GOERGEN, ALLEN, ZELLER ELECTED TO USBC HALL OF FAME

The United States Bowling Congress Hall of Fame will have at least three new members when the 2022 class is inducted on April 27 during the USBC Convention in Las Vegas.

The USBC Hall of Fame Committee elected Bo Goergen of Midland, Mich., in the Outstanding USBC Performance category, Bill Allen of Orlando, Fla., in the Veterans category, and Roger Zeller of San Antonio, Texas, for Meritorious Service.

Goergen, a 61-year-old right-hander and current USBC Board member, is a two-time champion at the USBC Open Championships. He won the 2009 Regular Singles title with a record score of 862, which included games of 299, 299 and 264 and still is the highest series ever rolled in Open Championships competition. Goergen returned to the tournament lanes in 2010 and helped Northern Lanes Pro Shop of Sanford, Mich., to the Team All-Events title with a 10,284 total, In 42 years on the tournament lanes, Goergen has maintained a 205 average. In addition to his bowling prowess, Goergen serves as Executive Director of the Bowling Centers Association of Michigan.

Allen and Zeller both will be inducted posthumously, as they died in 1992 and 1997, respectively.

Allen was a 13-time Professional Bowlers Association Tour champion, and after his career established a bowling tournament club business that grew to have a nationwide footprint.

Zeller left his mark on the sport as the owner, president and chief executive officer of Columbia Industries, which he purchased in 1960. He initially focused on the creation and distribution of plastic and polyester bowling balls. After selling the company in 1964, he bought it back in 1967, serving as the majority owner for approximately 30 years. As the sport hit its highest participation points in the 1970s and ’80s, Columbia 300 produced more than 5,000 bowling balls per day, and the company sold more than 1 million balls for the first time in 1976. Columbia 300 served as the title sponsor for many pro events on both the men’s and women’s tours, and Zeller was elected to the PBA Hall of Fame for meritorious service in 1995. Zeller also spent time as a proprietor, and served as a National Bowling Council board member and as a trustee for the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame. He established the John Jowdy Scholarship Fund and created the Roger L. and Laura D. Zeller Charitable Foundation, which funded a wing of the Cancer Therapy & Research Center in San Antonio.