THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 11, 1996 TAG: 9602100094
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 23 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Sports
SOURCE: Bill Leffler
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
By the end of the current season, youth league bowlers across the nation will have $1.25 million available to them in scholarships through one organization.
Scholarship Management and Accounting Reports for Tenpins (SMART) manages scholarships that are awarded to youth bowlers by proprietors, associations, tournaments and other organizations.
This past season, more than 4,000 recipients benefited from grants given out by 130 SMART scholarship providers.
A spokesman for SMART said the organization managed more than $850,000 in scholarship funds for the past year. SMART expects to pass the $1 million mark soon and is hoping to reach $1.25 million by season's end.
For information about SMART, contact Ed Gocha at 414-423-3343.
Winners of two Star of Tomorrow scholarships, the WIBC Alberta E. Crowe Award for females and the ABC Chuck Hall Award for males, will be announced soon by Gocha.
Both awards are $1,000 scholarships, renewable up to $4,000. They go to an outstanding high school or college female and male bowler.
There are 54 youth leagues in our area. Let's hope some of the fine youth bowlers we have will be considered for future scholarships.
BOWLER OF THE WEEK honors go to Gordon Looker, who is celebrating his first sanctioned 300 game.
Looker, an ex-Marine, once bowled three 300 games in an All-Marine tournament, but the competition had not been sanctioned.
His official 300 came after games of 185 and 171 in the Big Chiefs Tenpin League at Indian River.
``It's a funny thing,'' said Looker, ``but I was striking away on one lane and having trouble on the other. I kept leaving one pin, and whenever I adjusted, I seemed to leave a different pin. Then suddenly everything came together.''
He finished with 16 strikes.
Looker only competed in a single league last year and averaged 187. As a two-league bowler this year, he has raised his averages to 200 and 201.
TENPIN TOPICS: Two more bowlers joined the 300 Club during the week, both at Pinboy's of Norfolk. John Hamilton rolled his 12-striker in a 689 series in the Tuesday Commercial/Divisional League and Daniel Johnson's perfecto was the middle game of a 736 series. At the same center, Ben Spitzer just missed with a 299 in a 667 series in the Sunsetters League. . . . Both the TWBA and the NBA Championships got under way this weekend. The TWBA tourney was scheduled to start last weekend but was iced out. The regular schedule for this weekend prevails and bowling that was slated last week will be rescheduled. ``We're not certain of the exact dates yet,'' said TWBA secretary Reba Callis. . . . Monique Dill, a graduate of the youth league this season, is scorching the lanes in the Charles Peete League at Pinboy's of Norfolk. She followed last week's 634 series with a nifty 622. . . . In an exciting, high-scoring match in the Military Doubles League at Pinboy's of Military, the Sweepers edged Team 5, 1,392-1,386. That 2,778 pinfall for four bowlers averages out to 231.5 per game. . . . Malcolm Foust strengthened his 196 average with a 685 series in the YABA Saturday league at Indian River. In the same league, Renaldo Edmonds hit 668. Edmonds was averaging 192. . . . Jocelyn Hargrove backed up games of 209, 226 and 257 for a 692 series in the Tuesday Night Mixed League at Pinboy's of Western Branch. . . . For the first time, the men's and women's U.S. Opens will be held at the same site and time. They will be bowled at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. ``This will be an event that everyone in bowling will be talking about,'' said BPAA President Kurt Brose. The tournaments will be in late September or early October. . . . The Bowlers Journal International, leading trade publication for the bowling industry, has picked its ``Person of the Year'' for 1995. It chose the National Bowling Stadium, the new 80-lane facility in Reno. Runner-up was ``human'' Brose, the PBAA president. This is the first time the Person of the Year wasn't a person.
DUCKPIN DATA: Eddie Williams shattered the three-game record in the Sunday School League, stringing games of 173, 140 and 162 for 475. Williams held the old mark of 470. . . . Don Lint smacked a 190 game en route to his 463 series in the Independent Loafers League. . . . Charlie Neathery, whose 92 average nearly equals his age of 88, zipped 28 pins over with a 120 game in the Monday Morning Mixed League. In the same league, Margaret Sharrett, an 86-average shoot, whacked a 313 series to go 55 pins over. . . . Craig Humes fired a 475 set in the Stormy Weather League. . . . Pat Johnson tossed a 148 game in the Monday Nite Ladies League. . . . Here's wishing a speedy return to the lanes for Suffolk's TerryeBradshaw, who was sidelined by knee surgery. . . . The Valentine Doubles Tournament at Victory Lanes concludes today with shifts running from 5 to 9 p.m. Entry fee is $15. . . . Bowlarama will host the Fair Lanes/National Duckpin Youth Association Championships June 22. This tourney is limited to state and region champions. ``It has been quite a few years since the tournament has been in Virginia,'' said Normand Fleury, NDYA president. ``We are looking forward to the tournament, and I know they are anxious to host the finals.'' This is the first year Fair Lanes is sponsoring the youth nationals. . . . The 66th annual National Tournament for adult bowlers will be held on weekends from May 18 through June 16 at Fair Lanes Southwest in Linthicum, Md. . . . If you want to see some of the changes being made in duckpins, try visiting these three sites. A new Glen Burnie, Md., center is the first fully automated duckpin center in the country. Long Meadow Bowl in Hagerstown, Md., is the first to get a fully automated scoring system. A new duckpin center in Brownsburg, Indiana, has pin-setting machines that work by string. . . . The national $15,000 Duckpin Classic, which will include local bowlers in upcoming qualifying rounds, will be held June 1-2 at Fair Lanes College Park (Md.). by CNB