E-dition No. 1,030 • Friday, November 16, 2018
Editor: Bob Johnson (bjibob@aol.com)
Barnes, Guest, Somoff Named to IBPSIA Board
Cliff Barnes, Jason Guest and Peter Somoff were chosen from a slate of six candidates on Nov. 8 to join the International Bowling Pro Shop and Instructors Association Board of Directors.
Current board members Daniel Puerto and Jackie Wyckoff also were reelected.
Barnes, Guest and Somoff each will serve a three-year term beginning on Jan. 1.
Barnes hails from Spring Hill, Fla., and is the owner of BowlersMart, whose holdings include 55 pro shops in 14 states. He is a certified Bronze-level coach and former product specialist and pro shop technician for Ebonite International.
“Because of my bowling experience, I have learned skills such as honor, sportsmanship, integrity, teamwork, and self-confidence,” Barnes said. “While I have developed to be a better bowler through the years, I have also become a better person and made thousands of great friends. My passion has also become my career and I am hoping I can share my experience.”
Guest brings his talents from Des Moines, Iowa, to the board. He, too, is a certified Bronze-level coach and an IBPSIA-certified technician. Guest has been in the business since 1997 when he opened his first Bowlers Connection Pro Shop. He formerly worked for Brunswick as a product specialist and pro shop technician, and has been instrumental in the creation of the KR Strikeforce line of bowling footwear.
“My passion is shoes,” said Guest. “I love the pro shop business and know that a comfortable living can be made from it and want to share that knowledge with the whole pro shop world.”
Somoff may claim Peter Somoff’s Pro Shop in Tacoma, Wash., as his home base, but often is found on another continent as Storm Bowling Products’ International Technical Representative for Europe and Africa. He was one of the original people involved with Storm Products Inc., hosting the first Storm Seminar, being a ball tester, and representing Storm in the international and domestic marketplaces. Somoff is a certified Gold-level coach, IBPSIA Advanced Technician and HOTS Instructor, and has taught all over the globe.
“My vision for IBPSIA is to see more international certified pro shops,” Somoff said.
Daniel Puerto of Best Bowling Pro Shops in the St. Louis area is serving his second three-year term on the IBPSIA Board. Jackie Wyckoff, who recently passed the Master Technician Class, will begin her second year, having been appointed to the board earlier this year.
Vice President Jordan Vanover and Past President David Bolt have termed out on the board, having served six years each. Both may reapply to the board in 2020.
“The slate of candidates who applied for the IBPSIA board this year was outstanding,” said the organization’s President, Tom Zernia. “It made the job of selecting only three out of the six nominees a very difficult one. In the end, we feel we chose the candidates most qualified and whose expertise will fit in well with the current board. The three excellent candidates not selected will serve on a committee for 2019 and, hopefully, reapply for 2020.”
Barnes, Guest, Puerto, Somoff and Wyckoff will join those currently on the IBPSIA board: President Tom Zernia, Steve Barinque and Dwayne DaMoude, along with Executive Director Bill Supper.
Pinstripes Teams Up With Hudson’s Bay
Pinstripes has announced a new strategic partnership with Hudson’s Bay Company, the owner of Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylor, and the Hudson Bay department stores in Canada.
As Pinstripes noted in its November newsletter, Hudson’s Bay is looking to transform select department store locations into multi-use venues with Pinstripes as a core anchor tenant in 15 locations nationwide.
It’s an agreement based on synergy, as Hudson’s Bay Company is viewing real estate through a new lens, and reacting to the evolving business model of department stores and retail in general. The attraction for Pinstripes revolves around a desire to expand, the pace of which would hasten through this alliance.
Hudson’s Bay was founded in 1670 and during that time has seen countless competitors come and go. But never has the retail landscape been more volatile, as competition from the internet has rendered traditional shopping malls irrelevant to younger shoppers.
The company’s new CEO, Helena Foulkes, has been at the helm for less than a year, but already has made several forward-looking decisions, including selling off the remaining part of Lord & Taylor’s flagship store in New York, selling off the Gilt Groupe website, and entering into a joint venture with its biggest European competitor.
Pinstripes Inc., based in Chicago, is a distinctive dining and entertainment concept featuring exceptional Italian/American cuisine and wine, bowling and bocce, a year-round outdoor patio and fire pit, and private event space accommodating 20 to 600 people.
Rich Weber Calls It a Career With the PBA
Rich Weber, the oldest of PBA legend Dick Weber’s four children, has announced he will retire from PBA active duty at the end of the year after more than 30 years of service to the organization.
Weber, who turned 68 on Oct. 2, will conclude his latest role as PBA Midwest Region manager when he supervises the PBA50 Victory Lanes Midwest Open Presented by Allstate in Kankakee, Ill., over the Nov. 30-Dec. 2 weekend.
A lifelong St. Louis area resident, Weber began his administrative work with the PBA in 1984 as an assistant to then-PBA Midwest Region manager Don McClaren. He and younger brother John continued to work with the Midwest Region when their father took over McClaren’s post in 1987.
He also served a year as assistant tournament director for the PBA Senior Tour under Mike Durbin in 1989, and in 1990 began a seven-year tour of duty as PBA Senior Tour tournament director.
John Weber succeeded his father as PBA Midwest Region manager in 1997, running the region with Rich’s help until 2006 when John was named Director of the PBA Regional and Senior Tours. Rich then took the helm of the Midwest Region, a position he has held for the past 12 years.
“The most fun I had was running the Senior Tour,” Rich said. “It was a close-knit group. We needled each other, played golf together, had dinners. It was an amazing time.”
Beyond his service to the PBA, Rich also has been the personal coach to his youngest brother — 37-time PBA Tour champion Pete Weber — throughout Pete’s career.
PBA CEO and Commissioner Tom Clark was among many players, proprietors and industry leaders who expressed thanks to Weber for his contributions to the sport.
“It is difficult to live up to the greatest name in bowling — Weber — and yet Rich did it with talent and class in all his roles with the PBA,” Clark said. “The PBA is very proud of Rich and happy for him. We can’t thank Rich enough for all he has done for the Midwest Region and the entire PBA.”
The PBA is expected to announce Weber’s successor as PBA Midwest Regional manager soon.
PWBA Hall of Fame to Return in 2019
In 2019, the Professional Women’s Bowling Association Hall of Fame will induct its first class in 16 years, and nominations now are being accepted at pwba.com.
The induction ceremony for the 2019 PWBA Hall of Fame Class will take place May 15 in Wichita, Kan., in conjunction with the 2019 USBC Queens, a major event on the PWBA Tour. Details on the induction ceremony will be announced later.
Nomination will be accepted through Jan. 1, 2019. The categories and eligibility criteria for each category are:
* Performance — A minimum of 10 PWBA Tour titles or a minimum of five PWBA Tour titles including two majors. Minimum age is 50.
* Ambassador — At least one PWBA Tour title and made a major impact on the growth of the PWBA Tour. Minimum age is 50.
* Meritorious/Builder — Advanced the PWBA as an organization, promoted the PWBA Tour through media and must show a minimum of five years of support.
A PWBA Hall of Fame Committee will be appointed by the PWBA Player Committee, with approval of PWBA stakeholders. The committee will consist of PWBA Hall of Fame members, bowling media members, and appointed board of directors members from the USBC and the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America.
Donna Adamek, Patty Costello, Dorothy Fothergill, Mildred Ignizio, Marion Ladewig, and Betty Morris in the Performance category, LaVerne Carter, Helen Duval and Shirley Garms in Pioneer, and Georgia Veatch in the Builder category comprised the inaugural PWBA Hall of Fame class in 1995.
The most recent class was in 2003, with Anne Marie Duggan and Virginia Norton inducted in the Performance category.
After a 12-year absence, the PWBA Tour returned in 2015 through a funding agreement from the BPAA and the USBC. The 2019 PWBA Tour season will have 14 events, kicking off with the PWBA Greater Cleveland Open, set for April 25-27 at Yorktown Lanes.
Through 2018, there are 35 members of the PWBA Hall of Fame — 19 in Performance, 10 in Pioneer and six in Builder.
For more information on the PWBA Hall of Fame and where to send nomination forms, visit pwba.com/halloffame.
BVL Board Lays Wreath at Tomb of Unknowns
On the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, the Board of Directors of Bowling to Veterans Link, bowling’s own and oldest charity, laid a wreath at the tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington Cemetery during the observance of the 65th annual Veterans Day on Sunday.
The members of the BVL board also were photographed presenting a check for more than $1 million to the Veterans Administration.
BVL is a 76-year-old nonprofit organization dedicated to brightening the lives of American veterans and active-duty personnel by providing recreational and occupational equipment and programs.
Through BVL, veterans in care at V.A. facilities across the country take part in sports and arts programs, enjoy a variety of activities from nature walks to gardening and from pet therapy to bowling, and attend cultural events.
“We know that there is a tremendous need for recreational and therapeutic programs for our brave American vets,” said Mary Harrar, Executive Director of the BVL. “We encourage every member of our bowling family to join with us to make the 2018-19 season even better than this past year.”
USBC Unification Is Completed
The effort to unify services provided by the United States Bowling Congress at the local and state levels, set in place by delegates at the 2016 USBC Convention and Annual Meeting, now is completed.
The goal to create a single organization to govern and service the sport of bowling goes back to the merger of the American Bowling Congress (ABC), Women’s International Bowling Congress (WIBC), Young American Bowling Alliance (YABA) and USA Bowling on Jan. 1, 2005 to form the USBC.
Combining the forces of those organizations stemmed from the idea to provide a better experience for each member and create uniformity in programs and services. It marked the largest nonprofit association merger at the time.
“We have worked toward this goal for so many years, and it truly is a special moment for the organization and the future of the sport,” USBC President Karl Kielich said. “The member experience will continue to improve as local and state associations now are unified under the same vision, and we’re thankful to our association leaders for putting in the time and effort to complete this goal.”
With the merger complete, USBC members now are serviced by 1,638 state and local associations. In 2005, there were nearly 5,500 entities split among men’s, women’s and youth associations.
Report: http://www.bowlersjournal.com/usbc-fully-unified-with-new-season-underway/.
Special FloBowling Show to Reveal PBA Honorees
The selection of the 2018 Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year is down to three finalists — Andrew Anderson, Dom Barrett and E.J. Tackett — and the winner will be announced by PBA CEO and Commissioner Tom Clark in a special live FloBowling presentation on Tuesday at 11 a.m. Eastern.
The announcement will be live-streamed on FloBowling.com and streamed simultaneously on FloBowling’s Facebook page, Twitter page and YouTube channel.
Voting among PBA members and veteran bowling writers across America is complete. Among the Player of the Year candidates who qualified by finishing among the top 10 in either PBA earnings or competition points, Anderson, Barrett and Tackett are the three leading vote-getters, in alphabetical order. Among the three, Tackett is the only previous Player of the Year recipient, capturing the honor for the 2016 season.
Stat summaries:
* Anderson, 23, won his first two Go Bowling! PBA Tour titles in 2018, including his first major, the USBC Masters. The second-year PBA member also won the 2018 Harry Smith Points Leader Award, symbolic of the tour’s most consistent player. He also finished third in the PBA Tournament of Champions, and ranked among the top five in earnings and scoring average.
* Barrett, 33, won the 2018 U.S. Open for his second career major, and also won the DHC PBA Japan Invitational. He had top-10 finishes in all three key statistical categories: points (10th), average (seventh) and earnings (second).
* Tackett, 26, was the PBA Tour’s only three-title winner in 2018 and had two other top-five finishes, including fourth place in the U.S. Open. He ranked among the tour leaders in competition points (third), earnings (fifth) and average (sixth).
Tuesday’s announcements also will include the 2018 Harry Golden PBA Rookie of the Year, Steve Nagy Sportsmanship Award winner and PBA Tony Reyes Memorial Community Service Award recipient.
The top three contenders for the 2018 PBA Rookie of the Year award are Annop Arromsaranon, Kamron Doyle and Rafiq Ismail.
* Annop, 34, was the only rookie to win a title, capturing the PBA International-World Bowling Tour Busan Cup in South Korea.
* Doyle, 20, led all rookies with seven cashes in 15 PBA Tour events, with a best finish of third in the PBA Xtra Frame Gene Carter’s Pro Shop Classic. He also finished in a tie for 12th place in the USBC Masters.
* Ismail, a 21-year-old lefthander, cashed in three of the four PBA Tour events he entered and led all rookies with a 220.84 average in his limited action.
The POY and ROY winners will be presented their awards during the PBA Clash that will be televised by FOX on Sunday, Dec. 23. The Nagy and Reyes award winners will be recognized during the PBA Hall of Fame induction ceremonies that will be live-streamed by FloBowling on Jan. 5 from Arlington, Texas.
Business Briefs…
* Fountain Bowl in Fountain Valley, Calif., will be celebrating 44 years of “friends, family and fun” on Saturday, Nov 24 with an eight-hour party. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., guests can enjoy up to three games of bowling for $1.44 per game, use of rental shoes for $1.44, draft beer for $1.44 and hot dogs for $1.44. Fountain Bowl’s owners, Dave Osborn and Gary Forman, were featured on the cover of the October issue of BJI’s sister publication, Bowling Center Management.
* The 28-lane bowling center at Marblehead Lanes on the Guantanamo, Cuba, Navy base will soon include a fire suppression system. A contract has been awarded to have the system installed by next March 15. The center features QubicaAMF equipment, including BES X Ultimate scoring.
* Attention, Kmart shoppers! Your final store in the Charleston region has been closed, but the building soon now houses a new location of Stars and Strikes in Summerville, S.C. The center is scheduled to open on Saturday, featuring 24 bowling lanes (with eight in a VIP area), a 7,300-sq.-ft. arcade and redemption store, a multi-story laser tag arena, bumper cars, the 7/10 Grille restaurant and a full-service bar surrounded by big-screen TVs for sports viewing. There are no Blue Light Specials, but there are events such as Service Industry Night on Mondays and 99-cent Wednesdays. Stars and Strikes co-founders Jack Canouse and Chris Albano are featured on the November cover of BCM.
* A new location of High 5 has opened in space formerly occupied by a bowling lounge called The Goodnight in the North Shoal Creek area of Austin, Texas. The 15,000 sq.-ft. space includes eight bowling lanes, karaoke, virtual reality, the latest in arcade games and a private event space. There’s also an outdoor patio and a mural from Rory Skagen, who painted the iconic “Greetings from Austin” mural in the downtown area.
* A permit has been filed to expand the former H.H. Gregg store at the Mall of Louisiana and Baton Rouge to make way for a new location of Main Event Entertainment. Main Event previously sought to open its first Louisiana location on the site formerly occupied by the Tinseltown movie theater at the Siegen Lane Marketplace, but that site eventually went to Dallas-based Topgolf. No timeline for construction or an opening date was announced.
Other News You Can News…
* Since making Team USA for the first time more than a decade ago, Shannon O’Keefe has had her eye on the coveted QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup. She watched her teammates hoist the prestigious trophy three consecutive times from 2004 to 2006, and then anxiously waited a dozen years for her opportunity to join them in the tournament record book. The 39-year-old right-hander earned the chance to represent the United States last week at the 2018 QubicaAMF World Cup, and she did not waste the opportunity, despite one of the most frustrating and demanding weeks of her career, both mentally and physically. O’Keefe’s World Cup dream became a reality at the Sam’s Town Bowling Center in Las Vegas as she claimed the women’s title with a dramatic 238-236 victory over Malaysia’s Sin Li Jane. It marked the first time a woman was able to win the World Cup in her home country. The win was both emotional and bittersweet for O’Keefe, who then looked on as Team USA’s Kyle Troup, the top seed on the men’s side by more than 350 pins, lost a lopsided championship match against Australia’s Sam Cooley, 244-163. Report: http://www.bowlersjournal.com/usas-okeefe-australias-cooley-win-2018-qubicaamf-world-cup/.
* Star baseball player Mookie Betts has been getting a lot of publicity for bowling of late, including a recent story by Andrew Mearns which begins: “It’s difficult for anyone to be as skilled at anything as Mookie Betts is at both baseball and bowling. With extra-base hits in one and effortless strikes in the other, Betts is taking the sports world by storm. Sure enough, when Betts and the Red Sox won the American League pennant, it ensured that he would reach a remarkable athletic feat: Playing in two different World Series within 12 months.” You can access the full story here: https://www.mlb.com/cut4/mookie-betts-plays-in-world-series-of-bowling-and-baseball/c-300538860.
* Bill Tucker, who was inducted into the ABC Hall of Fame in 1988, died last Friday at his home in Gilbert, Ariz. He was 92. Tucker, who started his bowling career in the 1950s in St. Louis, where he was a member of the United Van Lines team, captured two Doubles titles at the USBC Open Championships (then known as the ABC Championships), three titles on the PBA Tour, and won the 1961 Bowling BPAA All-Star tournament. Report: http://www.bowlersjournal.com/usbc-hall-of-famer-bill-tucker-dies-at-age-92/.
* Betty Kuczynski, a USBC Hall of Fame member from Lyons, Ill., died Sunday. She was 78. Inducted into the WIBC Hall of Fame in 1981 for Superior Performance, Kuczynski left her mark on the sport during a tremendous run in the 1960s. She was first recipient of the Alberta E. Crowe Star of Tomorrow award in 1961, and claimed her biggest win on the lanes at the 1965 WIBC Queens. The victory helped her claim the Bowling Writers Association of America Woman Bowler of the Year honors that season. Report: http://www.bowlersjournal.com/usbc-hall-of-famer-betty-kuczynski-dies-at-age-78/.
* The USBC is adding a week of July dates to the 2019 USBC Open Championships in Las Vegas, taking the event through July 8, 2019. Details: http://www.bowlersjournal.com/dates-added-to-2019-open-championships-as-team-count-tops-9000/.
* The guest this week on Phantom Radio is Kevin Hong, the man who is documenting America’s historic bowling centers through his Vintage Alleys Project. To listen to the interview, click here: http://www.kegel.net/phantomblog/2018/11/14/kevin-hong-phantom-radio. To see some of Hong’s vintage shots, go to: http://www.kegel.net/phantomblog/2018/11/14/kevin-hong-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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