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Midwest report
May 09 , 2008

Jeff Crowley

USBC Open Report

I just recently returned from the “Land of Enchantment,” Albuquerque, NM, where I bowled in the 105th USBC Open Championships. When I returned to work at The Gleaner, a co-worker asked me, “How did you get all of your bowling balls through the airport?”

Thanks to Dana Pauline, who heads up “Bowling Ball Express,” a service set up four years ago by the USBC, I don’t have to get my bowling balls through the airport. Dana said, “We will handle roughly 40,000 bowling balls by the end of the USBC Open Tournament. We started this as a convenience for bowlers, due to stricter airline regulations.”

“Counting me, we have a staff of 10 and we’re open 7 days a week, 8:00AM to 2:00AM. We stay open until all the bowlers leave the lanes. Bowlers in the 11:30PM doubles and singles squad need to ship their equipment home, so we stay open to accommodate them.”

“We self insure all packages up to a declared value of $500. Additional insurance can be purchased for $5.00 up to a declared value of $1,200. We will replace any ball that arrives late or damaged, if a few simple rules are followed by the bowler. First, ship your equipment at least 8 business days in advance of when you want to pick up your balls, or ship 3 day, 2 day, or next day.”

“Do not ship your balls in bowling bags. Visit your local pro shop and pick up a 4 ball box and individually box each ball. Print your UPS label at www.usbcopen.com. Balls that have been plugged will not be covered if damaged.”

Dana added, “We donate any equipment left in lockers or at the convention center to local youth bowlers. If a bowler calls us and says, I left my shoes in locker 127, we arrange to mail them their shoes or anything else, but it is amazing how much equipment that is just left by bowlers.”

About an hour before your scheduled squad time, you must visit the scale room. The scale room is just one of the many responsibilities of Roger Coram, Night Manager for the USBC Open. Roger said, “We are the only tournament that still checks every bowling ball that a bowler may want to use.”

The scale room has a staff of 13, which consists of 5 regulars who travel with the tournament, and 8 local hires. The locals go through a week of training to learn how to weigh and check the balance and the hardness of a bowling ball. The 5 travelers are the only people who make ball corrections, which involve drilling a weight hole in the ball to bring it back in to specifications.”

“We check 600,000 balls during the tournament. It takes about 20 seconds to weigh a ball, check its weights (top, side, finger, etc) and hardness. Of all those balls, about 7,000 to 8,000 will not be in compliance with the rules, and will need to be corrected. Rarely do we ever find a bowler who is trying to gain an illegal advantage by knowingly altering his or her ball. 99.99% of the time, the bowler has no idea anything is wrong with his or her ball.”

Matt Cannizzaro, Media Specialist for the USBC Open Tournament said, “This year’s tournament is the 2nd largest, excluding Reno, NV tournaments, with over 12, 600 teams. However, in the beginning, the American Bowling Congress, founded in 1895, now the United States Bowling Congress, was not in favor of a national tournament. The founding fathers of the ABC felt their role was to standardize playing rules and equipment specifications.”

“But by 1900, tournament competition had become more popular and delegates to the ABC Convention began to voice their desire for a national championship to be conducted by ABC. The Chicago delegates threatened to secede from ABC if they did not continue to work toward a national tournament. As a result Chicago was awarded the 1901 Convention with a tournament to be staged at the same time.”

“The Chicago delegation decided to lease the 2nd floor of the Welsbach Building in Chicago, and Brunswick Balke-Collender Corp. agreed to donate 6 lanes and all the furnishings for the tournament. The Illinois Bowling association raised $1,000 to add to the prize fund and provided medals bearing an eagle design to champions in the team, doubles, and singles events.”

“On January 8th 1901, the USBC Open Championships, (originally called the ABC Championships Tournament) was born. The 4 day event drew 41 teams from 9 states. The competitors bowled team, doubles, and singles, with each event consisting of 3 games, a format that remains to this day. Entry fees were $5.00 per bowler, per event with a total prize fund of $1,592. By everyone’s assessment, that first Open Championship was a success.”

Brian Lewis, Tournament Director, said, “Albuquerque is a great vacation spot. The weather is super, there’s golfing, museums, casinos, balloon rides, just to name a few activities. This is the largest convention center in which we’ve held the tournament, at 110,000 square feet.”

“Scoring is at a pace we expected, with 12 – 300 games, 3 – 299’s and 2 -298’s. There have not been many complaints about the lane conditions. Bowlers have attributed their higher scores to Sport League conditions back home.”

“We have already had over 10,000 entries for next year’s tournament in Las Vegas. The 2010 tournament location is TBD, but should be announced at the convention in Kansas City, 2011 is Reno, 2012 is Baton Rouge, and 2013 is Reno, NV.”

Until next time, may the high scores be yours!

Jeff Crowley covers bowling for the Evansville (IN) Courier Press. He has graciously allowed AlabamaBowling.Com to republish his articles. Jeff can be reached by e-mail at CrowleyJA@thegleaner.com

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