6
– SEPTEMBER 2013
SERVING THE BOWLING INDUSTRY SINCE 1967
Bob Markiewicz
Becomes Good Samaritan On Way Home
From PBA50 Tour
By Bill Vint
A funny thing happened to PBA member Bob
Markiewicz on his way back home to San Diego after
finishing out the PBA50 Tour season in Welch, Minn.
He turned into a Good Samaritan and may be the driving
force in saving a small-town’s bowling center from extinc-
tion.
For bowling fans who don’t know Markiewicz by name
or face, you likely have been impacted by his role in the
sport. He the founder of InteGreat Software, the company
that designed the Brackman software used around the
world to manage brackets at bowling tournaments.
Markiewicz also is an accomplished bowler who had
held PBA membership for several years before illness
forced him into temporary retirement. He recently decided
to kick-start his game, at age 51, and after bowling the
final PBA50 Tour events of the year, decided to re-join the
PBA.
Following the Treasure Island Resort & Casino Open,
he decided to visit his sister (Pam Spidahl) in Devil Lake,
N.D., before returning home to San Diego.
It was only about a six-hour drive from Minnesota,
Markiewicz said, but when I got to Devil Lake, I learned
there is a 16-lane bowling center (Royal Lanes) that is in
danger of closing. The proprietor (Jim Mellon) basically
said if business doesn’t improve this year, he is going to
close the center.
This town has really inspired me he added. This got me
thinking about a lot of things in my life, and a cause like
this just grabs you.
Markiewicz decided to do what he could to help rescue
the center, which had seen its adult league-bowler base
shrink from 730 men and women in 2006 to 191 adults
last season. Even worse, Royal Lanes youth program
only included 18 kids. Markiewicz talked to the owner and
offered to lend a hand.
I helped organize a $1-a-game promotion a couple of
weeks ago, they had 120 people including the first waiting
list the center had seen in years. It goes to show what you
can do in a small town if you promote things, he said. In
small towns, everyone knows everyone, so word gets
around if you know how to do it.
Taking on a challenge like trying to help save a failing
bowling center is something Markiewicz understands. He
was the lead programmer for a software company in San
Diego, but got laid off. So using his skills and his passions
for bowling, he started his own company – InteGreat Soft-
ware.
One door closed, another opened, he said. In his newly
re-discovered role as a PBA member, he is trying to use
that status to rebuild the grassroots league bowling base
in Devil Lake.
Every once in a while, as a professional, your given an
opportunity others don’t have to influence people, he
added, but you have to have the desire to step forward.
People can say the same thing I say, but because they
aren’t professionals, people don’t listen the same way. Its
an opportunity some people don’t know how to handle,
but it is something they can use if they choose to use it in
a constructive way. I can honestly say the work I’ve done
in Devils Lake has made me feel better than anything else
I have ever done in bowling.
International Field For
World Series Grows
to 19 Countries
With new entries from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, a
field of 46 international players from a record 19 coun-
tries will compete in the PBA World Series of Bowling V
when its gets underway Oct. 25 at
South Point Bowl-
ing Center in Las Vegas
.
With roughly six weeks to go, there were fewer than
50 spots available for the 240-player World Series field.
PBA members will compete for five titles in Las Vegas:
the Cheetah, Chameleon, Scorpion and Viper Champi-
onships plus the PBA World Championship.
Bowlmor-AMF Merger
Causing Ripples
By Fred Eisenhammer / LA Bowling Examiner
Since New York-based Bowlmor took over
AM
orldwide, Inc. about two months ago,
the acquiring company has been making its presence
known. And not everyone is pleased with the results.
Locally, Georgett Studnicka, the two-time president
of the Monday morning Christmas Club league at
n Woodland Hills, reported Thursday
that many daytime league bowlers at the center are
―shocked and sad‖ at the closing of several Woodlake
leagues.
―About 100 to 150 women [bowlers] are being dis-
placed,‖ said Studnicka, a Chatsworth resident. ―Some
are going to
in Tarzana]. Others are just
retiring.‖
Studnicka, who is in her 70s, bowls in both the
Christmas Club and Wednesday morning Troublemak-
ers leagues. The Troublemakers league has about 50
members and is believed to have existed for more than
40 years. The Troublemakers players bowled their last
games in that league Wednesday; many of them are
moving on to Corbin.
Studnicka said Troublemakers members were re-
cently told that its fall season would start Sept. 4. A few
days later, members were notified that there would be
no league bowling in the morning, Studnicka said.
Studnicka said the 12-person Christmas Club league
is scheduled to finish its season in December and ex-
pects the league will not continue. Woodlake Bowl’s
Fall Follies league with its some 50 bowlers also will
not be continuing.
Kay Fountain, the secretary for the Christmas Club
and Troublemakers leagues, said ―the people who are
coming in from New York think the economy in this end
of the Valley is great.‖
As a result, Fountain said she expected Woodlake
Lanes was trying to create a ―party center for young
adults for the 20-30 crowd.‖
Bob Edwards, the general manager of Woodlake
Lanes, said ―the new boss felt our daytime bowling was
not paying off because of the operating costs of the
business and made a decision to open at 4 [p.m.] and
save hundreds and hundreds of dollars in payroll.‖
Edwards said the decision to end several leagues
was difficult for him because ―I know a lot of the ladies
a long time. It was one of the toughest things I had to
do. It was nothing against the ladies. I called [other]
bowling centers and asked them if they had room [for
the discontinued leagues].
―It’s upsetting to me because [Woodlake] has been
home to some of the women for 40 years,‖ Edwards
said. ―It was a financial decision. The first thing I did
was trying to find somewhere else for them to bowl.‖
Edwards added: ―The nighttime leagues are fine. We’ll
continue to operate from 4 until midnight.‖
The merger of Bowlmor and AMF has resulted in a
new company called Bowlmor AMF. It is the largest
operator of bowling centers in the world with 7,500 em-
ployees and 272 bowling centers.
Before the merger, Bowlmor operated with six bowl-
ing centers under the control of Tom Shannon, who is
now the chief executive, chairman and president of
Bowlmor AMF. None of Bowlmor’s bowling houses had
league play.
In an interview after the merger, Shannon said that
Bowlmor was the ―only bidder willing to pay‖ to help
AMF out of bankruptcy. It was the second time in 10
years that AMF had been in bankruptcy.
―I didn’t buy AMF to get in bankruptcy a third time,
but to save it,‖ Shannon had said in the July 9 inter-
view.
In that interview, Shannon also declared that league
bowling under the new company was ―very safe.‖
―We plan to increase the league bowling business,
not shrink it,‖ Shannon had said.
Shannon could not be reached for comment for this
story.
With Over 1.4 Million
Views, This
Unfortunate 300 Attempt
Goes Viral!
Troy Walker was participating in the 2013 Luci
Bonneau Doubles Tournament in Houston, Texas
at Palace Lanes. He rolled 11 consecutive strikes
and on his 12th ball, the rake arm from the pinset-
ter blocked his ball from hitting the pins.
This charity bowling tournament was live-webcast
on
nd sponsored by Storm
Products.
Commentators were Mike Flanagan & Robert
McBride
