E-dition No. 984 • Thursday, January 11, 2018
Editor: Bob Johnson (bjibob@aol.com)
Thrift Promoted to VP of Operations at Kegel
John Thrift has been promoted to Vice President of Operations for Kegel. Thrift will now oversee all machine and chemical manufacturing, as well as shipping for all bowling products. In addition, he will create the strategic operational plan to manage Kegel’s continuing growth.
Thrift began working in Kegel’s manufacturing department in 1999. He later was promoted to Lane Machine Production Supervisor and Quality Control Manager because of his depth of knowledge and commitment to Kegel’s quality standards. Using his technical knowledge and organizational skills, Thrift also served as Technical Support Manager and Project Manager, specializing in new product development and launches. Last year, he was selected to be Operations Manager, and with his success in that role, earned his promotion to Vice President.
“I see this as a great opportunity for growth and positive change in both Kegel and myself,” Thrift said.
Chris Chartrand, Kegel’s CEO, said, “John’s contributions to Kegel over the years helped position him for this opportunity. Also, he possesses the necessary mindset to view things conceptually that being a VP requires. I have the utmost confidence that John’s leadership will play an essential role in our future as we continue working hard to ‘improve the bowling experience.’”
Ebonite Announces Seminar Dates for Winter
Ebonite International has unveiled a list of dates and sites for its Winter Seminar Swing for pro shop operators.
Here’s the schedule:
* January 15 — Brunswick Zone Deptford Lanes, Deptford Township, N.J.
* January 16 — Farmingdale Lanes, Farmingdale, N.Y.
* January 17 — Hall of Fame Silver Lanes, East Hartford, Conn.
* January 19 — Colonial Lanes, Orlando, Fla.
* January 22 — Arapahoe Bowling Center, Greenwood Village, Colo. (9 a.m.-12 noon); Bowl-A Roll, Rochester, N.Y.; Tower Lanes, Tacoma, Wash.
* January 23 — Colony Park Lanes, York, Pa.
* January 24 — Pacific Avenue Bowl, Stockton, Calif.; Cedarvale Lanes, Egan, Minn.
* January 25 — Brunswick Zone Classic Lanes, Norco, Calif.; George Pappas Victory Lanes, Mooresville, N.C.; Revs, Oshkosh, Wis.
* January 26 — Brunswick Zone Mesa Lanes, Mesa, Ariz.; Stars and Strikes, Sandy Springs, Ga.; Stardust Bowl, Addison, Ill.
* January 29 — Skore Lanes, Taylor, Mich.; International Training and Research Center, Arlington, Texas
* January 30 — Copperfield Bowl, Houston, Texas
* January 31 — Pinheads, Fishers, Ind.
* February 1 — Plaza Lanes, St. Charles, Mo.; Beaver Vu Bowl, Beavercreek, Ohio
* February 2 — Spins Bowl, Akron, Ohio
All seminars run from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. except where noted, and the $120 attendance fee includes a Trak high-performance bowling ball and a limited-edition backpack.
Pro shop operators may contact their favorite distributor for further information.
Mischel Named Managing Partner of Hansell Group
Sandy Hansell and Associates, Inc., the industry’s primary broker and valuator of bowling centers, has been reorganized and reinvigorated, the company announced this week.
Now called the Hansell Group, the company will continue to provide state-of-the-art brokerage, valuation and consulting services to the entire bowling industry, including potential investors and center proprietors.
The new operation will upgrade and expand its marketing efforts both within and outside of the industry, utilizing traditional and social media marketing to establish bowling centers as sound investments.
All current associates — including Sandy Hansell, Ken Mischel, David Driscoll, Marcel Fournier, Pat Bosco and Marty Mischel, plus a new associate, Mike Monroe — will be available to service clients. Mischel, the managing partner of the new company, can be reached at mischelco@msn.com.
Diana Zavjalova Joins H5G’s Player Staff
Professional Women’s Bowling Association star Diana Zavjalova, a native of Latvia and winner of the recent World Bowling Tour Women’s Finals Presented by the PBA (http://www.bowlersjournal.com/belmonte-zavjalova-win-wbt-finals/) has joined the H5G player staff, H5G President Todd Molbeck has announced.
The 26-year-old Zavjalova — winner of the 2013 and 2017 USBC Queens in addition to a third PWBA title in Welch, Minn., plus a PBA Regional title in Kokomo, Ind., in 2015 — joins a growing team in representing H5G in competition and promotional events around the world.
“I could not be more excited to be a part of High 5 Gear team,” said Zavjalova, who now makes her home in Austin, Texas. “I can’t wait to proudly represent High 5 all over the world. It’s going to be an awesome year.”
With H5G, she joins a team that includes Liz Johnson, Shannon O’Keefe, Danielle McEwan, Stefanie Johnson, Katie Zwiefelhofer, Lindsay Boomershine, Elysia Current, Jennifer Petrick Higgins, Lucy Sandelin, Sean Rash, Tommy Jones, E.J. Tackett, Kyle Troup, Wes Malott, Parker Bohn III, Jesper Svensson, Francois Lavoie, Ryan Zagar, A.J. Johnson and Brent Boho.
Molbeck said that when H5G was founded, a key goal was to change the image of bowling by giving the sport a cool, contemporary and professional look.
“Adding dynamic young players like Diana Zavjalova reaffirms our goal and is part of our continuing investment in the sport,” Molbeck said.
Schemm Brings Back 2 Former Employees
Schemm Bowling Inc., a bowling distributor that provides bowling center parts, supplies and service, announced the return of two former employees.
The return of David Rue and Nathan Bukoski was coordinated to support the company’s recent growth in the service of lane machines and parts sales.
“Our customers come first,” said Tom Schemm, founder of Schemm Bowling Inc. “The recent addition of staff will allow us to maintain the outstanding service our customers have come to expect.”
Rue will be working with the lane machine service team to provide repair support and technical assistance. He has been in the bowling industry since 1993 when he worked for his parents at Rue’s Premiere Lanes. He has completed both the Kegel and Brunswick lane machine training courses, as well as the Brunswick pinsetter school.
Bukoski will be working in the front office to provide customer service and marketing support. He also will be assisting the warehouse team with new inventory procedures to ensure parts availability for customer orders.
Salvino Will Shoe Up for 60th Anniversary Tournament
When timeless PBA star Carmen Salvino laces up his bowling shoes and throws his first ball in competition in the Go Bowling! PBA 60th Anniversary Classic on Tuesday, Feb. 13, at Woodland Bowl in Indianapolis, he’ll set a record that will never be matched.
At age 84, the PBA’s most famous showman will become the only player to bowl in the first PBA tournament ever held — the 1959 Empire State Open at Schade’s Academy in Albany, N.Y. — and the 2018 tournament at Woodland Bowl that will celebrate the PBA’s 60th year of continuous competition.
He’ll break his own record, which he set when he bowled in the PBA’s 50th anniversary gala in Las Vegas at the age of 74. And he’ll improve upon his own record as the oldest player ever to bowl in a PBA Tour event.
“I bowled in the 50th in Las Vegas, and I’ll probably be around to bowl in the 70th,” Salvino said with a chuckle. “I hope there are still bowling writers around, too. I need the press. I need people to get the word out. I’m still going for headlines.
“It makes sense to me to bowl [in Indianapolis],” the 17-time PBA Tour titlist and 1975 PBA Hall of Fame inductee said. “Not only did I bowl the first tournament in PBA history, but I was one of the seven guys who met before the meeting [in 1958] to create the PBA.”
The formation meeting Salvino referred to was a gathering of 33 of the most famous bowlers of that era in Syracuse, N.Y., in 1958, at which each pledged $50 to PBA founder Eddie Elias to become the founding members of the new organization.
Before that famous meeting, Dick Hoover, Dick Weber, Don Carter, Whitey Harris, Steve Nagy, Buzz Fazio and Salvino met in New Jersey with Elias, an attorney from Akron, Ohio, who was introduced to the group by Hoover.
“Elias had talked to Carter and he flew in to talk to us about creating a new tournament program for the bowling stars of the era,” Salvino said. “I was there representing Chicago. The group was composed of guys who were the most important bowlers in their regions. Elias was talking during the meeting and someone started talking; I think it was Fazio. I remember I had a Coke bottle, and I slammed it on a desk to make them shut up and listen. After that, Eddie called me his sergeant-at-arms (laughs). Eddie would call me privately to talk about problems because he knew I wouldn’t give him any crap; I’d always give him an honest answer.”
Salvino, who exudes confidence and wears his age as a badge of courage, has a lifetime of stories to tell, but even in his advancing years, he’s taking his competitive ability as seriously as he did when he became a PBA founding member at age 25, back in 1958.
“I’m getting in shape,” he said as he prepares for his 731st career PBA Tour event. “I’m lifting weights, having soreness in muscles I didn’t know I had. I’m getting my [ball] speed up again. When people watch me throw the ball, they’re going to be surprised I can throw the ball with speed and hook.
“What I’ve got to do [in Indianapolis] is get the first 11 [strikes], and then I’m going to turn around and ask my crowd for a standing ovation,” he laughed, “and then I’m going to throw the 12th strike.”
Salvino has enormous respect for today’s young PBA stars, but also issued a warning.
“These young kids are great bowlers,” he said. “I’ll probably make a little speech in the locker room before we start and I’ll tell them I’m 84, and if I don’t come in last, the guys I beat are going to hear from me.
“They needle me a lot, but that’s what I love,” he continued. “I’ll give it right back to them. That’s the part of the game I miss. If they don’t needle you, that means they don’t like you. I’m going to bowl because I can still go in the locker room and get that feeling that I’m 24 again. You can’t buy that feeling.”
Salvino is also going to Indianapolis because it’s an easy drive from his home in Schaumburg, Ill.; his wife of 61 years (Ginny) can come along, and he wants to hear the PBA Hall of Fame induction speeches by Chris Barnes, Ron Mohr and the late Don Mitchell’s representative, which will be part of the Go Bowling! PBA 60th Anniversary Celebration dinner on Saturday evening, Feb. 17.
“Ginny’s coming to watch,” he said with another laugh. “The woman’s up for sainthood. Anyone who can be with me for 61 years and still be sane deserves sainthood.”
Regarding the hall of fame ceremonies, he noted, “I want to hear from the guys who are inducted. On the lanes, you hear them from a different viewpoint, but hall of fame speeches always give you a different side of their personalities.”
Go Bowling! PBA 60th Anniversary Classic competition will begin on Tuesday, Feb. 13, and it will conclude on Sunday, Feb. 18, when the top five players will compete in the live ESPN finals at 1 p.m. Eastern. The tournament, which is part of the 2018 Go Bowling! PBA Tour schedule, will feature a format that was the standard for years: 24 games of qualifying, followed by the top 24 qualifiers meeting in 24 games of head-to-head, round-robin match play. All of the preliminary rounds will be live streamed on PBA’s online bowling channel, Xtra Frame (to subscribe, visit xtraframe.tv).
Admission tickets for the tournament and for the 60th anniversary celebration dinner can be purchased online (https://www.pba.com/Tickets).
Business Briefs…
* The International Bowling Pro Shop and Instructors Association has appointed Jackie Wyckoff of Campbell, Calif., to the IBPSIA Board of Directors to a one-year term, filling a vacancy on the board. Wyckoff, a USBC Bronze coach, has worked in the bowling business since the early 1970s. During the late 1980s, while working as General Manager at Bel Mateo Bowl in San Mateo, Calif., she began her pro shop career, running the shop, drilling equipment and providing coaching for the center’s mid-Peninsula clients.
* Philip Nemchek has been named the 2017 McCorvey’s Bowling World Employee of the Year. Nemcheck joined the pro shop chain in 2015, and quickly worked his way up to Montgomery District Manager, overseeing the Bama, Prattville and Ace locations. “Every day, Philip brings to the store a strong work ethic, attention to detail, passion for bowling, and dedication to his customers,” said Bowling World President Jeff McCorvey. “He takes pride in doing things the right way, and does what it takes to make his customers happy. MBW is proud to have him on our team.”
* Bowling Green Sports Center in West Chicago, Ill., has closed. Its final day of operation, according to BJI historian and “Yesteryear” columnist, J.R. Schmidt, was Dec. 29.
Other News You Can Use…
* Tennelle Milligan and Danny Wiseman have joined the 2018 USBC Hall of Fame class after their election in the Superior Performance category. Milligan and Wiseman were among nine bowlers on the Superior Performance national ballot, voted on by a panel of USBC Hall of Fame members, USBC Board members and veteran bowling writers. The duo will join the four selections of the USBC Hall of Fame Committee — Jeri Edwards, Kendra Gaines, John Janawicz and Tim Mack — to complete the 2018 USBC Hall of Fame class. More: http://www.bowlersjournal.com/tennelle-milligan-danny-wiseman-elected-to-usbc-hall-of-fame/.
* Kyle Troup and Shannon O’Keefe captured the 2018 USBC Team USA Trials titles on Sunday, while Cortez Schenck and Jordan Richard claimed wins at the United States National Amateur Bowling Championships. Troup finished the 2018 event with 21 ranking points over the course of five rounds at The Orleans Bowling Center in Las Vegas to earn his debut on Team USA, and O’Keefe earned her 14th consecutive appearance representing the red, white and blue by finishing the week with 46 points. More: http://www.bowlersjournal.com/troup-okeefe-bag-team-usa-trials-titles/.
* The guest this week on Phantom radio is bowling proprietor and former pro bowler Wayne Garber. To listen to the conversation, click here: https://kegel.squarespace.com/phantomblog/2018/1/10/wayne-garber-phantom-radio.
* CONTACT: Please send business news, event information, etc. to Bob Johnson at bjibob@aol.com. For breaking business news, visit bcmmag.com or bowlersjournal.com, and “Like” Bowling Center Management and Bowlers Journal International on Facebook. BJI Cyber Reports are now archived at bcmmag.com.
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