E-dition No. 1,077 • Friday, September 20, 2019
Editor: Bob Johnson (bjibob@aol.com)
Ciniellos Match Hurricane Relief Donations
Once the devastation in The Bahamas became apparent in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, Bowland and HeadPinz centers in Florida activated “Operation: Love for The Bahamas.”
All Bowland and HeadPinz Centers began accepting cash donations for Dorian relief efforts, and all donations to the charity fund were matched by Pat and Lisa Ciniello, proprietors of the six centers.
The goal was to raise $10,000 in one week — another demonstration of the compassion of the bowling community, including the men and women who operate the centers.
Bennett, Wooten Named to IBMA Board
President Johnny Campos has announced the appointment of Yvonne Bennett and George Wooten to the International Bowling Media Association Board of Directors.
Bennett is Executive Director of the Bowling Centers Association of Wisconsin, and has been instrumental in driving the marketing and communications efforts for the association since joining BCAW in 2014. She has been a member of IBMA for three years, and was previously a member of the National Women Bowling Writers.
Bennett has had several of her bowling photographs published in BJI and BCM, and often combines her love of travel with her passion for bowling, most notably on her annual “Bowlapalooza” road trips throughout the state of Wisconsin. She also organizes Wisconsin Vintage Alley Tours (http://www.bowlwi.com/bcaw-events/wisconsin-vintage-alleys-tour/).
Wooten joined the staff of BJI in 1997, and in 2001 worked as Media Relations Manager for the ABC Championships Tournament in Billings, Mont. The following year, he took a position as a publicist on the PBA Tour.
In 2003, Wooten became Assistant Executive Director of the Illinois State BPA, a job that included operating the Chicago Sun-Times/BPA “Beat the Champions” Contest, which has raised more than $1.2 million for Chicagoland charities. A proud graduate of The Ohio State University, Wooten continues to contribute to BJI regularly as a senior correspondent.
The IBMA board unanimously approved Campos’s appointment recommendations. Bennett and Wooten will serve terms running through July 31, 2021.
Kellerman Completes Hike, Raises Fundraising Goal for BVL
Following up on last week’s story in the Cyber Report, we have more information on Texas bowling proprietor David “Kilroy” Kellerman’s hike through the Appalachian Trail to raise funds and awareness for the Bowlers To Veterans Link.
The journey took more than five months and 5 million steps, and has inspired more than $71,000 in BVL donations to date.
“Five million steps to completely hike the Appalachian Trail is nothing compared to the sacrifices our veterans made to protect our freedoms,” said Kellerman, who was scheduled to return to work this week at Mel’s Lone Star Lanes in Georgetown, Texas, the center he co-owns with his sister, Dot Ammons.
“My Appalachian Trail adventure would never have happened if not for the freedoms given to me as a United States citizen,” he added. “My freedoms are not free thanks to the great men and women who are serving or have served in our military. I dedicated my hike to them by raising funds for the bowling industry’s oldest and own charity, the BVL.”
Kellerman credits “all the support and prayers from the bowling industry family” for helping him to power through and complete the Appalachian Trail thru-hike.
“I hope my adventure increased the awareness of BVL and that more centers will become involved in raising funds for our charity.”
Since 1942, BVL has provided more than $52 million in grants to VA hospitals and clinics to fund recreation therapy and programs for America’s veterans and active-duty service members. It’s consistently acknowledged for efficient and effective programming delivered with extremely low overhead.
“The personal sacrifice that David has made to be away from his family and business for more than five months to raise funds for BVL is one of the selfless things anyone has ever done for our organization,” said BVL Board Chair John LaSpina. “David believes in BVL’s mission to brighten veterans’ lives through recreation therapy programs and services, and his contribution will make a significant impact for many of our veterans.
“We are so grateful to everyone who has donated so far in support of David’s hike and BVL, and we hope others who are inspired by his incredible journey will continue to give what they can to help BVL continue to be there for our veterans.”
After surpassing his original goal of $50,000 during Bowl Expo, Kellerman upped the target to $75,000. He self-funded the trip to ensure the maximum benefit of his fundraising efforts for veterans programs, and is hoping to clear the updated fundraising target at two upcoming meet-and-greet special events:
* He is scheduled to talk about his adventure and support of BVL at “Koffee with Kilroy” at Mel’s Lone Star Lanes on Sept. 24.
* He will do the same at “Kocktails with Kilroy” at the Southwest Bowling Proprietors Trade Show on Oct. 7 in Irving, Texas.
To donate online and retrace Kilroy’s steps through videos, pictures and posts, visit Kilroy’s Hike page at BVL.org or the Kilroy’s Appalachian Trail Hike for Veterans Facebook page.
Bowling Will Return to Pennsylvania Borough
It’s said that you can’t fight City Hall, and it can be even more daunting to try to fight Mother Nature.
On four different occasions between 2006 and 2011, Belvedere Lanes in Nicholson, Pa., experienced severe flood damage, due to its proximity to Martins Creek. Repairs to the electronic equipment associated with the 10 bowling lanes proved to be extremely costly, so proprietor Allen Loch finally made the difficult decision to shut down the lanes and rebrand the facility as an entertainment center offering billiards, indoor corn hole, darts, a golf simulator, air hockey, indoor mini-golf, foosball, shuffleboard and card games.
The thinking was that if flooding were imminent, virtually all of the equipment could be moved to higher, dryer ground and avoid damage.
But customers have missed bowling, so now Loch has decided to install six lanes to supplement the successful entertainment offerings. He says that with six, the center will be able to host some small leagues during the week, and then offer open play on the weekends.
He also said steps are being taken to better protect the building from future flooding.
“We’re going to spray foam on about half of the building on the outside where the water would always come in,” he told the Citizens’ Voice newspaper. “We’re also going to use some concrete barriers.”
The new bowling lanes are expected to be up and running by the end of October.
Nicholson is a borough in northeastern Pennsylvania. It had a population of 767 as of the 2010 census. The community made national news in July 1986 when a Bengal tiger, being kept as a pet, escaped from its owner’s apartment and was being hunted in the area for several days.
Patriots Players Raise Funds for Children in Need
We’re big Packers… uh, make that Bears… fans around here, but that doesn’t mean we can’t recognize a good deed by another team.
On Monday, Tom Brady, James White and their New England Patriots teammates took time to attend the 10th annual Sweet Feet for Strikes event at Kings Dining & Entertainment in Dedham, Mass.
It’s a fundraiser for the pediatric initiatives at Boston Medical Center.
An official tally has not been announced for this year’s event, but last year it generated more than $250,000 for local children in need.
Business Briefs…
* The results are in from the Register newspaper’s annual “Best of Orange County (Calif.)” voting. And the winners in the “Best Bowling Alley” category are: 1. Concourse Bowling Center, Anaheim; 2. Fountain Bowl, Fountain Valley; 3. Irvine Lanes, Irvine. Details: https://www.ocregister.com/2019/09/19/best-of-orange-county-2019-best-bowling-alley/.
* All bowling center operators — tenpin and duckpin — in the state of Maryland are invited to attend a free Education Day on Wednesday, Sept. 25. The gathering will include two educational sessions from BPAA’s Bowling University. The first will focus on outside sales for non-sales people, and will help center operators set goals, generate leads and close new business. The second comes from Bowling University’s new Security Awareness Series, and will provide useful information on dealing with an active shooter, handling a robbery and incident reporting. Lunch will be included at this free event. For more information or to reserve your spot, contact Bart Burger at 817-385-8405 or bart@bpaa.com.
Other News You Can Use…
* Shannon O’Keefe put the finishing touches on a dream season by winning her second career PWBA Tour Championship on Wednesday inside the Old Dominion Building at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. O’Keefe rolled eight consecutive strikes on her way to a 268-179 win over Dasha Kovalova to claim the $20,000 top prize and her third major championship. Report: http://www.bowlersjournal.com/shannon-okeefe-caps-banner-year-with-2019-pwba-tour-championship-win/.
* PBA two-handed star Anthony Simonsen defeated New Jersey middle-school history teacher Amy Brehm, 258-220, to win the $100,000 top prize in the second of three Bowlero Elite Series tournaments featuring professional bowlers and Bowlero amateur league bowlers. Report: http://www.bowlersjournal.com/anthony-simonsen-wins-100k-top-prize-in-bowlero-elite-series/.
* We know that some retired bowling balls are used to decorate gardens, but a person in Fremont, Calif., found another use. After stealing four bowling balls and a bag with various bowling accessories from a car, the person used one of the balls to damage a car parked a few blocks away. Damage to the car was estimated at $500. Value of the stolen bowling gear — later recovered — was estimated at $1,000.
* The guest this week on Phantom Radio is photographer extraordinaire Kevin Hong. To listen to the conversation, go to: https://kegel.squarespace.com/phantomblog/2019/9/18/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. Please remember that the Cyber Report is a B-to-B publication that is not intended for consumers.
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