CLARK, HONG HONORED BY BOWLING MUSEUM

All museums, particularly in the sports realm, depend on the generosity of donors to help develop new exhibits and strengthen the depth of their collections. That’s why the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame introduced its Striking Achievement Award — to honor men and women who help enhance the collection and ultimately the allure of the museum through physical donations.

For 2024, two honorees were selected for the award: Professional Bowlers Association Commissioner Tom Clark and noted bowling photographer and historian Kevin Hong.

Clark helped develop a special all-star event dubbed “The USA vs. The World” as part of the PBA’s annual World Series of Bowling television tapings. A recent addition to the event has been a captain’s match, streamed and archived on YouTube, with all views benefitting the IBMHOF in perpetuity. Later, plans call for the scoresheet from the all-star match — featuring so many of the sport’s biggest names — to be auctioned off. And the event’s perpetual cup is now on display at the museum.

Hong is being honored for the legwork he did in gathering memorabilia from the long-shuttered Floriss Lanes, a second- and third-floor center in St. Louis, where in 1958 the Budweisers totaled 3858 for a three-game set, establishing a record that many felt would never be topped.

Hong contacted the building’s owner and was granted access to the upper levels, where he encountered a bowling ghost town and chronicled it with  his ever-present camera. But he took it a step further by sharing his find with the IBMHOF and arranging for memorabilia to be gathered. A subsequent visit to the home of Ray Bluth — the lone surviving member of the Budweisers — also was arranged and additional memorabilia was collected for a new museum exhibit now in development.

“We are indebted to Tom and Kevin for thinking about the museum and enhancing the collection,” said IBMHOF Curator and Program Director Kari Williams. “A museum is only as strong as its collection, and ‘The PBA vs. The World’ cup and the items from one of bowling’s most historic sites make wonderful additions.”

Previous recipients of the IBMHOF’s Striking Achievement Award are John Tierney (2022) and the St. Louis USBC Association (2023).