BOWLING ARTICLES

Below are three bowling articles that I’ve written.

Between the first set of ++++ is “The Rise Of Bowling Averages. It traces bowling averages from the 1950’s to around 2000 or so. Between the second set of ++++ is “Semi-Hustler”. It talks about bowlers who attempt to understate their bowling ability. Some bowlers do it for fun. Others do it for money. Between the third set of ++++ is “Junior Bowling Championship” which talks about an incident from my own junior bowling career.

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THE RISE OF BOWLING AVERAGES

Over the years three things have gone up—wages, prices, and bowling averages. In this article I won’t be talking about the first two. (Although it does give me some good ideas for a future article.) I will, however, talk about the rising bowling averages.

I bowled my first game in October 1959, at the age of 9. The following summer my father bought a recently published book on bowling. There was one statistic in that book that has stayed in my mind all of these years. The ABC (American Bowling Congress) national average for men was 153. The book went on to say that men’s scratch leagues generally required an average of 175. Since scratch leagues generally accept only superior bowlers, I soon learned to consider 153 as average, and 175 as superior. At the time I was only carrying a 77 average on the junior leagues. But you have to remember that I was only 10 years old at the time.

I continued bowling on the junior leagues through my Senior Year in High School (1967-68) Season. At that time I had an average of approximately 140. After graduating from High School, I seemed to lose interest in bowling, and didn’t return to the sport until the summer of 1978 when I joined an adult mixed league.

In recent years I began to notice that there were a lot more men with averages over 153 than there were men with averages under 153. If 153 were really the national average, shouldn’t these numbers be about the same? I had to conclude one of three possibilities: (1) The national average of 153 stated in that bowling book was simply wrong; (2) The people who I bowled with were collectively better than the national average; (3) The national average had increased since the writing of that bowling book in 1960.

Many hours of research later revealed the fact that (3) above was the correct answer. The national average for adults definitely has increased since 1960. And most of that increase has been within the last 15 years or so.

See the Table listed below:

YEAR	MEN’S AVERAGE	WOMAN’S AVERAGE
1960	153	126
1976	157	N/A
1980	159	131
1986	159	132
1993	172	141
1996 2000	178 180	N/A 145

From 1960 to 2000, men’s averages have increased 27 pins. 21 pins of that improvement took place during the last 14 years. During this same time period, women’s averages have increased 19 pins. 13 pins of this improvement took place during the last 14 years.

During the 1961-62 Season my parents bowled on a Friday Night mixed league. The three highest averages for the men on that league were 177, 175, and 171. My father carried the 175 average. He was considered a really fine bowler by those standards. Today a man who carried an average of 175 would be five pins below the national average!

Even during the 1970’s and early to mid 1980’s it was not unusual to see adult leagues where men won the high average award with an average in the 180’s. And it wasn’t unusual to see adult leagues where women won the high average award with an average in the 160’s. My mother won her share of high average awards in that Era, carrying averages in the 160’s.

Taking this concept to the professional level, consider these statistics: In 1957 Don Carter carried the world’s highest average with a 213. In 1952 Don Carter carried the world’s highest average with a 205. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not criticizing a 205 average. It’s a lot higher than any average that I’ve ever carried, and probably ever will carry. But highest average in the world? Today there are 16-year-old junior league bowlers who carry a higher average than that.

In 1954 Joe Norris was considered one of the 10 best bowlers in the world with a 194 average. In the Year 2000, over 30 percent of all adult men carried averages of 194 or higher. As recently as 1988 Mark Roth carried the World’s highest average with a 218.

In 1996, former local professional bowler Florence (Flossie) Argent was inducted into the Bowler’s Hall of Fame. An article written about her achievements said that the highest average that she ever carried was 188, during the 1962-1963 Season. The article went on to note that carrying an average in the 180’s during that Era was probably equivalent to carrying an average of over 210 today. (“Today” being the year 1996, when that article was written.)

In 1943, Nelson Burton (the father of Bo Burton) was classified as one of the greatest bowlers in the world. His average during that year was 196.

There was a time when if you wanted to see a large group of high average bowlers you had to watch the Pro Tour, or at least a scratch league. Today you are just as likely to see a large group of very high average bowlers in a handicap league. (For those of you readers who are not bowlers, a handicap league has nothing to do with physical handicaps. It merely signifies the vast majority of bowling leagues, where teams with lower average bowlers get extra pins when competing against teams with higher average bowlers. While handicap leagues will generally accept bowlers of all skill levels, scratch leagues generally limit themselves to high average bowlers.)

During the 1994-95 season I was a substitute bowler on a Tuesday Night men’s handicap league. The highest average on the league was a 226. You might expect that any man who can carry a 226 average on a handicap league would be miles ahead of his closest competitor. As it happened, he barely won high average. The second highest average was a 225. Additionally, there were three other bowlers on the league who carried averages between 212 and 217. Two of the bowlers in this latter category were a father and son who bowled on the same team. I remember the night when the son bowled a 288 in the third game, and lost to his father who bowled a 290 the same game. Even the 290 wasn’t good enough to win the league high game. The 226 average bowler had a high game of 300, and a high series of 792. And remember that this wasn’t the Pro Tour, or even a scratch league. This was a handicap league!

This past summer I bowled on an Adult-Junior League. In July I bowled my all time high series of 703. You might expect that a 703 series on a short-term summer league which contained one half junior bowlers would have easily qualified as the highest series on the league. Not even close! My 703 was only the fifth highest on the league. And what did it take to win high game on that league? Two different bowlers each turned in a 300 game. One of those bowlers was an adult. The other was a junior bowler.

In looking at the average chart above, you may ask why men’s averages are quite a bit higher than women’s averages. While this disparity exists among average bowlers, it does not seem to exist among the best bowlers. Among the top scratch league bowlers and professional bowlers the women carry just about as high of averages as men. One year I bowled on a league that bowled adjacent to a lady’s scratch league. Over half of the ladies on the league carried averages over 200. The highest average on the league was over 220.

So why have the averages increased so much in recent years? I don’t know for sure. But if I had to take a guess I would say that it is a combination of bowlers who take the game more seriously, better bowling balls, and better lane conditions. We have better bowlers who practice more and take the game more seriously. There was a time when it was unusual to see people who bowled on more than one league a week, plus 3 open play games a week. Today I know quite a few bowlers who bowl on 3 or 4 leagues a week, plus 10 to 20 open play games a week.

I recall the time in the early 1980’s when I bowled with a man whose league average dropped from 205 one year to 178 the following year. When I commented that I was surprised that his average took such a drop he said, “I don’t know what the big surprise is. Last year I bowled on 3 leagues, and I averaged anywhere from 15 to 20 open play games a week. This year I’m only bowling on one league, and I rarely bowl an open play game. Under the circumstances, I consider myself lucky to bowl as well as I am.”

Another area that has accounted for the increased averages is better teaching at the junior level. Back when I bowled on junior leagues in the 1960’s, there was no such thing as coaches. If you got any advice on the league it was from your teammates, who may have not known any more about bowling than you did. Today most junior leagues are staffed with bowling coaches. I’ve been coaching junior bowling since 1982, and have had the opportunity to work with many really outstanding coaches. If a junior bowler really wants to improve their game, they will have plenty of opportunity to do so. I recall one boy on the junior leagues whose average increased from 126 to 200 in three years. I recall a girl on the same junior league whose average increased from 115 to 177 in two years. They were both very serious about improving their games, and had coaches who were willing to give them good instruction. Of course, good junior bowlers eventually turn into good adult bowlers.

I would like to stop the article here and give all of the credit for the increased averages to the bowlers and the coaches. However, at least some of the increase in averages is the result of better lane conditions, better bowling balls, and better bowling pins. Back in the 1950’s and early 1960’s a person purchasing a bowling ball essentially had two things to choose from—the weight and the color. Most of the bowling balls back then were hard rubber, although there were a few that used even “more old-time materials”, such as mineralite. A person purchasing a bowling ball today has all sorts of choices, such as types of materials, fingertip grips, pitches, weight blocks, and a host of other things that I don’t even pretend to understand. This certainly has contributed somewhat to the fact that today’s scores are higher than they were many years ago. (If you look above at the progression of averages over the years, you will see the biggest increase from 1986 to 1993. Perhaps that is about the time when some of the biggest changes took place in bowling balls.)

Not too long ago, I visited a bowling alley while I was out of town. Because I had not brought my bowling ball along, I used a house ball. This bowling ball weighed 16 pounds (which is the same weight as my own bowling ball), and seemed to fit my hand fairly well. But it was a conventional grip, and was an old hard rubber ball. To make a long story short, I bowled a game of 101. To this day, the person who I was bowling with that afternoon never has believed my claim that at the time I was carrying a league average of over 180.

Improved technology has also made for better lane conditions and livelier bowling pins. Of course, not all lanes are the same. Some bowling alleys have a reputation for easy lane conditions while other lanes have a reputation for difficult lane conditions. This is true today, and it was also true 40 years ago. Although it seems like in recent years there are more houses that have a reputation for easy lane conditions. So which is better, the new way or the old way? There are advantages and disadvantages to each. Like most bowlers, I would prefer to bowl higher scores. At the same time, when I do bowl a high score, I have to wonder if I should get the credit, or if the credit should go to the lanes, the pins, and my bowling ball.

NOTE: This article was originally written in 1998, and updated in 2003.

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Don’t believe everything that you see. Especially when it comes to watching people bowling. Bowling can be a fun activity. On a few occasions my brother and I found that we could add a little additional fun to the game by pretending to be new bowlers and seeing the reactions of other people who try to understand our “beginners luck”.

One Saturday Night in the Fall of 1975 my brother Howard and I went bowling with two ladies (Pam and Jan) who I worked with. Howard and I told Pam and Jan that we had never bowled before, so they would have to show us how it was done. That wasn’t exactly the truth. In fact Howard and I had been bowling since 1959.

During the first game Howard and I played the role of new bowlers quite well. We were throwing balls in the gutter, throwing balls that took out 1, 2, or 3 pins etc. Several times Pam and Jan called us back to explain what we were doing wrong, and what we needed to do instead. When the second game started, Howard and I quickly switched to our real game, and suddenly we were bowling a lot better than Pam and Jan. When the second game was finished, Pam said to Jan, “I thought that those two had never bowled before.”

Another incident of this sort happened on the evening of Saturday, October 22, 1983. I had gone bowling one evening with the B’Nai Brith Men’s Association. It wasn’t a league or anything. Just something to do for a night out. We bowled that night at Olivette Lanes. I decided to have some fun, and told all of the other men that this was the first time that I ever bowled in my life. I apologized in advance if I made a fool of myself. The men told me not to worry about it. They had all been beginners at one time themselves.In reality, I had been bowling for about 24 years.

Suddenly I’m having “beginners luck”. It was during the first game when one of the bowlers named Ben said, “I can’t believe this. He is a brand new bowler, and he is killing me.” Pretending like I didn’t understand how the scoring worked I said, “No Ben, you’re beating me. You have 76. I only have 65.” But here was the catch. Ben’s score of 76 was in the sixth frame. My score of 65 was in the fourth frame, and was followed with strikes in the fifth, sixth, and seventh frames. So even though it didn’t show as such on the score sheet, I actually had 95 in the fifth frame, and a minimum of 115 in the sixth frame. Ben then said, “He doesn’t even understand how to keep score, and he’s beating all of us.”

When the first game was over I had a score of 201. None of the other men even hit 150. I said, “Ben, I don’t understand how this scoring works. I’m guessing that 201 is a fairly bad score.” Ben said, “Bad score? It’s an excellent score even for an experienced bowler. I’m beginning to wonder if you really are a new bowler, or if you are just pulling our legs.” A bowler named Rick said, “I’m wondering the same thing. Did you happen to notice that he’s throwing a hook ball? I’ve never in my life seen a brand new bowler that could throw a hook ball. That’s something that you have to be taught, and even then it requires practice to learn.”

The second game I made a point of deliberately bowling bad to lessen their suspicions. So when we were done the other men really weren’t sure what to think.

You may have thought that the men would have been suspicious of my claim to be a new bowler when I came in with my own bowling ball. Especially since it was a Johnny Petraglia LT-48, which was one of the better bowling balls of that Era. But I had a cover story for that. I told them that my brother Howard loaned me the ball for the evening. In fact, the ball used to belong to Howard, but he sold it to me in 1979. When I had the ball redrilled to fit my hand, I didn’t bother to have Howard’s name removed. So the men who looked at the ball assumed that it really did belong to Howard. (Several of them knew Howard.) Although before the bowling started Ben made the comment, “If your brother was going to loan you a bowling ball, I’m surprised that he would loan you a good ball like this. If it were me I would either loan you a cheaper bowling ball, or else just tell you to use a house ball.”

Then there was another incident where Howard got to play the part of the brand new bowler. On Saturday, April 19, 1980, I met my boss from work (Bob) at Tropicana lanes. Bob was a fairly good bowler himself. I brought Howard along. Howard and I had worked the whole thing out in advance.

When Bob showed up I said, “Bob, I’d like you to meet my brother Howard. He’s never bowled before, but he wanted to know if he could come along and bowl with us. I’m kind of against the idea because I don’t want him to be slowing us down or making a fool out of himself.” Bob said, “No, that’s the wrong attitude. He is more than welcome to bowl with us. He’s new, and he’s just going to have to learn.”

After Howard threw a couple of bad shots, similar to what you would expect from a brand new bowler, he suddenly had a streak of “beginners luck”. We bowled three games that morning, and Howard bowled better than Bob or me. Bob found the whole thing just incredible. He said, “I consider myself a fairly good bowler, but I just got beat by a beginner. Howard, you must have incredible talent. You really need to think about a career on the Professional Bowlers Tour. I don’t mean right now. But if you start practicing a lot and join a league, you may be ready for it in another five years or so.”

Bob may have never figured the truth out, had it not been for an incident that happened several weeks later. I was going bowling with Bob on a Saturday Evening, and I invited my father to come along. During the first game Bob said to my father, “Your son Howard is really incredible. A few weeks ago he bowled for the first time in his life, and he beat me.” Unfortunately, Howard and I had forgotten to tell my father what was going on.” My father said, “What are you talking about? Howard isn’t a new bowler. He’s been bowling for over 20 years. He is carrying an average of around 190 on our Sunday Night league at Strike & Spare. If they told you that Howard is a new bowler, they were just pulling your leg.”

The idea of good bowlers pretending to be new or inexperienced bowlers isn’t something that I just invented. Bowlers have been doing this for over 70 years. Unlike my brother and I, who did it just for a few laughs, some bowlers do it to hustle money. I would never do something like this to hustle money. Because if I ever tried I would be the one who lost the money. I’m nowhere near good enough for that activity. I never have been, and I never will be. However, there was a time on a Saturday Afternoon in 1962 when my father almost became the victim of a hustler at Bowl-A-Rama Lanes.

My father was at Bowl-A Rama Lanes doing some open play bowling with a man named Leo who bowled on my father’s Wednesday Night Men’s league. At the time my father was carrying a league average of around 175, and Leo was carrying a league average in the 160’s. Back in those days bowling averages were a lot lower than they are today. (A topic which I discuss in more detail in my article, “The Rise In Bowling Averages”.) The national average for adult men in 1962 was in the middle 150’s. So my father and Leo were better than average bowlers.

A few lanes away from where my father and Leo were bowling they saw a man bowling alone, who clearly didn’t know what he was doing. He was throwing more balls in or near the gutter than he was near the center of the lane.

The person working the counter at Bowl-A-Rama that day was a man named Larry Fitzgerald. He bowled on the same men’s league with my father and Leo. However, Larry was a much better bowler, carrying a league average of around 195. Which during 1962 made him a really excellent bowler. Just a notch or two below professional level.

As my father and Leo were bowling, Larry called them up to the desk. He pointed out the man who was bowling so poorly and said, “If my guess is right in a few minutes that man is going to approach you and ask if you want to bowl a few games with him for money. If he does say no.” My father said, “Are you kidding? I would love to bowl that clown for some money. It would be the easiest money that I ever got.” Larry laughed and said, “Don’t fool yourself. That man is an excellent bowler, and he is also a hustler. He’s bowling poorly now to trick someone into playing him for money. Once the money is on the table you’ll quickly see just how good he really is.”

My father asked, “Do you know that man, Larry?” Larry replied, “I’ve never seen him before in my life. But I can spot those guys a mile away. Notice how after every shot he’s looking around the building? He wants to see if anybody is watching him. And notice that bottle of beer that he is drinking from? That bottle of beer will probably last him all afternoon, because he is probably taking tiny sips, if he is even swallowing it at all. He wants any potential competitors to think that they may be bowling against someone who is drunk.

My father said, “Why don’t you go down and challenge him, Larry? You’re a very fine bowler. I’m sure that you could beat him” Larry said, “No way am I going to play against him for money. I know that he is good. But I have no idea how good. He could very well be a lot better bowler than I am.”

My father and Leo were skeptical of Larry’s claim that the man who was bowling like a complete beginner could really be an excellent bowler. But their skepticism didn’t last long. As Larry had predicted, about 10 minutes later the man approached my father and Leo and asked if they wanted to bowl a few games for money. My father and Leo said “no thanks” and just said that they did not believe in gambling.

It wasn’t long afterwards when the man found another man who did agree to bowl with him. My father noticed both men opening their wallets and putting money on the table. Once the money was on the table the man who had been bowling like an absolute beginner a few minutes earlier was suddenly firing one ball after another into the pocket and putting together a long string of strikes.

Most hustlers pretend to be bad bowlers until the money is on the table, but there are others who openly boast about how good they are when they look for a challenge. I recall a good match that I got to watch back in the early 1960’s, while I was still in grade school. I was with my family that evening at Nelson Burton Lanes. It’s the same place that is now called Olivette Lanes. Back then it was owned by the professional bowler Nelson Burton, who was considered to be one of the greatest bowlers in the world. His son (Nelson Burton Junior, who has been called Bo for as long as I can remember) later became one of the top professional bowlers in the world as well.

At the time that this incident took place, Bo was about 15 years old. Anyway, a man walked to the front counter, announced that he was an excellent bowler, and said that he was looking for somebody who would be willing to bowl him 10 games. Whoever had the higher total at the end of the 10 games would win $100. The person at the counter who the man was talking with just happened to be Nelson Burton himself. Nelson Burton said, “You definitely don’t want to bowl against me. I’m the professional bowler Nelson Burton. In fact, I’m surprised that you don’t recognize me from the TV bowling shows. But I will make you this offer. I’ll put up the $100 and let you bowl against my 15 year old son, Bo.” The man laughed and said, “You think that a 15 year old boy can beat me? You can’t be serious. How many pins do I have to spot him?” Nelson Burton said, “You don’t have to spot him any pins.” The man was more than happy to accept that challenge.

My family and I sat there and watched the match. The man was an excellent bowler. But Bo Burton was a lot better. Despite the fact that Bo was only 15 years old, he had three things going for him. First, his father was one of the greatest bowlers in the world. So Bo got a lot of top quality instructions. Second, his father owned the bowling alley. So Bo could bowl as many games as he wanted at no cost. Third, in this particular match he was bowling at the house whose lanes he knew the best, because he had bowled so many games there.

The man and Bo were supposed to bowl 10 games. However, at the end of 8 games Bo’s total pins were so far ahead of the man’s total pins that the man didn’t even bother to bowl the last two games. He said to Bo, “I couldn’t beat you now if I shot 300 in my last two games.” He paid the $100 to Nelson Burton, packed up his bowling equipment and walked out the door.

NOTE: This article was written in 2009

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JUNIOR BOWLING CHAMPIONSHIP

As I was thinking about my junior bowling career, I remembered a funny incident that happened towards the end of that time. The incident happened on Saturday, April 27, 1968.

I was bowling on a Saturday Afternoon Junior Bowling League at Embassy Lanes. It was the last day of the second half of the season. My team was tied with another team for first place. We bowled three games each week, so whichever team won at least 2 games that afternoon would be the first place champions for the second half.

Our team captain was a boy named Bud. Before the first game started he called the team together to give us a pep talk. He said, “Some bowlers choke up under pressure, and bowl way below their average. None of you had better do that today, because I want to win first place.”

As things turned out, Debbie, Gary, and I all bowled around our averages. So we didn’t choke up. The one who did choke up, however, was Bud He threw his first 5 balls right into the gutter. At the end of the 5th frame he had a total of 19. At the end of the first game he had a score of 80. Considering that his average was around 150, I’d say that he choked up big time. His 2nd and 3rd games were in the 120’s. A lot better than 80, but still considerably below his average.

Our team lost all 3 games that afternoon, and consequently did not win first place. The following Monday at school Bud told everyone who would listen about how “Wayne lost the bowling league championship for our team on Saturday”.

Can you believe that one? Then again, Bud always did live in somewhat of a fantasy world. Throughout high school he frequently talked about how he intended to get a football scholarship to college. A rather lofty goal considering the fact that he wasn’t even good enough to make the high school football team. Such is life.

NOTE: This article was written in 2010.

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