6
- JANUARY 2014
SERVING THE BOWLING INDUSTRY SINCE 1967
PBA Hall of Famers
Steve Cook, Doug Kent Elected
To USBC Hall of Fame
By Bill Vint
PBA Hall of Famers
Steve Cook
of Granite Bay, Calif., and
Doug Kent
of Newark,
N.Y., have been elected to the United States Bowling Congress Hall of Fame in the
Superior Performance category.
The two were among six bowlers on the men's national ballot and none of the can-
didates received the 70 percent of the votes cast by USBC‘s panel of veteran bowl-
ing writers, hall of famers and board members needed for election. In such cases,
USBC‘s procedure calls for leading vote-getters to be re-considered by the USBC
Hall of Fame Committee where they can be confirmed by 70 percent approval of the
committee members.
Also on the Superior Performance ballot this year were PBA stars
David Ozio
of
Beaumont, Texas;
Danny Wiseman
of Baltimore;
Larry Laub
of, Lincoln, Calif.,
and
Randy Pedersen
of Clermont, Fla.
Cook; Kent; previously-elected
John Gaines
of Orlando, Fla.;
Dale Traber
of Ce-
darburg, Wis., and the late
Woody Woodruff
of Long Island, N.Y., will be inducted
on April 24 during the USBC Convention in Reno, Nev.
Cook, 56, a 15-time PBA Tour champion, was inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame
in 1993. His titles include the 1981 Tournament of Champions, 1983 Touring Play-
ers Championship and the 1986 U.S. Open. Kent, 46, owns 10 PBA titles including
the 1991 and 2006 USBC Masters plus the 2002 and 2007 PBA World Champion-
ships.
Commercial Time!
Corbin Bowling Center
(Tarzana, Calif.) was the setting for one of
Cottonelle's "Bum" TV commercials introducing one of their
new personal hygiene products. The spot is titled,
"Getting all the spares." Check it out by clicking the link:
Bowl O Pinion by Jim Goodwin January 2014
New Year, New Approach?
We can only hope
Bowling has an image problem.
What is bowling? For millions, it is an iconic American game that is simply taken for
granted. It is one of a myriad of things in our lives, and we truly don‘t give much
thought to our practice of occasionally hitting the alleys as a family or as a fun outing
as a teen or as a healthy social gathering place for seniors. And most people rarely,
if ever, think of bowling as a sport that can be played as a profession.
Marketing studies tell us that 70 million Americans bowl at least once a year. That
makes bowling not only a good game, but a good business. From personal experi-
ence, I can tell you that it is not an easy business, but running a successful center is
very rewarding in a variety of ways. The relationships that proprietors and managers
develop with good customers are priceless, and sometimes last a lifetime.
But in 2014, is bowling a SPORT?
For those of us who have followed the pro tours or played the game on a high
level, there is no question that it is one of the most technical and challenging sports
in the world. We also know that the vast majority of Americans don‘t see it as we
do. We are told that the game is held in high regard in places like Europe and Asia,
but if those places follow the American lead of turning bowling into a mere recrea-
tion, it won‘t be long before any chance of seeing bowling in the Olympics or on a
world-wide professional tour will be lost. Perhaps it already is.
Strong evidence that bowling as a sport is in very serious trouble is abundant. Start
with an 80% decline in organized league bowling since 1980. Add to that the many
failed efforts to get bowling into the Olympics, and the disappearance of an Ameri-
can women‘s pro tour. And the PBA Tour is really no longer a tour . . . it is a small
series of gatherings where multiple television shows are produced and players vie
for relatively small prize funds. Today, if we randomly ask Americans to name a top
bowler, many if not most would give answers like Carter and Weber, names from
bowling‘s glory days of more than a half century ago. Others would not be able to
name even one.
Recent efforts to promote bowling seem to indicate that even the top leaders in the
industry have accepted that bowling is primarily a recreation. Print ads, provided by
BPAA, USBC and the International Bowling Campus in Arlington which have been
running free of charge in this newspaper and many others, say ―Bowling is a healthy
way to live‖ and ―Bowling promotes family bonding – fun for kids & parents too,‖ and
―Bowling provides an excellent source of positive social interactions that can im-
prove health and increase quality of life.‖
The ad also says that ―250+ colleges and high schools in 47 states offer bowling,‖
and that ―The bowling industry provides more than $6 million in scholarships each
year.‖ That is all well and good, and we applaud these efforts; and we are proud to
provide these positive messages for free, but did you notice the word SPORT any-
where in these ads? It reminds us of the time when Bowling Inc. started and they
came up with the slogan ―More Bowlers, bowling more often, having more fun.‖
We asked then ―What about the sport?‖ and we are asking again now.
Industry and Mainstream Media
Recently, Bowlers Journal Magazine celebrated its 100
th
anniversary, and it got a
fair amount of attention from media sources outside the industry. The most promi-
nent came from an article written by Kevin Helliker for the Wall Street Journal on
December 9.
Helliker‘s article
Bowlers Journal International Rolls On
was about the incredible
longevity of the BJ, but in his research for the piece, Helliker uncovered some incon-
venient truth about bowling that could not be ignored; thus the sub-headline
Tough
times strike bowling and bowling journalists, but one magazine recently turned 100.
(Continued on page 9)
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