Walter Ray Williams Jr. Named Senior Rookie of The Year

Professional Bowlers Association Hall of Famer Walter Ray Williams Jr. added another milestone to his illustrious career by earning the 2010 PBA Senior Rookie of the Year award. Robert Harvey of Boise, Idaho was selected the Senior Tour’s Dick Weber Sportsmanship Award winner. 

Williams, the 50-year-old Senior Tour rookie who earned a record seventh PBA Player of the Year honor earlier in the year, got the news of his award at home in Ocala, FL, where he is recuperating from recent hernia surgery. 

As a rookie on the Senior Tour, Williams won the PBA Senior Miller High Life Classic in Mooresville, NC, in his Senior Tour debut. He also finished second to 2010 Senior Player of the Year Wayne Webb in the United States Bowling Congress Senior Masters and had back-to-back third-place finishes in the PBA Senior Lake County Indiana and Senior Pepsi Opens. 

Williams, the PBA Tour’s all-time leader in wins with 47 titles, challenged for Senior Player of the Year going into the final tournament of the season and would have been the first to earn both honors in the same year, but Webb’s victory eliminated any chance for that honor. 

“It seems a little odd to win a Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year award in the same year but I had a great time bowling on the Senior Tour,” Williams said. “I was shooting for Player of the Year but Wayne bowled very well and he was able to clinch that award in the last tournament of the
season. 

“I enjoyed meeting the new guys and bowling against some of the others I had bowled against in the past, but I can tell you that there are plenty of good players on the Senior Tour.” 

Williams discovered he had a hernia at the Senior Pepsi Open in Decatur in August but was able to finish the season before heading home to have it checked out. 

“I woke up one morning and noticed a slight bump; otherwise I wouldn’t have known it was there. There was no pain and it didn’t really affect my bowling,” Williams said. 

“I had it checked out when I got back home and the doctor said ‘yeah, it’s a hernia.’ 

“Fortunately we were able to schedule the surgery so I’ll be ready for the World Series of Bowling (which begins the PBA Tour season Oct. 24 in Las Vegas). I need to stay away from heavy lifting for the next three weeks or so but I should be ready to continue a normal schedule a week or so prior to the start of the season.” 

Harvey, currently a pro shop owner and instructor, lost the lease on his 16-lane bowling center earlier this year which opened up his schedule to bowl full time on the Senior Tour. 

“It’s a great honor,” said the 54-year-old Harvey after receiving news of the Sportsmanship award.
 
“It was a year that started good and got even better as it went on. “As fate would have it with the center closing, it was an opportunity to turn lemons into lemonade. To be able to win this award after being a member for only four years is something that I wouldn’t have expected.” 

Harvey had best finishes of sixth in the PBA Senior HP Lanes Open and seventh in the USBC Senior Masters and finished 10th in Senior Tour points. 

Harvey, who has competed on the Senior Tour since 2006, owns his only title in the Illinois State BPA Ladies and Legends with Kelly Kulick in 2008. He is also getting ready to compete in the PBA World Series of Bowling next month. 

Both the Senior Rookie of the Year and Sportsmanship Awards were voted on by Senior Tour players.

BPAA Tops 4,000 Members Again

The Bowling Proprietors' Association of America (BPAA), announced that it  surpassed the 4,000 membership mark. Fluctuation in member centers has the organization at 4,000 member bowling centers once again. Jason Oskerson, from Kee Lanes in Kiester, MN was officially recognized as the 4,000th member to the join the organization. 

Youth Education Services (YES) Fund Created

In a groundbreaking agreement, leaders of the nation’s largest bowling manufacturers will partner with the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America (BPAA) and the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) to create a new funding source dedicated to youth bowling development and marketing.

The new Youth Education Services (YES) Fund is a joint initiative of BPAA, USBC and The Bowling Foundation. Many of the leading brands in bowling, including Brunswick, Columbia 300, Ebonite, 900 Global, Hammer, QubicaAMF, Roto Grip, Storm and Track, have agreed to significant contributions to the YES Fund totaling more than $250,000.

“This is an unprecedented statement about the level of unity being created in the bowling industry through the International Bowling Campus,” BPAA Executive Director Steve Johnson said. “This is about more than one organization or company; bowling is the brand and seeing such a strong commitment to the future of our sport from these great partners is truly exciting.”

An initial focus for the YES Fund project will be development of a new mainstream sports model for bowlers 12 years old and younger. This will involve testing new team-based structures for competition along with the development of training and recruitment programs to attract volunteer coaches.

“This project demonstrates the high level of commitment proprietors and manufacturers have toward growing bowling as a sport,” USBC Executive Director Stu Upson said. “The goals of the YES Fund completely align with USBC’s vision and will only strengthen our organization.”

Programs initiated through the YES Fund will be led by BPAA Director of Youth Chad Murphy and supported with staff from USBC and BPAA. Soon, there will be additional opportunities for more partners to join the program.

“The partnerships that have been created unite the industry in a single cause – the betterment of youth bowling. The commitment by the leaders of bowling to join together in this effort will strengthen the sport today and for generations to come,” Murphy said. “We are thrilled to have many top bowling brands on board and expect more industry partners will soon follow.”

The concept of the YES Fund was introduced at an inaugural youth bowling summit last month at the International Bowling Campus. During the summit, executives from some of the industry’s leading brands heard a detailed presentation about the project and all in attendance quickly agreed to contribute to the fund. Plans call for initial testing of pilot programs related to the YES Fund later this year.

“Brunswick is proud to be a part of the YES Fund industry initiative. It is great to see all the companies make an investment into the future of our industry as we work together to create a more positive experience for our youth bowlers.” – Brian Graham, Brunswick Consumer Products

“The brands of Ebonite International are proud to be contributing participants in the new YES Fund. In our view, the YES Fund program is the best possible approach to garnering industry involvement in developing programs that can ensure the future of our sport…America’s youth.” – Bob Reid, Ebonite International

“We at 900 Global are proud to be involved in a new and refreshing approach to build interest and education within youth bowling. After hearing the presentation and plan for the YES Fund, we were very excited and felt it was vital for us to be a part of something that will build on the future of our sport.” – Dave Smart, 900 Global

“QubicaAMF believes that the development of youth bowling is one of the keys to the long term health of our industry and that we are excited to be a founding partner of the YES Fund program.” – John Walker, QubicaAMF

“It was a real easy decision for Storm to make to be a part of the YES Fund program. We were very impressed by the way BPAA and USBC came together with this initiative and we realize the future of bowling is with the kids.” – Dave Symes, Storm Products

PBA Unveils The Dick Weber PBA Playoffs

The Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour will reward 180 PBA exempt layers and PBA Regional competitors for their performances during the 2010-11 season with seeded positions into a new end-of-season Dick Weber PBA Playoffs, scheduled for March 8-13 at Woodland Bowl in Indianapolis.
 

The inaugural PBA Playoffs will feature five preliminary elimination rounds leading up to three “television elimination round” shows which will narrow the field to six players for the final telecast of the 2010-11 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour season on Sunday, April 17, when the PBA Playoffs championship will be decided.

“The PBA staff, players, news media and other interested parties have talked a 
great deal over the past two or three years about the need for a special event 
to conclude our national tour season,” said PBA CEO and Commissioner Fred 
Schreyer. “After a great deal of discussion, we arrived at the PBA Playoffs 
concept. We think it’s going to become one of the most exciting and most 
anticipated events on tour.”

The PBA Playoffs, borrowing a chapter from end-of-season championship playoff 
series in virtually every other sport, will provide a showdown for 108 of the 
nation’s top regional players along with 72 players from the Lumber Liquidators 
PBA Tour. The better every player bowls during the season will determine his/her 
seeding position at Playoffs time.

The new PBA Playoffs format will include six unique elimination “pods,” each 
featuring 18 top PBA Regional players based upon competition points accumulated 
between Oct. 1, 2009, and Nov. 30, 2010. The PBA’s East, South, Central, 
Southwest, Midwest and combined West/Northwest each will be assigned to a pod.

Each Regional pod also will include seeded PBA Tour players based upon their 
2010-11 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour competition points rankings, with 
higher-ranking Tour players earning bye rounds based upon their standings on the 
points list. The seeding of PBA Tour players into the pods will be based 
exclusively on points, and will have no bearing on the region where they live. 
The seeded Tour players will be added to pods by random drawing at a later date.

Track Adds Track-tion to the 7 Series

Track's 715T is the first "T" (Track-tion) ball released in the 7 series; designed to be a stronger version of the popular 505T. The designers set out to make a more aggressive product by using an all-new “UMP GEN4T” coverstock in striking Red/Yellow/Blue colors, finished with 500/1000/2000 Abralon®. This cover has a larger footprint on the lane to help carve through the head oil. The Asymmetrical “Catback” core found in the 7 series features RG of 2.52 and Diff. of .052 in #15. World Wide Release Date 10/7/10.

O'Neil Named Kegel August Bowler of the Month

Bill O'Neill of Southampton, Pa., has been named the August 2010 Kegel Bowler of the Month by the Bowling Writers Association of America (BWAA).

Nicknamed "The Real Deal," the 28-year-old O'Neill captured singles and all-events crowns at the 2010 World Tenpin Bowling Association's (WTBA) Men's World Championships in Munich/Unterföhring, Germany. 

After qualifying fourth in the singles competition, O'Neill defeated top-seeded Dominic Barrett, England, 187-170 before downing Bok-Eum Choi, Korea, 244-202, for the singles gold medal. O'Neill averaged 222 over 24 games in winning the all-events gold medal.

This marks the third Kegel Bowler of the Month award O'Neill has won the in the last 12 months, adding to his September 2009 and February 2010 awards.

Others capturing votes were Chris Barnes, winner of the Masters gold medal at the WTBA Men's World Championships, Wayne Webb, winner of the PBA Senior Jackson Open and 2010 PBA Senior Player of the Year, and Tom Baker, winner of the PBA Senior Pepsi Open.

Hammer is Steppin Out with Swagga

In a limited edition ball introduction, in co-operation with The National Bowling Association (TNBA) , the new Hammer Swagga is a Black/Red/Carmel “Level 2” reactive cover (used currently on the Plague) finished to 2000 (in three steps – 800/1000/2000) surrounding the Black Widow “Gas Mask” core. Core numbers for a #15 ball: RG – 2.50 and RG Differential - .060. A donation to the TNBA will be made by Hammer for each Swagga sold. Expect the Swagga on October 5th, 2010.