GUDORF AND KROL SELECTED FOR MUSEUM AWARDS

Bob Gudorf and Hans Krol have been selected to receive the 2024 Legacy of Excellence Awards from the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame.

The award was established last year to honor an individual, institution or organization that has demonstrated lifetime dedication to and support of the hall of fame. The initial recipients — selected by a committee appointed by the museum — were the BPAA, USBC, Bill Chrisman, Pat Ciniello and Daroll Frewing.

Gudorf was a mainstay at industry events during his career with Classic Products and served for 20 years on the IBMHOF board as a trustee from 1997-2016. During that time, he was on the Executive Committee from 2001-2007, before becoming Secretary between 2007-2015 and President from 2014-2017.

Beyond providing financial support, Gudorf engaged in fundraising efforts such as establishing the annual Hall of Fame Raffle at Bowl Expo and the Hometown Heroics exhibit at the museum, which enables visitors to have special achievement certificates printed out for a small donation. 

Krol, the chief executive officer of Bowltech Group, puts the “international” in the IBMHOF as the European distributor has been a trustee on the museum’s board, serving multiple terms from 2009-2019 and since 2022. He has been an active participant in museum fundraising initiatives, including the long-running Salute to Bowling’s auction program.

“To receive such an award is not only a great honor, but also is an enormous stimulus,” Krol said. “I am proud that I am sharing the honor with my old friend Bob. We go back a long, long time, and I learned a great deal from him.

“Serving on the board is one of the great honors in my career,” Krol added, “and I hope to be able to serve for many more years.”

Gudorf also expressed gratitude for the recognition.

“It’s a tremendous honor to receive this award after spending so many years in the bowling industry,” he said. “It’s full of great people who made an impression not only on me, but everyone else on the board.”

Reflecting on his years on the board, Gudorf said: “I believe that for all the things I helped with, the best thing I did was name Mike Aulby as my successor. He represents everything that we want in the museum.”