Karen Miller, who served the bowling center owners of Texas for more than 40 years and helped grow the Southwest Bowling Proprietors Trade Show into a regional behemoth, has retired as executive director of the Texas Bowling Centers Association.
Miller began her tenure with the association as an administrative assistant and was asked to step into the executive director role when her predecessor departed.
“I’m not sure that was on her bingo card, but she took on the challenge and grew into the job,” said Rick Goins, a second-generation proprietor with centers in Longview, Texas; Texarkana, Texas, and Texarkana, Arkansas. “No matter what task the board gave her, she would rise to the occasion.”
That point was underscored by Mike Logan, owner of Grand Station Entertainment in College Station, Texas.
“We’ve gone through a lot of evolution and transition in our industry — both here in Texas and nationally — and Karen was always there to help guide the change,” said Logan. “Because of that, the TCBA is in great financial shape.”
One prime example of the evolution involves the association’s focus on youth. The TCBA originated the Grand Prix Scholarship Program, which rewarded young bowlers with scholarship funding as long as they continued bowling in member centers. Especially in the days prior to high-speed computing, tracking the participation and managing the scholarship funding was a monumental task and a paperwork nightmare. But Miller handled it without complaint.
“Part of the challenge with Grand Prix in Texas is that it was going gangbusters,” Logan explains. “There was a lot of participation by the centers — primarily ones that had great junior programs. So, there was a lot to manage.”
But as competitive bowling began to dwindle and junior leagues shrunk in size, the TCBA board decided to refocus its youth recruitment and retention efforts on high school bowling.
“Karen jumped right in,” Logan said. “She would accompany proprietors on visits to [school district] superintendents and [school] principals all around the state to help get regional programs going. The association still awards scholarships, but we’ve developed other sources of funding.”
Miller also was good at people management.
“There have always been a lot of big personalities among bowling proprietors in Texas,” Goins said. “C.C. Bearden, Jamie Brooks, Jerry Ray — there were hundreds over the years. Texas is like its own country; it’s so eclectic. Karen got the different personalities on the same page and kept us between the lines and on a straighter path.”
Both Logan and Goins are past presidents of the TBCA and are once again serving on the national BPAA board. And while expressing admiration for Miller, they also demonstrated confidence in her successor, Stefan Cox.
“There was a lot of interest in the job, but we finally decided on Stefan because he has a lot of experience in the industry and he knows a lot of people,” Logan explained. “He has been working with Karen for about six months, so the transition has been pretty seamless.”
Plans call for the Southwest Bowling Proprietors Trade Show, one of the few remaining regional shows in the country, to continue. The event marked its 20th anniversary in 2025.
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