BOWLING WORLD MOURNS LOSS OF BILL CHRISMAN

Bill Chrisman was not the type of person who reveled in attention. Yet he possessed rock-star status at major bowling events because of the company he built with his wife, Barbara, and the support it lent to the industry it served.

Chrisman, the co-founder of Storm Products, passed away at his home Wednesday night following several years of dealing with various health challenges. He was 74.

Chrisman’s foray into the bowling industry began with the introduction of U Clean / U Score Urethane Bowling Ball Cleaner under the High Score Products banner. The product was formulated to deal with the issue of lane dressing soaking into urethane bowling balls.

Six years later, in 1991, Chrisman hired Keith Orton to set up a bowling ball manufacturing facility to focus on private-label production, which was virtually non-existent in the industry. The first balls were produced that August.

It didn’t take long for the company to begin manufacturing and selling its own bowling balls under the Storm name. In 1994, the company’s name was changed to Storm Products Inc.

While Storm’s balls competed well in an over-crowded market, it wasn’t until the spring of 2000 that the company truly differentiated itself from the competition by introducing scented bowling balls. The first scents utilized were citrus and green apple. Since then, the aromas have ranged from black cherry to chocolate, lemonade to plum, grape to cinnamon, and cherry to amaretto.

From the beginning, the company has been a grassroots endeavor. As it grew, it embraced opportunities to give back in a variety of ways, primarily through local tournament sponsorships. It also has an annual “Paint the Lanes Pink” initiative to raise funds for the fight against cancer, which is just one of numerous charitable causes in which it’s involved. More recently, it introduced the Storm Youth Championships to provide scholarship opportunities to young bowlers across the country.

“We take our slogan, ‘The Bowler’s Company,’ seriously,” Chrisman told BCM in an interview last year. “Look, it’s good business to do the things we do. Every business would be better off if they’d think about ways they could give back. But we also give back because it’s the right thing to do — whether it’s raising money for cancer [research] or building the next generation of bowlers.”

Daroll Frewing, who also founded a company (US Bowling Corp.) with his wife (Dolores), perhaps said it best when he noted, “For the past 20 years, Bill Chrisman was the bowling industry. No one was better known worldwide. And when it comes to the business side of bowling, he may have been the GOAT (greatest of all time).”

Look for much more on the passing of Bill Chrisman and his legacy in the November issue of BCM.