We look forward to further developing
a strong relationship with the USBC and BPAA to sup-
port bowlers at every level, in every state and espe-
cially in every one of our over 340 Bowlmor AMF cen-
ters.”
Jay Lietman, Vice President of Leagues for Bowlmor
AMF, added: “This is an exciting step in our renewed
commitment to competitive play at Bowlmor AMF. I am
elated about the ripple effects this will have on our
very dedicated population of league bowlers. This can
only build from here.”
The 2015 Women‟s U.S. Open will take place in late
August/early September and will be included as part of
the new Professional Women‟s Bowling Association
(PWBA) Tour schedule as an added event, providing
10 total events for women competitors during the
tour‟s schedule.
The 2015 U.S. Open will take place in November
following the Professional Bowlers Association World
Series of Bowling. The timing will allow competitors,
including those who travel from foreign countries, an-
other opportunity to take part in a major event.
Specific dates for both the U.S. Open and Women‟s
U.S. Open will be announced once sites are finalized
and a broadcast television outlet is secured.
“I want to thank Bowlmor AMF and Tom Shannon for
demonstrating a clear and unquestionable commit-
ment to competitive bowling,” said United States Bowl-
ing Congress (USBC) Executive Director Chad Mur-
phy. “This partnership shows Bowlmor AMF supports
the future of the sport and shares a deep respect for
the value of the U.S. Open.”
Plans call for the U.S. Open to include a traditional 56
-game format with three eight-game qualifying rounds
followed by a cut to the top one-third of the field before
the top 24 players qualify for round-robin match play.
Television finals will feature a stepladder format.
“This partnership is a tremendous success story for
the bowling industry,” said Bowling Proprietors‟ Asso-
ciation of America (BPAA) Executive Director Frank
DeSocio. “We have the largest operator in the world
stepping up in collaboration with International Bowling
Campus on a project to bring great benefit for bowling
at the local level and exposure in the national media.”
Both events will feature a top prize of $50,000 and
will be operated by USBC. Each will have a $400 entry
fee with a 1:3 prize ratio.
Registration for both tournaments will open April 6.
Entries will be sold on a first-come, first-serve basis
and only entries paid in full will be accepted. Those
who want to run a qualifying event should contact
Damon Sarrocco at
for
information.
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - Athletes from 49
countries from around the world are set to compete in
the 2014 World Bowling Men's Championships begin-
ning Saturday
in Abu Dhabi.
A total of 272 bowlers will compete in the event at the
Khalifa International
Bowling Centre for medals in six events - singles, dou-
bles, trios, team, all-events
and Masters.
"This event was last held in Abu Dhabi in 1999, and it
is an honor to return to the beautiful Khalifa Interna-
tional Bowling Centre once again," World Bowling
President and CEO Kevin Dornberger said. "The World
Championships are the most prestigious event in our
sport and the caliber of athletes this year is second to
none."
Competition begins with the singles event on Satur-
day and continues through Dec. 14.
To follow the competition, use the following resources:
- Results and Live scoring:
events/championships or the event website
Medals will be awarded following the medal round for
each event.
More info on this event in the January issue of Bowl-
ing World Newspaper.
