BubbaRay
04-30-2009, 09:05 AM
Posted by Jeff Bleiler | Citizen Patriot April 22, 2009 05:03AM
On Friday evening at Airport Lanes, a man wandered the concourse wearing a long-sleeve, dark blue plaid shirt tucked into his blue jeans.
Nothing out of the ordinary about a sight like that, except that this guy was famous.
And he went largely unnoticed by a good-sized crowd of league and open bowlers.
The man was PBA Hall of Famer Mark Williams, and his anonymity was a troubling offshoot of the Senior Professional Bowlers Association's visit to Jackson.
Williams is not the most recognizable figure, and Brian Voss or Johnny Petraglia may have turned more heads.
But the guy won seven PBA titles and looks a lot like he did back when he was doing it.
Lack of star recognition is just one of the many challenges facing the senior and regular tours as the sport attempts to gain a following similar to the one it enjoyed when the late Chris Schenkel and Nelson Burton Jr. held court on Saturday afternoons on ABC.
Petraglia, one of the tour's most recognizable names, pondered the issues facing the sport before competing in the final rounds of the PBA Jackson Open on Tuesday.
"The tour is doing good, and the senior tour is doing good, but if the sport is going to improve, it has to be done by the industry," Petraglia said. "All the other sports invest money in their professionals, so that if you're successful, it's life-changing. The same thing has to happen with our sport.
"If the leading money-winner was making seven figures, they'd have so many juniors out here they wouldn't know what to do with them."
Ron Mohr won the Jackson tournament and an $8,000 check. Winners on the regular tour claim between $25,000 and $35,000 per tournament. Majors are worth $100,000.
By comparison, the winner of the last PGA Tour stop, Brian Gay, took home a shade more than $1 million.
And when the stakes are that high, television audiences flock to it.
"I do it," Petraglia said. "I'll watch a guy play golf, and I know that if a new, up-and-comer makes a putt and wins a tournament, his life is set for a few years. I've thrown shots for $100,000, and I've thrown shots for $10,000, and there's a tremendous difference."
Money aside, bowling also suffers from a perception that anyone can do what the professionals do. League bowlers regularly hit fat scores on candy house patterns, while the pros — this tournament aside — battle difficult oil patterns that change quicker than house shots.
The resulting lower scores make Joe Bowler think he can do as well if not better.
That's not lost on the pros, including PBA Hall of Famer Tom Baker.
"The tours showcase just how good PBA bowlers are," Baker said as he sipped red wine in the Airport Lanes bar several hours after his tournament ended in the round of 24. "The regular bowler, he would struggle out here. A guy who averages 230 in leagues thinks he can come out here on tour, and he can't.
"We don't have the respect. It's been a struggling sport forever."
Petraglia has a solution, and it doesn't involve gimmick tournaments like the ones the PBA rolled out for the regular tour this past season. He proposes a $5 increase in the $15 United States Bowling Congress joining fee that all sanctioned bowlers must pay. The additional $5 would be earmarked for televised tournaments only.
The $5 increase would generate roughly $25 million, given current levels of USBC membership. That money could easily fatten prize funds for televised tournaments, which could attract more sponsors and entries and help get bowling on par with other sports.
Five dollars seems a small price to pay to give professional bowlers the respect they deserve.
© 2009 Michigan Live. All Rights Reserved.
On Friday evening at Airport Lanes, a man wandered the concourse wearing a long-sleeve, dark blue plaid shirt tucked into his blue jeans.
Nothing out of the ordinary about a sight like that, except that this guy was famous.
And he went largely unnoticed by a good-sized crowd of league and open bowlers.
The man was PBA Hall of Famer Mark Williams, and his anonymity was a troubling offshoot of the Senior Professional Bowlers Association's visit to Jackson.
Williams is not the most recognizable figure, and Brian Voss or Johnny Petraglia may have turned more heads.
But the guy won seven PBA titles and looks a lot like he did back when he was doing it.
Lack of star recognition is just one of the many challenges facing the senior and regular tours as the sport attempts to gain a following similar to the one it enjoyed when the late Chris Schenkel and Nelson Burton Jr. held court on Saturday afternoons on ABC.
Petraglia, one of the tour's most recognizable names, pondered the issues facing the sport before competing in the final rounds of the PBA Jackson Open on Tuesday.
"The tour is doing good, and the senior tour is doing good, but if the sport is going to improve, it has to be done by the industry," Petraglia said. "All the other sports invest money in their professionals, so that if you're successful, it's life-changing. The same thing has to happen with our sport.
"If the leading money-winner was making seven figures, they'd have so many juniors out here they wouldn't know what to do with them."
Ron Mohr won the Jackson tournament and an $8,000 check. Winners on the regular tour claim between $25,000 and $35,000 per tournament. Majors are worth $100,000.
By comparison, the winner of the last PGA Tour stop, Brian Gay, took home a shade more than $1 million.
And when the stakes are that high, television audiences flock to it.
"I do it," Petraglia said. "I'll watch a guy play golf, and I know that if a new, up-and-comer makes a putt and wins a tournament, his life is set for a few years. I've thrown shots for $100,000, and I've thrown shots for $10,000, and there's a tremendous difference."
Money aside, bowling also suffers from a perception that anyone can do what the professionals do. League bowlers regularly hit fat scores on candy house patterns, while the pros — this tournament aside — battle difficult oil patterns that change quicker than house shots.
The resulting lower scores make Joe Bowler think he can do as well if not better.
That's not lost on the pros, including PBA Hall of Famer Tom Baker.
"The tours showcase just how good PBA bowlers are," Baker said as he sipped red wine in the Airport Lanes bar several hours after his tournament ended in the round of 24. "The regular bowler, he would struggle out here. A guy who averages 230 in leagues thinks he can come out here on tour, and he can't.
"We don't have the respect. It's been a struggling sport forever."
Petraglia has a solution, and it doesn't involve gimmick tournaments like the ones the PBA rolled out for the regular tour this past season. He proposes a $5 increase in the $15 United States Bowling Congress joining fee that all sanctioned bowlers must pay. The additional $5 would be earmarked for televised tournaments only.
The $5 increase would generate roughly $25 million, given current levels of USBC membership. That money could easily fatten prize funds for televised tournaments, which could attract more sponsors and entries and help get bowling on par with other sports.
Five dollars seems a small price to pay to give professional bowlers the respect they deserve.
© 2009 Michigan Live. All Rights Reserved.