WINDY CITY BOWLING NEWS September 2010 Page 2

Sour Grapes

Airing USBC’sdirty laundry isn’tan act of revenge

Bill VintEditor

I changed the name of my column to “Sour Grapes” a few months back in anticipation of this issue. When people finish reading the 20th anniversary issue of Windy City Bowling News, I’m assuming some are go-ing to assume I wrote the “The USBC Story” because I’m a disgruntled, angry ex-employee getting my re-venge on the company that wronged me. Not true. I am a USBC fan. I had a nearly 20-year relationship with ABC, YABA and USBC as an employee or contractor, and I was always treated fairly. In my final year with USBC, I made arrangements with Kevin Dornberger and Pete Tredwell that allowed me to con-tinue working until my intended retirement on April 1, 2009. In return - at a time when they could have terminated me because I wasn’t moving to Texas - I agreed to continue as a “contractor” until Oct. 1, su-pervising association communications and serving as USBC’s Hall of Fame Committee liaison. It was a good arrangement for both sides, and I provided services and “mentoring” to USBC that no one else at the time had the experience to provide. I was also ready to leave. Two-plus years earlier, USBC President Mike Car-roll, incoming president Jeff Boje and Kevin Dornberg-er had called an emergency staff meeting to announce Roger Dalkin had just “retired.”

I started thinking about this story that day. If Dalkin had “retired,” there was more to it than we were told. If you knew Roger, “retirement” made no sense. In the many months that followed, I documented actions taken by USBC, talked with industry leaders, proprietors, state and local association volunteers and fellow employees, watched and listened. It didn’t take long to realize others knew USBC was changing direc-tions, but where it was going, no one was sure. You know the old saying: if you smell a skunk, you don’t need to see it to know one’s around. Well, the odor of skunk kept getting stronger.

Why did I feel compelled to do something about it? What made me such an expert? Maybe I’m not. I came to ABC in 1991 with a diverse background. I have a degree in journalism. I started my career as a newspaper reporter and magazine editor. My next adventure was in association management (as execu-tive director of the World Snowmobile Racing Federa-tion), followed by 10 years in marketing and media relations with the Ladies Pro Bowlers Tour, where Lisa and I met, fell in love, got married... Windy City Bowl-ing News and a “real job” as editor of ABC’s Bowling Magazine followed. During my years with ABC/USBC, I was allowed to continue my work with Windy City. I respected my em-ployers. I never publicly opposed ABC/USBC policies or programs, whether I agreed with them or not. As an employee, it was my obligation to speak my mind and to try to implement change from within the system. Whether or not ABC/USBC leaders agreed with me, they gave me the courtesy of listening to my views.

The day I smelled skunk, I decided to scrape the rust off my old training and act like a real journalist. I had spent a lot of years as a PR flack, spinning stories to reflect only the side your bosses want you to see: “The great news this year is that bowling only lost 2.5 percent of its members...” Crap like that. I know how it works. You paint pretty pictures with words by simple omission of key facts, shifting empha-sis and hoping your audience doesn’t know enough to ask any tough questions. That’s the kind of picture the world has seen about USBC’s move to Arlington, Texas. Behind the fluffy words are omission of key facts, emphasis on wishful thinking rather than reality, and a hope that you will believe everything you’re told. The insights in this issue may not change a thing. But maybe airing our dirty laundry will encourage our leaders to be a bit more forthcoming in the future.

Taylor Swift: Celebrity HOFer It’s official: country music superstar Taylor Swift is the newest person elected to the Celebrity Bowling Hall of Fame, based upon her close victory over teen star Justin Bieber. Swift and Bieber were among nine celeb-rities selected by the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America based upon their “public support of bowling.” The voting was conducted online by OK! Magazine which reported 1.3 million votes were cast. Swift received 613,324 votes compared to Bieber’s 608,015. Actor Bill Murray, who starred in the movie “Kingpin,” was a distant third with only 21,451 votes. Swift earned her celebrity bowling stardom because she has been frequently photographed bowling with her friends. Bieber featured bowling in his music video, “Baby” and he hosted a bowling-themed party. There was no explanation of what election to the Celebrity Hall of Fame means, or if, when or where an induction might be held. Stay tuned...

- From BPAA Net News

Five-year-old makes youth tour history Five-year-old Stacey Lamb of Mesa, Ariz., made JBT Touring Players Championship history recently when she topped 71 handicap division youth bowlers from nine states to win a $2,000 scholarship at Strike Zone Bowling Center near Las Vegas. Lamb, who throws a 10-pound ball with both hands, had never advanced as high as fifth place prior to her victory. But the 100-average youngester defeated 11-year-old KJ Martinez of Chandler, Ariz., in the title game, 214-191 (with handicap), to become the youngest champion in the youth tour’s 38-year history.

- From Desert Bowler

104-year-old off to fast start In Waterford, Mich., Rolla Zuck fired a 224 game during the “League Season Kickoff Tournament” at Cen-tury Bowl - one month prior to his 105th birthday. Zuck, who believes “practice, practice, practice makes you better,” carried a 152 average last season.”

- From BPAA Net News

Fishing, hunting and bowling in Iowa You’ve never seen a bowling center like this one: “Uncle Buck’s Fish Bowl and Grill” is a 15,000-square-foot, 12-lane bowling center inside the massive Bass Pro Shop at the junction of I-80 and Hwy 65 Bypass in Des Moines, Iowa. The bowling facility, which looks like the inside of an aquarium, features an 18-foot squid hanging from the ceiling and ball returns shaped like the heads of Great White sharks.

- From basspro.com

Serving league and tournamentbowlers in Chicago, Northwest Indiana,

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Other Cashers (after 8 games): 17, Steve Bergan, Belleville, 1,760, $450. 18, Hubert Harrison, 1,758. 19, Rick Vittone, 1,748, $450. 20, Bob Flaws, Chicago Ridge, 1,741, $450. 21, Emilio Mora Sr., 1,739, $450. 22, Ed Marzka, 1,728, $400. 23, Darryl Traber, 1,710, $400. 24, Mark Wil-liams, 1,704, $400. 25, a-Hank Sorensen, Rolling Meadows, 1,701, $400. 26, Mike Henry, 1,673, $400. 27, Pete Bryan, 1,671, $400. Super Seniors ($250 each): Tim Kauble and Dan Miner, East Moline. a-denotes amateur

PBA CENTRAL/MIDWEST REGIONTERRE HAUTE OPEN

Terre Haute Bowling Center, Ind., Aug. 8 Final Match Play Standings (after 20 games, in-cluding match play bonus pins): 1, Lennie Boresch Jr., Kenosha, Wis., 6-6, 4,712, $2,500. 2, Jeff Roche, Dearborn, Mich., 10-2, 4,552, $1,400. 3, Dave Traber, Hebron, 8-4, 4,581, $1,200. 4, Anthony LaCaze, Melrose Park, 9-3, 4,550, $1,000. 5, Ronnie Russell, Marion, Ind., 7-5, 4,567, $800. 6, Randy Robertson, Evansville, Ind., 8-4, 4,475, $750. 7, Walter Schaub II, Schaumburg, 7-5, 4,436, $725. 8, Tom Hess, Urbandale, Iowa, 5-7, 4,400, 700. 9, a-Scott Johnson, 4-7-1, 4,355, $675. 10, Nick Koke-nos, 2-10, 4,242, $650. 11, a-Austin Boulds, Creal Springs, 3-9, 4,204, $625. 12, Dallas Baldridge, 2-9-1, 4,210, $600.Other Cashers (after 8 games): 13, Jason Poli, 1,825, $510. 14, Danny Neill, 1,823, $450. 15, Tony Johnson, 1,809, $450. 16, Mason Brantley, 1,783, $425. 17, a-Jason Hiddle, 1,782, $425. 18, Carleton Chambers, 1,772, $425.

PBA MIDWEST ST. CHARLES LANESCHALLENGER OPEN

(Non-champions tournament)St. Charles Lanes, St. Charles,

Mo., Aug. 15 Final Match Play Standings (after 20 games, includ-ing match play bonus pins): 1, a-Richard Ness, Belleville, 9-3, 4,430, $1,600. 2, Brian Valenta, Lockport, 8-4, 4,368, $1,000. 3, John Lee, Mundelein, 7-4-1, 4,329, $800. 4, Dale Laurinas, 6-6, 4,165, $700. 5, Jason Kosby, 6-6, 4,131, $600. 6, Dave Dentlinger, 6-6, 4,125, $560. 7, Nick Weber, 6-6, 4,115, $550. 8, Thomas Patton Jr., 6-6, 4,077, $540. 9, a-Dave Fleming, 5-7, 4,066, $535. 10, Quinton Bohlen, 4-8, 4,023, $530. 11, Jeff Taylor, 5-7, 3,989, $525. 12, Duane Kilts, 3-8-1, 3,982, $520.

PBA MIDWEST FAST LANE OPENFast Lane, Chillicothe, Mo., Aug. 22

Final Match Play Standings (after 18 games, including match play bonus pins): 1, Dave Traber, He-bron, 5-5, 4,496, $2,300. 2, Ricky Beck, Box Elder, S.D., 6-3-1, 4,465, $1,250. 3, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 5-5, 4,430, $1,000. 4, Brian Menini, Brookfield, Mo., 5-5, 4,365, $800. 5, Tom Hess, Urbandale, Iowa, 7-3, 4,325, $700. 6, Michael Steil, Wheeling, 4,311, $625. 7, Chad Kloss, 5-5, 4,305, $600. 8, Walter Schaub II, Schaumburg, 6-4, 4,280, $575. 9, Derek Sapp, 2-7-1, 4,272, #550. 10, Dave Beres, 1-9, 3,925, $525. Other Cashers (after 8 games): 11, Steve Keeler, 1,808, $425. 12, Thomas Patton Jr., 1,799, $400. 13, a-Darin Galbraith, 1,775, $400.

PBA CENTRAL ELITE MOTORS/BACKHAUL DIRECT OPEN

Crest Lanes, Marion, Ind., Aug. 22 Final Standings: 1, Eugene McCune, Munster, Ind., $2,400. 2, Billy Oatman, Cleveland, Ohio, $1,500. 3, Ronnie Russell, Marion, Ind., $1,250. 4, Liz Johnson, Cheektowaga, N.Y., $1,025. Stepladder Results: Match One – Russell def. John-son, 263-207. Semifinal Match – McCune def. Russell, 247-203. Championship – McCune def. Oatman, 265-243.

PBA MIDWEST PREMIER BOWLING & ENTERTAINMENT OPENPremier Bowling & Entertainment Center, Pleasant Hill, Iowa, Aug. 29 Final Match Play Standings (after 20 games, including match play bonus pins): 1, Sean Rash, Wichita, Kan., 7-5, 4,503, $2,500. 2, Mike Steil, Wheeling, 9-3, 4,435, $1,400. 3, Derek Sapp, Keokuk, Iowa, 9-3, 4,405, $1,100. 4, Tom Hess, Urbandale, Iowa, 9-3, 4,359, $900. 5, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 4-8, 4,339, $775. 6, Steve Jaros, Yorkville, 4,278, $700. 7, Dave Traber, Hebron, 6-6, 4,235, $675. 8, Dave Axon, 6-6, 4,182, $650. 9, Jeff Richgels, 7-5, 4,164, $625. 10, A.J. Chapman, 3-9, 4,059, $600. 11, Nathan Micha-lowski, 5-7, 4,035, $575. 12, Dave Dentlinger, 0-12, 3,815, $550.

PBA BOWLINGGIFT.COM SENIOR OPENGeorgetown Bowl, Ft. Wayne, Aug. 29

Championship: Bobby Johnson, Chillicothe, Ohio ($1,700) def. John Deloney, Troy, ($1,300), 203-137. Semifinal Round (losers earned $900): Johnson def. Harry Sullins, Chesterfield Twp., Mich., 213-203. Delo-ney def. Curtis Odom, Coldwater, Mich., 200-179. Round of 8 (best of three games, losers earned $725): Johnson def. Marc Lineberry, 2-0. Odom def. Tom Carter, Rockford, 2-0. Sullins def. Dale Csuhta, 2-1. Deloney def. Bob Brady, 2-1. Round of 16 (best of five, losers earned $550): Brady def. Kenny Parks, Hammond, Ind., 3-2. Csuhta def. Derek Smith, 3-2. Johnson def. Jeff Zaffino, 3-1. Carter def. Leo Scantamburlo, 3-1. Odom def. Bill Idzior, 3-0. Lineberry def. Davey Rosen, Northbrook, 3-1. Sullins def. Bob Kelly, 3-1. Deloney def. Dave Soutar, 3-1.

town Bowl. The win was the second of Johnson’s career. He earned $1,700.

PBA OLATHE LANES EASTMARATHON MIDWEST OPEN

Olathe Lanes East, Olathe, Kan., July 25 Final Match Play Standings (after 20 games): 1, Tom Hess, Urbandale, Iowa, 4,279, $2,400. 2, Jason Poli, West Des Moines, Iowa, 4,190, $1,300. 3, Jay Futrell, Der-by, Kan., 4,146, $1,050. 4, Kevin Andes, Somerset, Mass., 4,144, $900. 5, Anthony LaCaze, Melrose Park, 4,106, $750. 6, Dave Beres, Waukesha, Wis., 4,091, $675. 7, Marc Heninger, Tonganoxie, Kan., 4,087, $625. 8, Dave Traber, Hebron, 4,083, $600. 9, Tom Patton Jr., 4,021, $575. 10, a-Derek Hartnell, 3,998, $550. 11, a-Dave Fleming, 3,913, $525. 12, Walter Schaub II, Schaumburg, 3,889, $500. 13, Mark Zamora, 3,848, $480. 14, a-Vito Figlioli, 3,775, $460. 15, Jerry Brewster, 3,715, $450. a-denotes amateur

PBA MIDWEST/CENTRALRC COLA/MILLER LITE OPENThunderbowl, Mokena, Aug. 1

Final Standings: 1, Brian Waliczek, Birch Run, Mich., $2,400. 2, Paul Gibson, Brunswick, Ohio, $1,200. 3, Dave Beres, Waukesha, Wis., $1,000. 4, Tom Hess, Urbandale, Iowa, $900. 5, Matt Freiberg, Somerset, N.J., $800. Stepladder Results: Match One – Hess def. Freiberg, 238-209. Match Two – Beres def. Hess, 193-184. Semifinal – Waliczek def. Beres, 225-190. Championship – Waliczek def. Gibson, 203-192. Final Match Play Standings (after 20 games, including match play bonus pins): Gibson, 10-2, 4,854. 2, Waliczek, 8-4, 4,743. 3, Beres, 8-4, 4,739. 4, Hess, 9-3, 4,657. 5, Freiberg, 7-5, 4,633. 6, J.R. Raymond, 6-6, 4,615, $760. 7, Mike Sopper, Schaumburg, 6-6, 4,582, $740. 8, An-thony LaCaze, Melrose Park, 5-7, 4,560, $720. 9, Thomas Patton Jr., 7-5, 4,500, $700. 10, Andrew Loose, Chicago, 7-5, 4,486, $680. 11, Tim Keeler, 6-6, 4,435, $660. 12, Nick Kokenos, 6-6, 4,340, $640. After 14 games: 13, Nate Michalowski, 3-3, 3,091, $620. 14, Derek Sapp, 3-3, 3,090, $600. 15, Dallas Baldridge, 2-4, 3,080, $590. 16, Walter Schaub II, Schaum-burg, 1-5, 3,048, $580. 17, a-Paul Bober, Morton Grove, 2-4, 3,036, $570. 18, Quinton Bohlen, 3-3, 2,987, $560. 19, Jeff Klemenswicz, Woodridge, 3-3, 2,959, $550. 20, Rick Zakra-jsek, 3-3, 2,949, $540. 21, Dave Sill, 0-6, 2,861, $530. 22, Mark London, Ingleside, 1-5, 2,844, $520. 23, Jack Laffey, 0-6, 2,828, $510. 24, Walk Pekovitch, Richmond, 2-4, 2,824, $500.

PBA MIDWEST/CENTRAL ANODIZING SPECIALISTS SENIOR OPEN

Beverly Lanes, Arlington Heights, Aug. 8 Championship: Kenny Parks, Hammond, Ind. ($1,800) def. Robert Harvey, Boise, Idaho ($1,250), 277-187. Semfinal Round (losers earned $950): Harvey def. Dave Patchen, Oregon, Ohio, 196-175. Parks def. Mi-chael Truitt, Orland Park, 225-207. Round of 8 (best of three games, losers earned $725): Harvey def. George Tignor, 2-0. Truitt def. Jimmy Johnson, 2-0. Patchen def. Robert McDonald, Addison, 2-1. Parks def. Dale Traber, 2-0. Round of 16 (best of five, losers earned $550): Tignor def. Davey Rosen, Northbrook, 3-2. Johnson def. Bob Brady, 3-1. Harvey def. Bob Holzbauer, 3-0. McDonald def. Dave Soutar, 3-0. Traber def. Harry Sullins, 3-1. Truitt def. Peter Knopp, 3-2. Patchen def. Keith Sharp, 3-0. Parks def. Marc Lineberry, 3-1.

After qualifying 15th on his squad – and shooting 267 in his final game to do that – Kenny Parks of Hammond, Ind., slipped into the match play finals of the PBA Midwest/Central Anodiz-ing Specialists Senior Open at Beverly Lanes in Arlington Heights on Aug. 8, and went on to win the event in a per-formance that was just this side of mi-raculous. Parks, in winning his first Midwest Regional senior title and third overall, defeated Robert Harvey of Boise, Ida-ho, 277-187, in the title match for the $1,800 first prize. The Beverly Lanes event has become an annual tune-up for the start of the PBA Senior Tour’s final leg of the season, beginning with the Senior Lake County Indiana Open at Olympia Lanes in Hammond. “I wasn’t even going to bowl this tournament,” Parks said. “I was going to rest up for the Hammond event, but I got talked into bowling. “I bowled the early qualifying squad and I was 15th, so I figured there was no way I was going to make match play,” he continued. “I couldn’t image two guys on B Squad not going around me, so I put all my stuff in my truck and was ready to go home.” Amazingly, only one player from the late squad passed Parks, so he made the match play finals in the 16th and final position. In his first match against top qualifier Marc Lineberry of Camanche, Iowa, Parks won a relative-ly low-scoring best-of-five-game deci-sion, 3-1. But then he decided to try a ball he hadn’t used and crushed Dale Traber of Cedarburg, Wis., 280-258 and 300-214 in their best-of-three con-test. Parks then ousted Michael Truitt of Orland Park, 225-20,7, to advance to the championship match. “Unbelievable,” he said. “This was really a nice event to win, and now I’m going to my home center (Olympia Lanes), and I’m hoping to keep it go-ing. I’d really love to win a title in my home house.” In other PBA Midwest action, Tom Hess of Urbandale, Iowa, picked up $2,400 and his fifth career PBA region-al victory in the PBA Midwest’s Olathe Lanes East Marathon Open in Olathe, Kan., on July 25. Hess averaged 213 for 20 games across four different lane conditions, similar to the Lumber Liq-uidators PBA Tour’s Marathon Open, to top fellow Iowan Jason Poli by 89 pins for the win. In the joint Midwest/Central Region Thunderbowl Open in Mokena on Aug. 1, Brian Waliczek of Birch Run, Mich., picked up his sixth career regional vic-tory and $2,500 on Aug. 1. Waliczek defeated Paul Gibson of Brunswick, Ohio, 203-191, in the title match. On Aug. 8, Lennie Boresch Jr. of Kenosha, Wis., pick up his 23rd career regional title in the joint Midwest/Cen-tral Region Terre Haute (Ind.) Open in Terre Haute, Ind. Boresch defeated Jeff Roche of Dearborn, Mich., by 160 pins

in the 20-game round-robin match play event. David Traber of Hebron finished third, just ahead of 2009-10 Harry Golden Rookie of the Year LaCaze. Amateur Richard Ness of Belleville defeated Brian Valenta of Lockport by 62 pins to win the Midwest Region’s St. Charles Lanes Challenger Open at St. Charles Lanes on Aug. 15. Ness fin-ished the non-champions event with a 9-3 match play record and a total of 4,430 pins for 20 games, including match play bonus pins, but he doesn’t get credit for a PBA title because he was a non-member at the time he won. He did, however, take home a check for $1,600. Valenta earned $1,000 for second place. David Traber defeated Ricky Beck of Box Elder, S.D., by 31 pins on Aug. 22 to win the Midwest Region’s Fast Lane Open in Chillicothe, Mo. Traber finished with a 5-5 match play record and a total of 4,496 pins for 18 games, including match play bonus pins, for his second PBA Midwest title of the year and the 25th of his career. Also on Aug. 22, Eugene McCune of Munster, Ind., defeated former Chica-goan Billy Oatman of Cleveland, Ohio, 265-243, to win the Central Region’s Elite Motors/Backhaul Direct Open at Crest Lanes in Indianapolis. The title was McCune’s first of the year in the PBA Central Region and his 15th career regional title. Sean Rash of Wichita, Kan., defeat-ed Mike Steil of Wheeling by 68 pins to win the Midwest Region’s Premier Bowling & Entertainment Center Open and $2,500 in Pleasant Hill, Iowa, on Aug. 29. Rash finished with a 7-5 match play record and a total of 4,503 pins for 20 games, including match play bonus pins. It was Rash’s third regional title. In Ft. Wayne, Ind., on Aug. 29, Bobby Johnson of Chillicothe, Ohio, de-feated John Deloney of Troy, 203-137, to win the joint Central/Midwest Bowl-ingGift.com Senior Open at George-

Bowling gods shine on Parks at Beverly Lanes

HAMMOND’S KENNY PARKS couldn’t have asked for a better sequence of events than the ones he encountered on his way to winning the Anodizing Specialists Senior Open

at Beverly Lanes in Arlington Heights on Aug. 8.

WINDY CITY BOWLING NEWS September 2010 Page 4

HAMMOND, Ind. – Mike Henry of Bruns-wick, Ohio, ended his 10-year quest for his first PBA Senior Tour title in the PBA Senior Lake County Indiana Open at Olympia Lanes on Aug. 12, defeating Tim Kauble of Marion, Ohio, 247-166, in the title match. Henry, at age 62, upset three con-secutive favored players. Kauble was the title-match favorite after winning the PBA Golden Anniversary Senior Championship at Olympia Lanes two years earlier. In the semifinal round, Henry up-set 47-time PBA Tour champion and PBA Hall of Famer Walter Ray Williams Jr. of Ocala, Fla., 235-192, to prevent a showdown between Golden Anniversa-ry winners (Williams had won the PBA Tour portion of the 2009 Hammond event). In the Round of 8, Henry had eliminated another PBA Hall of Famer, Wayne Webb of Columbus, Ohio. “It has been a lot of hard work and it paid off,” said Henry, who had pre-viously finished second twice in PBA Senior events. “There were 117 great bowlers to start this tournament, but to beat Wayne Webb and Walter Ray? I wouldn’t trade this for anything.” “Mike made the lanes look easy, but they were tough,” Kauble said. “If they had been easy, there would have been more left-handers in the hunt and there weren’t.”

Henry won a large eagle trophy along with an $8,000 prize and said he was going to mount the eagle on his motorhome so everyone could see it while he drove down the highway to the Senior Tour’s next stop in Decatur. Kauble advanced to the champion-ship match by defeating Ron Profitt of Brookville, Ohio, 233-211, while Henry was eliminating Williams, in the other semifinal round match, 235-192. Henry’s upset victory also played

a key role in the PBA Senior Player of the Year points race, stalling Webb’s hopes of virtually locking up the PBA Senior Player of the Year title, and he prevented Williams – the current PBA Tour Player of the Year – from gain-ing meaningful ground on Webb in the points race. Webb failed to add to his points to-tal when he was eliminated in his best-of-three-game match against Henry, 2-0. Webb remained the leader with 48 points while Williams earned four points for finishing third to move into a tie for second place with Mark Williams (no relation) of Beaumont, Texas, both with 32. The top four finishers in each PBA Senior Tour event earn 16, 8, 4 and 2 Player of the Year points, respectively. “I hate to lose, but I hate it even more when it’s my own fault,” Webb said. “Mike bowled a good match, but I made some bad shots. Oh, well. It’s not the first time I’ve done that and it won’t be the last.”

PBA SENIOR LAKE COUNTY IND. OPENOlympia Lanes, Hammond, Ind., Aug. 12

Championship: Mike Henry, Brunswick, Ohio ($8,000) def. Tim Kauble, Marion, Ohio ($4,500), 247-166.Semifinal Round (losers earned $3,000): Kauble def. Ron Profitt, Brookville, Ohio, 233-211. Henry def. Walter Ray Wil-liams Jr., Ocala, Fla., 235-192. Round of 8 (best of three games, losers earned $1,700): Kauble def. Kent Wagner, 2-0. Henry def. Wayne Webb, 2-0. WR Williams def. Dale Traber, 2-1. Profitt def. Tom Baker, 2-0. Round of 16 (best of five, losers earned $1,300): Kauble def. Bob Chamberlain, 3-2. Henry def. Mark Zamora, 3-0. Traber def. Dale Eagle, 3-0. Webb def. Rick Vittone, 3-0. Wagner def. Michael Tryniski, 3-1. Profitt def. Shannon Starnes, 3-2. Baker def. Conn Casey, 3-0. WR Williams def. Kenny Parks, Hammond, Ind., 3-1. Round of 24 (best of five, losers earned $1,150): Starnes def. Mark Williams, 3-1. Zamora def. Steve Ferraro, 3-1. Eagle def. Larry Popp, 3-1. Tryniski def. Robert Harvey, 3-1. Vittone def. Harry Sullins, 3-1. Casey def. Bob Knipple, 3-0. Kauble def. Charlie Tapp, 3-2. Parks def. Johnny Petra-glia, 3-0. Round of 32 (best of five, losers earned $1,050): Casey def. Larry Graybeal, 3-1. Starnes def. Mark Everette, 3-1. Tapp def. Mike Dias, 3-1. Tryniski def. Patric Donaghue, 3-2. Vittone def. Dan Miner, East Moline, 3-2. Zamora def. John Forst, 3-0. Eagle def. Barry Mefford, Aurora, 3-2. Petraglia def. Peter Knopp, 3-1. Other Cashers (after 16 games, $900 each): 33, Bob Kelly, 3,221. 34, John Chapman, 3,218. 35, Roy Buck-ley, 3,217. 36, (tie) Ray Johnson, Dave Patchen and George Tignor, 3,215. 39, Chuck Schuette, 3,207. Super Seniors ($700 each): Don Blatchford, Ken Waters, Richard Hunt, Emilio Mora Sr., Harv Pallas, Ron Garr, John Shreve Sr., Gary Hiday, Bill Idzior, and Dave Soutar.

Baker wins inDecatur, ends3-year slumpDECATUR – Tom Baker of King, N.C., captured his first PBA Senior Tour title in three years on Aug. 17, defeating Dale Csuhta of Wadsworth, Ohio, 237-181, to win the PBA Senior Pepsi Open at Spare Time Lanes. Baker, a PBA Hall of Famer and four-time Senior Player of the Year, earned $8,000 and denied Csuhta’s bid for his first Senior title. Csuhta earned $4,500 for second. Baker, who won his ninth career Senior Tour title, has struggled after winning four consecutive PBA Senior Player of the Year awards. He credited a change from a five-step to six steps in the stop in Hammond, Ind., for giv-ing his game new life. “I was watching Pete Weber bowl-ing at a trade show in York, Pa., re-cently and I noticed he used a six-step delivery and thought I need to change something, so why not try it?” said the 55-year-old Baker. “I could tell immedi-ately it was helping with my timing and my release. “I knew I had a timing problem, but I didn’t know exactly how to cor-rect it. I think this was the answer.” Baker’s last Senior Tour win came in the Senior Dick Weber Invitational in August of 2007. His nine Senior titles ties Bob Glass and Pete Couture for fifth on the all-time Senior titles list. John Handegard is the leader with 14. “When I first came out on the Se-nior Tour, those first few wins came easy,” Baker added. “But after bowl-ing both the senior and regular tour it might have had a negative effect after awhile. Hopefully I’ve got it straight-ened out now.” In the semifinal matches, Baker defeated Patric Donaghue of Honoeye Falls, N.Y., 231-201, and Csuhta de-feated Walter Ray Williams Jr. of Ocala, Fla., 268-237.

PBA SENIOR PEPSI OPENSpare Time Lanes, Decatur, Aug. 17

Championship: Tom Baker, King, N.C. ($8,000) def. Dale Csuhta, Wadsworth, Ohio ($4,500), 237-181. Semifinal Round (losers earned $3,000): Baker def. Patric Donaghue, Honeoye Falls, N.Y., 231-201. Csuhta def. Walter Ray Williams Jr., Ocala, Fla., 268-237. Round of 8 (best of three games, losers earned $1,700): Donaghue def. Henry Gonzalez, 2-1. Baker def. Patrick King, 2-0. Williams Jr. def. Bob Faragon, 2-0. Csuhta def. John Forst, 2-1. Round of 16 (best of five, losers earned $1,300): Donaghue def. Mark Williams, 3-2. Gonzalez def. Bob Brady, 3-1. King def. Darryl Bower, 3-0. Baker def. Marc Lineberry, 3-1. Williams Jr. def. Mike Dias, 3-1. Faragon def. Michael Tryniski, 3-1. Csuhta def. Harry Sullins, 3-0. Forst def. Kerry Painter, 3-1. Round of 24 (best of five, losers earned $1,150): Donaghue def. Larry Popp, 3-2. Brady def. Dale Traber, 3-1. Bower def. Wayne Webb, 3-2. Lineberry def. Dave Patchen, 3-2. Dias def. Robert Harvey, 3-2. Tryniski def. Warren Blan-kenship, 3-0. Csuhta def. Charlie Tapp, 3-0. Forst def. Emilio Mora Sr., 3-2. Round of 32 (best of five, losers earned $1,050): Donaghue def. Harv Pallas, 3-2. Traber def. George Lord, 3-0. Bower def. Christopher Keane, 3-2. Patchen def. Bobby Johnson, 3-1. Dias def. John Dudak, Orland Park, 3-2. Blankenship def. Kent Wagner, 3-1. Tapp def. Ron Profitt, 3-0. Mora def. Johnny Petraglia, 3-2. Other Cashers (after 16 games, $900 each): 33, Tom Howison, 3,166. 34, (tie) Dave Sill and Dannie Hettinger, 3,165. 36, John Chapman, 3,163, $900. Super Seniors ($700 each): Charlie Tomey, Roy Buck-ley, Ed Marzka, Gary Hiday, Dave Soutar, Bob Chamberlain, Bob Knipple and Michael Truitt, Orland Park.

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Henry nabs 1st title in Hammond

MIKE HENRY, at age 62, captured his first PBA Senior Tour title in the Lake CountyIndiana Senior Open at Olympic Lanes in Hammond on Aug. 12.

Page 5 September 2010 WINDY CITY BOWLING NEWS

JACKSON, Mich. – PBA Hall of Famer Wayne Webb capped the 2009-10 Se-nior Tour season with a win in the Se-nior Jackson Open on Aug. 24, clinch-ing Senior Player of the Year honors joining fellow Hall of Famer Mark Roth as the only bowlers to win both the PBA Tour and Senior Tour Player of the Year awards. Webb, the 1980 PBA Tour Player of the Year, defeated Ray Johnson of Battle Creek, Mich., 211-194, in the championship match for his third Se-nior Tour title of the season and fifth of his career. He also won the USBC Senior Masters and Senior Columbus Open earlier in the year. Nursing a knee injury suffered in the Senior U.S. Open in June, Webb sat in 40th place after the first round in Jackson and had to fight back to quali-fy 25th to make the cut for match play after the second round. He then won six matches on his way to the victory. “I thought about withdrawing after the second round but because Player of the Year was on the line I felt I should keep going,” Webb said. “The whole tournament was a roller coaster ride.” The Jackson Senior Open brought the Senior Tour season to a dramatic close because, entering the event, both Walter Ray Williams Jr. and Mark Williams had a shot at Senior Player of the Year. Williams Jr. needed a win and a fourth-place finish or worse by Webb to become the first player to win PBA Tour and PBA Senior Player of the Year titles in the same year. Mark Williams needed a win and a 13th-place or low-er finish by Webb. When both challengers were elimi-nated in the best-of-five-game Round of 16, Webb had that burden removed from his mind. “It didn’t look like it was going to happen,” said the 53-year-old Webb, “The way he (Walter Ray) was bowl-ing, I don’t know if I could have beat him. With my knee, I felt lucky to still be in the tournament. After a while I was just running on adrenaline.” Roth won PBA Player of the Year titles four times and Senior Player of the Year in 2002. “Mark was my idol growing up and I’m honored to be in his company,” said Webb. “Winning Player of the Year 30 years apart is pretty cool. It’s some-thing they can’t take away from you.” In the semifinals, Webb defeated Patrick King of Yankton, S.D., 236-198, and Johnson defeated Dale Csuhta of Wadsworth, Ohio, 232-226, to advance to the championship match.

PBA SENIOR JACKSON OPENAirport Lanes, Jackson, Mich., Aug. 24

Championship: Wayne Webb, Columbus, Ohio ($8,000) def. Ray Johnson, Battle Creek, Mich. ($4,500), 211-194. Semifinal Round (losers earned $3,000): Webb def. Patrick King, Yankton, S.D., 236-198. Johnson def. Dale Csuhta, Wadsworth, Ohio, 232-226. Round of 8 (best of three games, losers earned

$1,700): Webb def. Dale Traber, 2-1. King def. Patric Dona-ghue, 2-1. Johnson def. Tom Baker, 2-0. Csuhta def. Bob Faragon, 2-0. Round of 16 (best of five, losers earned $1,300): Traber def. Walter Ray Williams Jr., 3-2.. Webb def. Christo-pher Keane, 3-1. King def. Roy Buckley, 3-2. Donaghue def. Mark Williams, 3-1. Baker def. Bill Henson, 3-0. Johnson def. Bob Chamberlain, 3-1. Faragon def. Robert Harvey, 3-1. Csuhta def. Emilio Mora Sr., 3-0. Round of 24 (best of five, losers earned $1,150) Traber def. Peter Knopp, Germany, 3-0. Webb def. Tom Carter, Rockford, 3-0. Buckley def. Terry Metzner, 3-0. Donaghue def. Sammy Ventura, 3-1. Henson def. Michael Lucente, 3-0. Johnson def. Mike Henry, 3-1. Faragon def. Don Sylvia, 3-0. Mora def. Pete Kaczmarczyk, 3-1. Round of 32 (best of five, losers earned $1,050): Knopp def. Andrew Ippolito, 3-1. Webb def. John Chapman, 3-0. Buckley def. Derek Smith, 3-1. Donaghue def. John Dudak, Orland Park, 3-0. Henson def. Ron Profitt, 3-0. Johnson def. Steve Ferraro, 3-0. Faragon def. Gary Hiday, 3-1. Mora def. Kerry Painter, 3-1. Other Cashers (after 16 games, $900 each): 33, (tie) Kenny Parks, Hammond, Ind., Harry Sullins, and Dick Selgo, 3,350. 36, Charlie Tapp, 3,347. 37, (tie) Marc Lineberry and Henry Gonzalez, 3,345. Super Seniors ($700 each): Fred McClain, Leonard Cianciolo, Don Blatchford, Tim Kauble, Richard Hunt, Ted Staikoff, John Petraglia, Larry Graybeal and Michael Truitt, Orland Park.

FINAL 2010 PBA SENIORTOUR STATISTICS

EARNINGS1, Wayne Webb, Columbus, Ohio.......................... $41,9002, Mark Williams, Beaumont, Texas....................... $26,6533, W.R. Williams Jr., Ocala, Fla.............................. $24,5504, Tom Baker, King, N.C........................................ $20,4505, Steve Ferraro, Kingston, N.Y.............................. $15,3006, Kenny Parks, Hammond, Ind............................. $14,1007, Ron Mohr, Eagle River, Alaska............................ $13,4098, Dale Traber, Cedarburg, Wis............................. $13,4009, Michael Henry, Brunswick, Ohio......................... $12,21210, Kerry Painter, Henderson, Nev.......................... $11,700

AVERAGES1, W.R. Williams Jr., Ocala, Fla................................ 225.492, Ron Mohr, Eagle River, Alaska............................. 223.153, Tom Baker, King, N.C......................................... 221.284, Mark Williams, Beaumont, Texas......................... 220.065, Wayne Webb, Columbus, Ohio............................ 219.486, Dale Traber, Cedarburg, Wis............................... 219.437, Brian Brazeau, Ocala, Fla................................... 219.098, Dale Csuhta, Wadsworth, Ohio........................... 218.219, Roger Kossert, Lithia, Fla.................................... 217.7810, Harry Sullins, Chesterfield Twp., Mich................ 215.76

Kent named July’s bestARLINGTON, Texas - Marshall Kent of Yakima, Washington, was selected as July 2010 Kegel Bowler of the Month by the Bowling Writers Association of America after winning the USBC Junior Gold boys championship followed by the boys’ title in the fifth annual North Pointe Insurance $100,000 High School Open Singles Classic.

MARATHONSEASON

RETURNS!Joliet Town & Country Lanes presents a full

season of monthly 8-game marathontournaments for bowlers of all skill levels.

• $60 pre-paid entry fee ($70 on-site)• One entry fee puts you into scratch and handicap divisions; you cash based upon

your highest finish• Tournaments start at 10 a.m.

(entries close at 9 a.m., check-inopens at 8:30 a.m.)

• 8 games across 16 lanes• Women’s and Senior (50 & Over)

special prize lists• All bowlers eligible for end-of-season

points list; no extra fee• No PBA Exempt players allowed

• Handicap prize lists use 80% of 210based on highest 2009-10 average

8-GAME MARATHON SCHEDULESunday, September 26

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Webb wins in Jackson, clinches Senior crown

Wayne Webb

WINDY CITY BOWLING NEWS September 2010 Page 6

Continued from Page 1also has won three PBA Midwest Re-gional titles, captured the Grand Boot Hill crown in 1993 and won the legend-ary Bertrand’s 20-Game Marathon in 1996. But his biggest win came in the American Dream Classic in 1990 when he collected a $132,000 first prize. Thompson, 56, has been a member of the Chicagoland USBC board since its inception, and served on the Chi-cago Metropolitan Bowling Association board prior to the organization’s merg-er with the Chicago Women’s Bowl-ing Association – including a term as Chicago Metropolitan president when he worked diligently to get a Chicago men’s bowling hall of fame program off the ground. Thompson currently is third vice president. Habetler, who died in 1971 at age 61, was a national bowling star in the 1940s and ‘50s, winning the Petersen Classic in 1947 and the ABC Masters in 1953 among his many victories. The two-time Illinois state champion was proprietor of Habetler Bowl in Chicago and active in the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America, serving a term as that organization’s president. Nelson, who died in 2004, was owner and manager of Palwaukee Bowling Center for 25 years, and a pioneer in pro shop operations, helping noted Chicago area pro shop operators Jerry Belluzzi, Bob Brown, Jerry Cullum and Mike Myslinski get their starts. Collins is a 2010 graduate of Whit-ney Young High School where she was an honor roll student, member of the yearbook committee and Future Business Leaders of America, and a member of the pom pon and bowling teams. As a bowler Collins has a high game of 279, a 725 series and a 199 average. She will attend Alabama A&M University this fall on a bowling schol-arship. In her application letter, she wrote, “Bowling was never just a hobby or something that I’d only do when I go out with friends. It became a reflection of my life and a small piece of how I view the world around me. The various awards presented to me throughout my bowling career have not only made me a better athlete, but have also taught me to never under-estimate any ob-stacles that come my way.” Murphy, 18, graduated this year from Marian Catholic High School where she also was an honor roll stu-dent and band member. She was the head drum major for the school band that marched in the 2010 Rose Bowl Parade. She has been active in church choir and dance groups in addition to hold-ing a part-time job. As a bowler, she has a 237 high game, 669 high series and a 171 high average.

In her application letter, Murphy said if she won the Star of Tomorrow award, she wanted to upgrade her bowling equipment to continue striving toward her goal of rolling her first per-fect game. “I want to make sure I am setting the best example for the younger chil-dren, whether that be in my actions or even in helping them with their games,” she wrote. “I realize that younger chil-dren look up to older children. I want to be an example for them and give them something to strive for. I can hear them saying, ‘If Diamond can bowl a perfect game, I can, too!’” For ticket information for the Chi-cagoland Hall of Fame dinner, call the association office at 708-236-0100.

Chicago areadominates IBA HOF class

Continued from Back Pagebut the league soon folded, and in 1963, Oppenheim gave up competitive bowling briefly in 1963, tried a come-back and called it a career in 1968. Habetler was a Chicagoland pio-neer who became one of the sport’s stars in the 1904s and ‘50s (see Chica-goland Hall of Fame story). Bunetta, who was notified of his election just before he died earlier this year, was a star with the E&B and Pfe-iffer Beer teams in Detroit, but also won an ABC Tournament team title with Munsingwear of Chicago. A founding member of the PBA in 1959, Bunetta won his only PBA title in Fairless Hills, Pa., in 1960. But he made his most profound impact on the sport as a teacher, introducing many funda-mental instructional methods that are industry standards today. Niehus, who died in 1992 at age 72, was another Chicago area standout in the 1950s and ‘60s. He captained the Old Fitz team which won the ABC team title in 1963 with Jim Stefanich, Harry Lippe, Les Zikes and Ed Kawolics (all of whom are in the Illinois Bowling Hall of Fame). The Old Fitz team also won the ABC all-events title in 1964. His team also won the IBA title in 1988.

Chicagoland USBC will induct five into HOF

Rudy Habetler Camille Collins

Illinois State USBC Women’s Association

presents its 82nd Annual

Championships Tournament

Dates: Weekends Feb. 5-April 17, 2010 Site: Pla Mor Lanes (team)

& Spare Time Lanes (doubles/singles) in Decatur

ENTRY FEES Team: $100 ($20 per person)

Doubles: $40 ($20 per person) Singles: $20 per person

All-Events: $2 per person ($9 bowling, $5 expense fee, $6 prize money,

per person, per entry)

NO BOWLING DATE Feb. 19-20: IWBA Annual

Meeting Weekend

ENTRY DEADLINE: Midnight, November 8 (unless filled earlier)

Celebrating 82 years of competition and camaraderie among Illinois’ women bowlers

● All team captains are encouraged to enter early to reserve preferred dates and squad times ● Open to all IWBA members in good standing ● Competition is handicap, based on 100% of

240 (bowlers use highest average for 21 games or more from 2009-10 season)

● Official entry forms with complete rules are available at bowling centers throughout

Illinois or upon written request to:

Illinois State USBC Women’s Association

1224 Towanda Ave., Unit 22 Bloomington, IL 61701

Earlene M. Nelson, Association Manager

Page 7 September 2010 WINDY CITY BOWLING NEWS

By Bill Vint On Aug. 1, 2007, Jeff Bojé of Tam-pa, Fla., became the first bowling cen-ter owner to head the United States Bowling Congress, the world’s largest bowling membership organization. Bojé was elected president of the three-year-old USBC by his fellow board members after serving three years as one of the Bowling Proprietors’ Asso-ciation of America two representatives on the USBC Board of Directors. He was BPAA president when he was first appointed to the USBC board. Bojé won the leadership of an orga-nization that had faced declining mem-bership for more than three decades because he offered hope that he would provide a bridge between grassroots bowlers, volunteer association leaders and proprietors, bringing harmony to a relationship that had been hampered by lack of trust for years. When Bojé came into office, the USBC was an organization of 2,298,235 adult and 301,093 youth members, staffed by just over 200 full-time em-ployees at its headquarters in suburban Milwaukee. USBC was an organization with no debt and, according for former CEO Roger Dalkin, between $15-20 million in liquid assets.

When Bojé’s term expired on Aug. 1, 2010, new USBC president Darlene Baker and USBC ex-ecutive director Stu Upson inherited an organization of 1,941,336 adult and 235,361 youth members, staffed by 145 employees headquartered in the new International Bowling Campus in Arlington, Texas, with virtually all of its liquid assets gone and its former headquarters building sitting unsold in Wisconsin. Entering the 2010-11 bowling sea-son, USBC has its lowest adult mem-bership since the 1950-51 season and its lowest youth membership since 1958-59. This story documents what hap-pened to USBC over the past three years under Bojé’s leadership. It would be wrong and inaccu-rate to suggest Jeff Bojé has killed the USBC, or that there was anything mali-cious in his desires to change the face of bowling. If anything, Bojé has insist-ed throughout his reign at USBC’s helm that his only interest is what’s best for bowling. But the fact remains, bowling has not changed its course, and may be in its worst condition in more than 50 years because of a series of high-risk miscalculations, combined with a national economic collapse. But Bojé, who also is a certified public accoun-tant, may not have noticed the sinking economic conditions. In Bojé’s own words in the August 2010 issue of Bowlers Journal Interna-tional, “The move to Arlington was to change bowling’s paradigm. Sure, we

expect expenses to come down and, with the USBC living with BPAA, we hope that membership will increase. Yes, it might backfire and cause ac-celerated death. But if we did nothing, bowling would most definitely die…” In fairness to Bojé and the USBC board that supported his agenda, the erosion of organized league bowling had been going on for more than 30 years with the membership groups and proprietors pointing fingers at each other, looking for someone to blame. The non-stop loss of league bowlers was the single most important factor leading to the decision by the Ameri-can Bowling Congress, Women’s Inter-national Bowling Congress and Young American Bowling Alliance to merge in 2004, creating the USBC.

The USBC merger wasn’t easy or painless. It came about after nearly 10 years of hand-holding, ne-gotiation and compromise. The large, cumbersome and slow-acting volun-teer boards that individually controlled the three membership organizations became a smaller, more manageable, 20-plus member group that was de-signed to act much faster and much more efficiently. During USBC’s first three years under the new structure, former ABC director Mike Carroll served as USBC president and Roger Dalkin as USBC’s first CEO. USBC devoted most of its attention to trying to get its local and state associations to adopt the merger model while establishing a new work-ing relationship with the sport in gener-al. USBC basically operated under the same management system it had in the past – with the Board of Directors establishing policies and USBC execu-tive leadership and staff carrying out the board’s wishes. That business model changed dra-matically when the USBC board elected Bojé as president.

Almost overnight, Bojé’s board changed from a “governance” body – one that provides the vision for staff to follow – to an “operational” body, becoming much more involved in the day-to-day operations of the organiza-tion. That’s when the USBC board be-gan to push for actions to bring USBC and BPAA together in one location.

During his comments to the bowling industry during In-ternational Bowl Expo in June 2010, outgoing BPAA president Jimmy Sturm revealed the seeds of a plan to cre-ate the International Bowling Campus were planted during a late-night gath-ering at a restaurant-bar in 2005 near BPAA headquarters in Arlington, Texas. Involved in the discussion, Sturm said, were Bojé, Carroll, BPAA president Joe Schumacher and himself – who was about to succeed Schumacher as BPAA president. Sturm held up a napkin, which he said outlined the plan. Asked later what the napkin con-tained, Sturm said, “They were just visions of what all felt the bowling in-dustry would be like if we had our own perfect wish.” Whether or not Sturm’s napkin in-cluded a master plan for getting USBC and BPAA together is a good question, but it revealed that at least a handful of key leaders had begun planning a move two years before it happened. On July 26, 2007 – six days before Bojé took office – USBC employees were called together for a mandatory staff meeting in Greendale where Car-roll announced Dalkin had decided to retire as USBC’s CEO, effective immedi-ately, ending his 30 years of service to the organization. Kevin Dornberger, a former ABC vice president and attorney who later became USBC’s legal counsel and Vice President-National Governing Body, was named Interim Chief Oper-ating Officer. Carroll announced that

Dornberger would serve until a nation-al search could be conducted to find Dalkin’s successor. Interesting notes about that day: ● While Dalkin’s performance was reviewed annually by the board, only a handful of directors knew Dalkin wasn’t going to be offered a new three-year contract. No one on the USBC staff had any idea Dalkin was about to “retire.” Because his contract didn’t expire un-til November, it appeared he was of-fered “early retirement” in order to get him out of the way before Bojé’s term of office began four days later. Dalkin declined comment on what happened, noting the terms of his “departure agreement” restrict what he can say about his “retirement” and other in-sider issues. ● Carroll, with the board’s approval, named Dornberger to fill the top staff position, but he did not get Dalkin’s title. His selection wasn’t a shock; as ABC president-elect at the time of the merger, he ran against Dalkin for the CEO position three years earlier. It was well known that he wanted the job of running USBC. What seemed odd was the “interim Chief Operating Officer” title. A COO doesn’t have CEO author-ity or responsibility; he had to answer to someone. ● It became apparent in the weeks ahead that the person Dornberger was answering to was Bojé, who apparently had decided to expand his title as pres-ident to a role of “acting CEO.” That’s the role he told me he was assuming during a telephone conversation re-garding the USBC Hall of Fame Com-mittee in September of 2007. From my personal dealings with Bojé from that point forward, and conversations with other USBC staff members, it became apparent to some staff members that he was becoming actively involved in the day-to-day operational decisions. No ABC or USBC president had ever done that. ● While USBC’s bylaws require the board to hire a CEO, the “search” to fill that position wasn’t initiated until nearly two years later – roughly the amount of time it took to get USBC se-curely settled in Texas.

On Aug. 8, 2007 – one week into the Bojé/Dornberger era, Dornberger called another staff meet-ing where he announced the termi-nations of 11 employees. It was the beginning of a movement to reduce staff. In a span of 30 days after Bojé took office, USBC board member and former WIBC president Sylvia Broyles and USBC Vice President-Tournaments Roseann Kuhn also announced their re-tirements. USBC’s women’s association leaders were not happy that two of the organization’s highest-profile women

SPECIALREPORT The USBC Story: 2007-10

Jeff Boje Roger Dalkin

WINDY CITY BOWLING NEWS September 2010 Page 8

were leaving, especially Broyles, whom many thought would succeed Carroll as USBC’s second president. In the Aug. 20, 2007, issue of USBC eConnection, an electronic newsletter for USBC local and state association of-ficers and board members, Bojé wrote his first “president’s message.” In ex-plaining USBC’s leadership changes, he noted, “In a separate action, the USBC board has appointed a new executive committee composed of past-president Michael Carroll, vice president Darlene Baker, Kevin (Dornberger) and me. The executive committee will work closely on an almost daily basis to expedite the decision-making needs of the organiza-tion when it isn’t possible to convene the entire board.” It was the first in a series of inter-pretations of the bylaws that didn’t sit well with USBC’s grassroots association leaders. USBC bylaws had no provision for an “executive committee” – which would have given four people enor-mous power to make decisions, con-sidering the board only meets two or three times a year. (A year later, when the delegates were asked to “legalize” the idea to create and empower an “executive committee,” they soundly defeated the bylaws proposal.)

Bojé also immediately dealt with the question of BPAA taking over USBC in his eConnection com-ments. “Do I have a desire to see BPAA take over USBC? Absolutely not. We are dramatically different organizations with different missions and visions… Understanding the unique and posi-tive role each serves makes these or-ganizations natural complements, not competitors. Lack of focus on the part of either makes them and the indus-try weaker… USBC and BPAA can and will cooperate. If both do a good job, there should be total harmony. There is only discontent when one organiza-tion thinks the other isn’t doing a good job…”

In November 2007 staff meeting, Dornberger announced the USBC board had decided to begin a national search for a new USBC headquarters location, where USBC and BPAA would finally be united and could work together to re-pair the sport. Indianapolis, Nashville, Orlando, Wichita and Reno were men-tioned as possible new locations, but Milwaukee and Arlington also would be considered. Cities would have until April 2008 to submit offers. USBC employees who had no in-tention of leaving Milwaukee, but fear-ing the worst, began looking for jobs. In January 2008, USBC announced its board, during a meeting at the BPAA Mid-Winter Summit in Myrtle Beach, S.C., had decided to start negotiations

“with all parties involved to relocate its headquarters to Arlington, Texas.” A subsequent release from BPAA said “at its meeting on Jan. 24, the BPAA board also unanimously endorsed the proposal for purchase of a building and land in Arlington…for an integration of facilities with the USBC.” The following week at a USBC staff meeting, Dornberger was asked why the “request for bids” from the other cities had been abandoned without notice. Dornberger said the board had concluded there was no interest from other cities (even though the deadline for offers was three months away). USBC Vice President-Tournaments Jack Mordini questioned that conclusion be-cause he had been working with Mil-waukee community leaders and knew they were preparing an offer to keep USBC in Wisconsin. Mordini also knew Reno and Wichita had expressed inter-est in hosting the new BHQ. When asked if BPAA would consider moving its headquarters to Greendale, Dornberger confirmed that BPAA had decided it would not consider moving to Wisconsin.

In the January 2008 edition of USBC eConnection, the decision to “begin negotiations” for buildings and land near BPAA’s existing head-quarters in Arlington was announced. “USBC Headquarters will move to Arlington unless there is a breakdown in negotiations relating to the proper-ty,” Bojé wrote. “If all details can be worked out, USBC is expected to move its headquarters operations within a year.” The new complex, he noted, would include a new equipment test-ing and International Training and Re-search Center. He outlined how the high-profile location – close to Six Flags, Cowboys Stadium and the Texas Rangers base-

ball stadium – would help “enhance the visibility of bowling.” He also confirmed BPAA had agreed to fund half of the cost to purchase and re-furbish the new Arlington property. USBC halted plans for a proposed $1 million expansion to its Greendale research center, which Dornberger had championed as a future training site for Team USA and others.

At about the same time in early 2008, the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame in St. Louis was facing a decision. A St. Louis in-vestment group was trying to create a $387 million Ballpark Village adjacent to the new Busch Stadium. A key step to the plan was to acquire the property the IBM/HF occupied – and shared with the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame. The St. Louis investors made an overture to provide the IBM/HF an all-new facility as part of the Ballpark Village development. The proposed package included $8.9 million in fully-funded project costs and a projection that attendance would double from its current 24,000 annual visitors. The of-fer would have been a financial bonan-za for the IBM/HF, ensuring its future for years. But Bojé – an IBM/HF trustee – was adamantly opposed to the ven-ture because he wanted the IBM/HF to be part of the proposed International Bowling Campus in Arlington. IBM/HF chairman Pat Ciniello was among those who praised USBC’s deci-sion to try to unify the sport, but he ex-pressed his disappointment in USBC’s opposition to the Ballpark Village plan. He pointed to a Jan. 21 decision by the USBC board to deny the transfer of the “Deed of Trust” to allow the IBM/HF to move forward with its discussions. In fact, a number of industry ob-servers questioned whether or not the USBC Board was being pressured to move forward quickly with the Arling-

ton decision in order to stop the Ball-park Village deal. As it turned out, the economic skid killed the Ballpark Village plans, but the Cardinals still wanted to buy the IBM/HF property. Rather than go through an “eminent domain” foreclosure, the IBM/HF sold its property to the St. Louis investment group for $2 million in November 2008 and began making plans to move to Texas.

In February 2008, USBC leader-ship stirred up a hornet’s nest among its grassroots associations when it an-nounced plans to revamp its awards program, including conversion of sev-eral awards to “once in a lifetime” sta-tus. Without discussion or debate with its associations, USBC had attacked one of the sport’s sacred cows – the awards program - another indication that USBC’s leaders and the grasso-roots weren’t on the same page. Shortly after announcing the USBC board announced its intention to move to Arlington, Milwaukee area economic development officials protested that they had not been given a chance to make their offer to keep USBC in the area. Bojé called an emergency meet-ing of the board for March 9 in Atlanta so the board could hear proposals from Milwaukee and Arlington. BPAA executive director John Ber-glund and his assistant, Bill Supper, didn’t help matters when they came to Greendale on Feb. 26 to make a pitch to USBC staff on the benefits of moving to the Dallas area. Berglund confirmed that BPAA had no interest in moving its people to Milwaukee. He called Milwau-kee a “second-tier city,” complained about how difficult and expensive it was to fly into Milwaukee, and talked about Milwaukee’s high insurance rates and taxes. The Dallas area, he noted, was a growing metropolitan area, had a world-class airport, no income tax and lower insurance rates.

Berglund’s claims were soon ad-dressed by Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker who said, “The reality is that the U.S. Department of Transportation statistics show that Dal-las-Fort Worth ranks 22nd highest in airfares while (Milwaukee) ranks 48th… I hope the members of the (USBC) board look at the facts and not just one person’s comments.” Employees who moved found the “no income tax” advantage was offset by higher taxes in other areas, and that lower insurance costs usually meant in-ferior services.

Despite what appeared to be a fore-gone conclusion, Milwaukee, Cudahy (a Milwaukee suburb) and Milwaukee 7 (a regional development group) ex-ecutives traveled to Atlanta on March 9 and laid out an offer to build a new

SPECIALREPORT The USBC Story: 2007-10

Mike Carroll Kevin Dornberger

Page 9 September 2010 WINDY CITY BOWLING NEWS

headquarters building as part of an $8 million package of incentives. Two days later, USBC announced the board’s decision to relocate its headquarters to Arlington, Texas, where it would reside alongside BPAA. “This is a great day for bowling,” Bojé said. “Relocating to Arlington would allow for the creation of an in-ternational bowling campus. We can set the foundation for tremendous growth and opportunities for decades to come. “Both cities made excellent pre-sentations and either would have been good locations for USBC,” he added. “The board decided Arlington would be the best location should the USBC re-ceive approval of investment from the Texas Enterprise Fund.” The release acknowledged the USBC headquarters move would take place later in 2008, would provide of-fice space for 200 employees and a new equipment testing and International Training and Research Center. BPAA had pledged to pay half of the $14 mil-lion investment in the new property. In the March 13 issue of the “Busi-ness Journal,” the Milwaukee contin-gent concluded USBC would have come out of the situation $2 million ahead of its current financial position if it stayed in Wisconsin vs. “the $3.5 million cost of moving to Texas.” On March 19, USBC announced it would receive a $693,000 award from the Texas Enterprise Fund.

The 2008 USBC Annual Meeting was Bojé’s first as president and it set a tone for the balance of his three-year reign. The delegates had given the power to elect officers to the board when they approved the merger in 2004. But at least some delegates wanted the authority to elect their top officers back, especially after the board had put a proprietor in charge. An amendment to change the elec-tion process never got to the floor in Kansas City, however, because USBC legal counsel Thor Lundgren declared the proposal illegal under Wisconsin not-for-profit corporate law (despite the fact that ABC and WIBC delegates had elected their officers for decades). USBC leadership also explained their decision to move BHQ to Arlington to USBC’s delegates during the Kansas City meeting. There was no request for confirmation from the delegates. The deal was done. The offer to purchase the former Raytheon building right down the street from BPAA’s headquarters in Arlington had been signed and sealed. The ques-tions to be resolved were: what was the move going to mean to USBC’s hundreds of associations? Would USBC have adequate staff, expertise and re-

sources to take care of associations needs? Would there be down-time dur-ing the move? Dornberger and Bojé as-sured the delegates they would barely notice a difference. The associations, who rely heav-ily on BHQ staff for membership and awards processing, supplies, rules in-terpretations and dozens of other ser-vices, nervously accepted the decision.

In the weeks following the annual meeting, Dornberger began the gruel-ing task of preparing for the move. The physical move proved to be the easy part: USBC simply abandoned millions of dollars worth of computers, desks, chairs, furniture and office cubical pan-els and fittings. It was decided it would cost as much to move the old equip-ment as buy all new office equipment. A bigger concern was moving US-BC’s computer infrastructure – the IBM mainframe and all of its components – in a safe and timely manner. USBC Vice President-Technology Jim Oberholtzer, (a recent executive staff addition after former VP Tim Payne was ousted after an “IT audit” - ironically conducted by Oberholtzer), began to invest in newer, faster technology. (Aside: He commented to me one day, “Good luck to the rest of the guys; I just spent their budgets…”)

The IT equpment move went fairly smoothly, with little down-time. But Dornberger’s biggest prob-lem was in trying to figure out which staff members were going to make the move. It wasn’t only a question of how many, but which key positions and expertise would stay on board. The numbers fluctuated weekly because the number of “undecided” employees was substantial. Staff members were not going to play their hands until they were forced to, making Dornberger’s

job even more difficult. The original idea of getting BHQ moved ahead of the fall bowling sea-son wasn’t going to happen, so a deci-sion was made to make the move in early October 2008 – after the majority of fall leagues had been processed.

Dornberger had also issued a call for all employees to make a commitment, one way or another. He began to get a clear picture of what his staff in Arlington was going to look like: virtually no one from the “call cen-ter,” handling membership services and awards, the frontline group USBC’s as-sociation leaders need, was moving. The entire finance department was staying in Milwaukee. Almost the entire IT staff had either found new employ-ment or was looking elsewhere. Few tournament entries, public relations, human resources and event planning staffs were moving. The departments that headed south with most of their existing staff members were rules, coaching and specifications/certifica-tion. By my unofficial count, roughly 25 employees with five or more years of experience with BHQ made the move. Another 20 or so who had been with USBC less than five years (several of these less than one year) were moving. Twenty of those moving were married or “involved” couples. In some cases, existing employees agreed to move only if USBC would create a job for their inexperienced spouses. To ensure services to associations and members would not be disrupted any more than necessary, USBC was forced to retain 34 employees – mostly in “call center” and IT positions – who continued to work out of a small wing in the Greendale building until Dec. 31, 2009. With modern technology, most callers never knew they were talking to people in Greendale, not Arlington. And for the most part, services were

provided with only modest inconve-niences. The rest of USBC’s Arlington staff was filled with new employees. A num-ber of Team USA members were hired because Dornberger coveted their bowling knowledge, but several others, including most of Oberholtzer’s com-puter programmers and technicians, were skilled tradesmen with very little, if any, bowling knowledge. Most of USBC’s executive staff remained with the organization after concessions were made. Mordini and Oberholtzer were allowed to commute to and from their homes in Milwaukee, where they also maintained offices in the Greendale building. Dornberger and VP-National Governing Body Neil Stremmel moved to Texas. VP-Market-ing and Public Relations Tom Clark re-signed and joined the PBA. USBC board member Pete Tredwell, who replaced Clark as VP-Media, moved to Texas. Susan Merrill was a new hire as Chief Financial Officer.

During the 2009 BPAA Mid-Winter Summit, discussions were held among BPAA and USBC leaders about merg-ing many common services within the International Bowling Campus in Ar-lington under what was loosely called a “czar” of bowling. After experiencing the “shared services” idea under the Bowling, Inc., umbrella prior to the creation of USBC, USBC’s executive group sent a letter to Bojé unanimously opposing the idea of a similar arrangement at the Interna-tional Bowling Campus.

The concept of ABC, WIBC and YABA “buying services” from integrated departments under Bowl-ing, Inc., created animosity and more inefficiencies than it solved because employees were constantly faced with whose priority was more important. USBC’s executives who had gone through the Bowling, Inc., era knew the problems and knew any similar attempt to merge staff functions in Arlington would result in similar conflicts. Maybe at some point in the future, competing staff members with different loyalties would buy into the concept, but not at the time BPAA and USBC staff mem-bers were barely getting their feet on the ground. It was a bad idea, but Bojé ap-parently didn’t feel it was important enough to share the executive staff’s concerns with his board. In February 2009, USBC an-nounced it was going to undertake a search for a “permanent executive di-rector.” Dornberger was to be one of the individuals considered. At the same time, BPAA announced it was going to search for a replacement for Berglund, who had announced his plans to retire

SPECIALREPORT The USBC Story: 2007-10

Jim Oberholtzer Jack Mordini

WINDY CITY BOWLING NEWS September 2010 Page 10

at the end of 2009. And a memo to USBC staff on Feb. 6, 2009, announced was that a search was going to take place to hire a new “Director of Shared Services” who would report to a joint committee of USBC and BPAA representatives and “oversee” several departments whose employees “become staff for the Shared Services group.” During the 2009 USBC Convention in Reno, Bojé and Dornberger deliv-ered a message of “trust,” which basi-cally meant allowing the board to do whatever it decided was in USBC’s best interests.

Bojé, after talking about living on the edge of risk in making the bold move to Arlington, said the USBC board was asking for a dues in-crease effective in 2010 that would be “imperative” for the organization. “We must have trust. We must build trust,” Bojé told the association leaders. “There’s been a lack of it not just between USBC and BPAA, but be-tween you, the stakeholders who pay for USBC. Our money comes from dues, from the people, and we must build mutual trust and respect. Trust the board to do the right thing.” The request for “trust” was denied when three versions of requests for a dues increase were defeated. A man-datory merger proposal for local and state associations was beaten down after a heated debate. A proposal to legalize an “executive committee” to conduct USBC’s “emergency business” was denied. And Mike Carroll, USBC’s first president, was soundly defeated in his bid for re-election to the board. Also memorable were Dornberger’s presentation on new membership op-tions, better use of grassroots associa-tions as part of the educational process, soliciting more input from associations on new programs, and developing new turnkey programs for proprietors. Vir-tually none of the concepts Dornberger outlined were realized.

Also memorable was a presen-tation by Chance Spann, the architect of the all-new, state-of-the-art bowl.com – USBC’s most important communications link with its grassroots associations. Bowl.com made its debut as promised, but it didn’t get the re-sponse USBC had hoped for. It was, instead, a nightmare. It was slow to open, nearly impossible to navigate and critical sections of the old site were nowhere to be found. Before the summer was over, Spann was fired.

In June 2009, Stu Upson was named USBC Executive Director and Kevin Dornberger was sent to the side-lines. BPAA hired Steve Johnson as John Berglund’s successor. Also in June, the USBC board used

its discretionary authority to change the officer structure of the organiza-tion. While the bylaws specifically re-quired a president and vice president as elected officers, the board reverted to the old ABC/WIBC system of officer progression. A “president-elect” was added, to ensure the individual next in line behind a president in his/her final term would automatically ascend to the highest office. The board also added first, second and third vice president offices, along with a secretary. Whether the new officer lineup had any real bearing on USBC’s lead-ership selections or not, the decision irked association leaders who viewed “automatic succession to office” as a questionable idea, and another exam-ple of the board bending the bylaws to serve its own needs. The “succession system” was not what the delegates had in mind when they adopted USBC’s original bylaws.

In August 2009, the IBM/HF announced it was hiring Bill Supper, who had maybe worked for more bowling industry companies and organizations than any-one else, as its new execu-tive director. And USBC an-nounced it was moving its hall of fame ceremonies away from the USBC annu-al meeting for the first time ever. The hall of fame ceremonies were going to become a part of the U.S. Women’s Open weekend in Arlington. It was part of a continuing cam-paign to focus attention on the Inter-national Bowling Campus, bring visi-tors to the new IBM/HF and showcase the new International Training and Re-search Center as the host for the U.S. Women’s Open finals.

In October 2009, USBC created public relations blunder when Team USA head coach Jeri Edwards was re-placed by Arlington-based Rod Ross. USBC High-Performance Director David Garber said Edwards, a Matteson na-tive and one of the sport’s most popu-lar people, had declined a previously-offered job. But Edwards said she was never offered an opportunity to apply for the same position he awarded Ross. It wasn’t a question about Ross’ ability; he’s one of the game’s best coaches. USBC later admitted it was a bud-get-cutting issue. Ross was already on staff, living in Texas; Edwards wasn’t. But it became an embarrassing issue for USBC because it had dismissed a woman whose record as Team USA head coach was outstanding and Dorn-berger, specifically, had been doing ev-erything he could to hire skilled women into positions of leadership.

Shortly after the Edwards “firing,” Dornberger announced he was leaving USBC. He is currently involved in the sport as president of the World Tenpin Bowling Association.

By that time, Oberholtzer also had been dismissed. Dornberg-er’s hand-picked IT specialist had con-verted USBC’s vital e-mail communica-tions system and others to IBM-based technology that created confusion among staff and in the field. Ober-holtzer also had concluded that USBC’s WinLABS program – a custom-designed tool used by all associations to process memberships, awards, finances, tour-nament results, etc. – was antiquated and no longer merited support. He in-tended to convert association technol-ogy needs to an internet-based system, but the problem was, USBC had noth-

ing ready to replace Win-LABS, no staff left to sup-port it and no programmers who understood association needs, leaving the associa-tions in the lurch. On Dec. 31, 2009, the last 20-or-so people who manned USBC’s “remote” call center in Wisconsin packed their personal be-longings and left the Green-

dale headquarters for the final time. And Jack Mordini, a 40-year ABC/USBC employee who was most prominently known for his efforts in building the USBC Open Championships’ record growth, was among those who said good-bye on that day. Today the building that housed the ABC, WIBC, YABA and USBC for nearly 40 years sits idle on South 76th Street in Greendale with a “for sale” sign in its front lawn. The property was once ap-praised at $7.5 million; two years later, USBC is hoping it can get $5.5 million.

On Jan. 25, 2010, the International Bowling Campus held its grand open-ing. An estimated 500 industry dignitar-ies got their first look at the new IBM/HF, International Training and Research Center and USBC/BPAA headquarters.

On the eve of the opening of the 2010 USBC Open Champion-ships in Reno in February, USBC an-nounced it would allow competitors in its national championships to consume alcoholic beverages for the first time. The issue ran the gamut from outrage to total apathy, but in the end, it was another public relations gaff that did nothing to help USBC’s credibility. In February 2010, USBC also un-dertook significant budget-cutting ac-tions, releasing as many as 13 employ-ees in Arlington, cancelling the planned “Clash of Bowling Champions and con-verting its primary membership com-

munications tool, US Bowler magazine, to an online version that only a modest percentage of USBC’s members would bother to look for.

In March of 2010, BPAA hired Chad Murphy as its Director of Youth, “responsible for managing its existing program and developing proprietor-driven youth initiatives.” In June, Brian Graham left his position as USBC direc-tor of youth development, joining the Brunswick staff as director of consum-er products marketing. The question of who is driving the youth bowling bus became even more muddled.

The 2010 USBC Convention in Reno was themed “Moving For-ward Together,” but it was of an apol-ogy-fest than anything else. For most of the three-day convention, USBC admitted to its failures during its first year-and-a-half in Arlington: bowl.com fell far short of its promise. New youth processing programs didn’t work. Au-dit reports were late. An already bare-bones staff had been further depleted by a wave of layoffs. The Management of the SMART scholarship program was under public attack. And it didn’t help matters when Upson confirmed USBC was dropping its sponsorship of the U.S. Women’s Open and PBA Women’s Series, and moving the Intercollegiate Bowling Championships from cable TV coverage to online video streaming. “We are not broke,” Upson said, “but…our reserves are depleted. Our tournament entries are below projec-tions. We have reduced our budget by $9 million to make it balance, but we are going to rebuild our reserves.”

In his final convention as presi-dent, Bojé continued to ask the delegates to trust the board. A series of bylaws amendments that would have given the board almost complete con-trol over the organization were again soundly defeated. One of the positives to come out of the meeting was the announcement that a separate corporation had been established to move SMART’s scholar-ship fund and management out of the USBC’s system. SMART will now oper-ate as an entity of its own.

Less than a year after being named IBM/HF executive director, Bill Supper “retired.” About three months after Supper “retired,” IBM/HF curator Amy Polley resigned. And about three months after “retiring” from the IBM/HF, Supper re-surfaced as managing director of the International Bowling Pro Shop and Instructors Association. On July 31, 2010, Bojé completed his third one-year term as USBC presi-dent and on Aug. 1, Mahomet’s Dar-lene Baker became USBC’s first woman president…and that’s where this part of the story ends.

SPECIALREPORT The USBC Story: 2007-10

John Berglund

Page 11 September 2010 WINDY CITY BOWLING NEWS

By Bill Vint The “USBC Story” in this issue is a timeline of events and actions dur-ing Jeff Bojé’s three one-year terms as USBC president. This article provides insight about many of the actions and decisions made during that time. For nearly a year, I have talked with principles associated with USBC – past and present employees, board members, industry observers – asking for insight, personal experiences, facts and figures, etc., in an effort to develop an accurate behind-the-scenes picture of how things happened. Because a significant number of individuals have declined to respond on the public re-cord (for personal reasons, fear of los-ing their jobs, retribution or confidenti-ality agreements), only those who have agreed to comment publicly are quoted in this article. My own comments are based upon personal experiences and observations in working with USBC as an employee, and as editor of Windy City Bowling News. The views of others included in this article are their own.

When Bojé was elected USBC president by the USBC board in 2007, one segment of the bowling population hoped that his election would help bridge decades of acrimony between proprietors and the member-ship organizations. It was an enormous leap of faith for the USBC to put a bowl-ing center owner, and past president of the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America, into the organization’s most influential position. The other segment of the popula-tion feared the USBC board had just delivered the organization into the hands of the proprietors, and situated the National Governing Body of the sport in a place where its integrity and credibility could easily be influenced by the owners of the playing field. Shortly after taking office on Aug. 1, 2007, Bojé began to demonstrate he wasn’t going to merely sit back and preside over the board. He was going to make things happen.

About USBC’s staff There are just under 3,000 state and local associations which provide key services to USBC’s more than two million members, and almost all of those services are linked in one way or another to USBC’s national headquar-ters staff. Staff’s ability to perform was seriously impaired during Bojé’s reign, in a variety of ways: by the loss of doz-ens of experienced and skilled employ-ees, by a series of budget cuts and by damaging staff morale. At the time Bojé came into office, I was employed by USBC as “special projects coordinator.” I had several

duties: supervise the USBC Hall of Fame, provide support for the Regis-tered Volunteer Program (which I had helped design), and handle association communications. Parts of this article are based upon my experiences as an employee, including my exposure to USBC’s changing culture under Bojé. The following seemed like a little thing at the time, but I later realized it signaled a dramatic change in the chain-of-command within Bowling Headquarters. I asked Bojé to write a “president’s message” for eConnection, USBC’s monthly newsletter to state and local association officers, to introduce him-self and outline his agenda. I had done the same with Mike Carroll. When I explained to Bojé the schedule for sending his message (the following week), he insisted it be sent the following day. When it was sent didn’t matter to me, but never before had a USBC president issued instruc-tions like that – at least, to me. I asked Tom Clark, USBC’s VP-Marketing and my boss at the time, what he wanted me to do. He told me, if Bojé called, do what he said. I wasn’t the only employee Bojé called with instructions, and I was not the only person wondering who I was now reporting to – my USBC boss or Bojé? Confusion about the chain of com-mand was compounded by newly-ap-pointed Interim Chief Operating Officer Kevin Dornberger’s management style. Dornberger disliked meetings. He pre-ferred employees to be self-motivated, and asked them to go about their busi-ness. The problem was that without regular management-level meetings to share information, each department was going about its business without necessarily understanding what other staff members were doing. It was a

disjointed system. Greendale staff morale plunged when “the move” was first mentioned in the fall of 2007. A number of em-ployees remembered 1999, when ABC, WIBC and YABA explored a possible move to Florida. The 1999 discussion centered around a $40 million incentive package Florida was preparing, includ-ing a new “National Bowling Stadium-South” in the Orlando area, a new of-fice facility, and much, much more. The pros and cons were discussed weekly at BHQ staff meetings, in public and among association leaders. The plan fell apart because the Florida legisla-ture failed to approve the funding, but it was a project that made long-term sense – despite the fact that BHQ lead-ership had polled employees and knew 75 percent of them wouldn’t move. There was no such planning or public discussion involved with the Ar-lington proposal. Staff was left with the feeling that USBC’s board could care less who stayed or who moved. When BPAA executive director John Berglund and assistant Bill Supper came to Greendale to pitch the merits of Arling-ton to staff – portraying Milwaukee as a “second-tier city” – most staff mem-bers made up their minds, even though they never revealed their intentions. While Dornberger tried to sway key employees to move, he was hamstrung. A handful had agreed to go and others confirmed they were not moving. But the key “undecided” group was com-posed of people who were either ac-tively looking, but hadn’t found a new job, or were waiting for a better offer from USBC. Unless you were moving, it was hard to show up for work and give your all to support USBC’s mission. When the move was finally made, Dornberger found himself with a staff that was severely limited in key areas of expertise and experience. His entire

IT teams of programmers and techni-cians were gone; they were among the first to find work. The entire “Call Cen-ter” group – those who handled mem-bership services and awards for all of the associations – declined to move. Other key departments were miss-ing experienced staff who might have helped mentor new employees. Dornberger hired a number of Team USA bowlers, all of whom had impres-sive bowling knowledge, but some of whom had unknown workplace expe-rience. And he filled a couple of key positions with USBC board members. Staff morale among his new em-ployees was initially excitement and en-thusiasm. But when technology issues began to arise with the aging WinLABS program and a new youth membership processing system that simply didn’t work, the mood in Arlington began to sour because no one knew how to fix the problems. During the 2009 USBC conven-tion in Reno, Bojé made staff morale matters worse. Commenting during a Bowling Writers Association of America breakfast meeting, of all places, Bojé announced to the media that there would be no raises for USBC employ-ees for the next year. The problem was, no one had told the employees. On May 1, Bojé left it up to Dornberger to apologize to the employees for the salary freeze in the wake of serious budget issues. A month later, USBC hired Stu Up-son as executive director, and USBC re-assigned Dornberger. In February of 2010, Upson “laid off” 13 employees – several of whom had made the good-faith move from Milwaukee – in order to balance the budget. Whether or not there are addition-al staff cuts on the horizon is yet to be determined, but the prospect has ex-isting staff in Arlington upset and wor-ried. The Kevin Dornberger era Personal observations: I have al-ways gotten along with Kevin Dorn-berger, through his years with ABC, as USBC legal counsel, a USA Bowling of-ficial and, eventually, as USBC’s Interim COO. I considered him to be ambitious and dedicated to bowling. And I think he wanted the opportunity to lead USBC more than anything else. That’s why he applied for the USBC CEO job in opposition to Roger Dalkin in 2004. To his credit, Dalkin looked past that competition and retained Dorn-berger as USBC’s legal counsel and vice president. When Dornberger was named In-terim COO on the day Dalkin “retired,” I wasn’t surprised. Based on my obser-vations, Bojé and Dalkin weren’t exact-ly drinking buddies. They were oil and

SPECIALREPORT The USBC Story

Story

Insidethe

NEARLY 2 1/2 YEARS after USBC’s board of directors decided to move its headquarters to Arlington, Texas, the Greendale, Wis., building and campus the membership

organizations had called home since 1972 still sits vacant, awaiting a buyer.

WINDY CITY BOWLING NEWS September 2010 Page 12

water, two large egos with completely different views about how the world of bowling worked. Bojé was a for-profit guy; Dalkin was a non-profit expert. Jack Mordini, Dalkin’s closest ally throughout his reign as ABC executive director, was a person many thought should be next in line, but Mordini wasn’t a consideration, maybe because of his perceived ties to Dalkin. Whether or not Dornberger did a good job is something for others to de-bate. In my opinion, I knew there were actions Dornberger planned to take were either modified or overturned by Bojé. From personal my experience: Like every other employee, Dorn-berger invited me to move to Arling-ton. He offered me a position on a new “Membership Development Team” he was organizing – a mixed group of out-of-the-box free-thinkers, veterans and youth, insiders and outsiders – to brainstorm ideas to try to reverse bowl-ing’s declining membership.

I was interested; I thought it was a great idea, but I told him I wasn’t going to move. If I could com-mute to Arlington to do the job, I’d be more than happy to consider it. Dorn-berger said he’d get back to me, which he did. The commuter option was out, so I thanked him, offered to as-sist in any way I could, and I told him I wanted to remain on staff until my planned retirement on April 1, 2009. Between Dornberger and VP-Media Pete Tredwell (my boss at that time), we negotiated an agreement whereby I continued on staff until April 1 and I continued to handle USBC Hall of Fame liaison duties as a “contractor” until Oct. 1, 2009. A few weeks later, I learned Dorn-berger’s “Membership Development” concept had been “revised” and would instead become a “task force” com-posed of long-time association leaders – the same traditionalists who hadn’t come up with a new idea in 30 years. That complete change of direction was one in an on-going series of in-stances where Dornberger would make an announcement at a staff meeting and change the decision at the next meeting. After one particularly irritating meeting, I predicted confidentially to a couple of selected friends that Dorn-berger would be fired within a year, that he had put himself into a position to be Bojé’s scapegoat if the move to Arlington failed. I predicted that when USBC began to fall apart, Bojé and friends would lure BPAA’s John Berglund out of re-tirement, to return on his great white stallion to save the sport. I got the Dornberger part right.

Pre-dating Arlington Roger Dalkin isn’t allowed to dis-cuss internal business issues he was involved with as USBC’s CEO, but he did provide some observations about conversations he had had with BPAA executive director John Berglund. “When I became CEO of USBC, one of the agreements John Berglund and I had was that once a month, we’d meet either in Greendale or Arlington. We’d sit down for a day and talk over issues,” Dalkin said. “I went to Arling-ton a number of times, and on a couple of occasions when I was down there, John would say ‘you should look at this building next to us. It’s vacant. You guys should move down and we’d be in the same area.’

“The building was roughly the same size as ou