1. BRIEF HISTORY OF BOWLING
Evidence of Egyptians playing a target game similar in concept to modem bowling is apparent as far back as 5200 B.C., and what fantastic happenings the game has experienced over the span of those 7,000 years.
Indeed, the history of bowling is fascinating, associated as it is with religious traditions, the rise and fall of empires and the leisure habits of nobility and peasants alike. As one example, prior to the 5th century A.D., the Germans annually held a spiritual ceremony in which a club, shaped like a bowling pin and known as a “KEGEL,” was set up on its flat end and each subject attempted to knock it down by rolling a round rock at it. Those successful would be cleansed of their sins for a year by the priest who was in charge of the proceedings.
Eventually the rock increased in size and came to be made of wood, although there was still a wide variation in the number and type of pins used. Martin Luther, the 16th century religious leader, came to the conclusion that nine pins was the ideal number. From writings and biographies, it is apparent Luther was quite impressed with the game, even building a bowling lane for himself and his family.
2. THE EVOLUTION OF BOWLING
In England lawn bowling or “bowls” had emerged and remained popular despite an edict in 1511 from King Henry VIII who declared, ” … bowling has ceased to be a sport and is now a vicious form of gambling!” His subsequent ban, although not rescinded until 1845, had little effect; most of Henry’s successors continued to play the game ardently.
The British game of lawn bowling and the Dutch version of skittles were brought to America with colonization. Each game would experience change in its visit to the New World. Explorer William Penn, for example, was a poor spare shooter, so he proposed a change in the scoring rules. In 1673 he wrote about knocking down “More pins on my first roll; yet my score was less (than my opponent).” To better complement his skills, he proposed this scoring revision: “A sure test would be to sum up the pins overthrown and divide by the bowls cast.”
By the mid 1830s, bowling was flourishing. However, because work is a very unpopular way of making money for some people, gambling became so prevalent in the sport that in 1841 the Connecticut state legislature passed an act banning the game of nine pins. Enter the Abner Doubleday of modem bowling, who is supposedly the unknown individual whose idea was to alter the diamond-shaped nine pin configuration by adding a tenth pin to create a triangular set-up. Considering the circumstances, it is understandable why the would-be inventor of today’s modern game might have kept a low profile.
Regardless of how the tenth pin came into being, this new version became very popular after the Civil War. On one end of the social scale, indoor lanes were set up in private clubs and in the homes of the wealthy throughout New York City and westward. On the other end, the game reached an even wider audience because of its popularity with a new wave of Germanic immigrants. Yet, over a period of several years. the lack of standardized rules and equipment restrained the game’s potential growth.
In 1875, representatives from a group of bowling clubs got together in New York to form the National Bowling Association, the first attempt to create a degree of uniformity. Although some of their legislation is still in effect in modified form, the group could not extend its influence and had trouble enforcing its rules within its ranks. Thus its existence was short lived.
The American Amateur Bowling Union was created in 1882, but based on its premise of eliminating all prize money from league and tournament play, it was seemingly doomed from the start. However, the organization did contribute in an important way by recognizing a two-ball-per·frame system rather than the previously accepted three shots. Thereafter, this standard became the prevalent bowling format.
It was becoming more and more obvious the time was ripe for a strong organization. With this in mind, some preliminary meetings were held among the New York area’s prominent bowling leaders, out of which was born the American Bowling Congress. The ABC “sang its initial organized chorus” at a September 9, 1895 meeting at Beethoven Hall.
One of the first critical items to be resolved was the nature of the scoring system.
The two-ball frame had been established, but some were going with a scoring procedure that awarded 20 points for a strike. However, a cumulative score-adding system, which made 300 a perfect score based on 12 consecutive strikes, was then prevalent and readily adopted by the new organization. It has been the accepted standard ever since.
Incidentally, the original terminology called for the use of the word “points” in identifying scores. But that soon became absolute as bowlers insisted on referring to their scores in terms of “pins,” thereby beginning a tradition that remains to this day.
There was yet another major issue to be determined during the first year of the ABC was that being the spacing requirements between pins. One group lobbied for an 11 l/2-inch spacing while others favored a 12-inch distance. The new governing body settled on the 12-inch plan, concluding that it made for a more skillful game. Indeed, this decision also has withstood the test of time.
The new organization expanded well beyond its New York birthplace, but in 1899 a large group of Chicago leagues banded together to form their own group, the Illinois Bowling Association. At first a power struggle seemed imminent between East and West. But such was not the case as the lEA adopted the Congress’ rules and sought only to govern their own region within the ABC framework. This proved to be the start of the city or local association structure of the ABC.
The first ABC tournament was held in Chicago in 1901 with 41 teams participating over a four-day span. There were also singles and doubles events and the all-encompassing all-events. It is signifIcant to note that the team/doubles/singles formula is inherent in tournament competition. It allows for the most basic nature of bowling encounter (team competition) to share some of its participation with its most popular subordinate format–individual competition. This emphasis of team bowling, with a blending of individual play, has contributed immeasurably to the uniqueness and prosperity of the sport in this century.
With the ABC laying the foundation, bowling moved on a course of seemingly unlimited growth. Manufacturers stepped into the field and promoted the growth of the sport all the more by contributing technological improvements.
Around the turn of the century, bowling was mostly a male pastime, although writings and photographs from the 1880s tell of a brief period when bowling clubs became the “in” thing among wealthy women of high social status. But the success of the ABC augured the spread of bowling’s popularity, opening the gates (although minimally at first) for widespread participation by the fair sex.
The formation of the Women’s International Bowling Congress traces its roots to the futuristic thinking of Dennis J. Sweeney, a St. Louis bowling proprietor and sportswriter. Sweeney organized the first women’s league in 1907 and it was at his establishment in 1916 that a group of 40 women bowlers from eleven cities met to form the WIBC. Long before, Sweeney had predicted, “Bowling will never prosper until women become a part of it.”
At its first national tournament, the WIBC boasted competition among eight teams–the 40 pioneers of the organization. From those humble beginnings the WIBC grew into the largest women’s sports organization in the world. Its national tournament has drawn well over 70,000 participants.
By the early 1980s, membership in the ABC and WIBC had grown to about 4.6 and 4.0 million respectively; at which time the total organized bowling population had grown to about 10 million. Sanctioned junior bowling, which previously had come under the auspices of three groups, American Junior Bowling Congress, Youth Bowling Association and ABC/WIBC Collegiate Division, were brought together into one organization in 1982. The newly formed Young American Bowling Alliance (YABA) provides organized play for more than one million of the nation’s youngsters.
Surveys showed that almost 20 million people bowled at least once a month, an impressive endorsement of the sport’s popularity by any yardstick. Additionally, a 1991 study revealed that more than 82 million people in the U.S. had bowled at some time during the year.
Over the several months of a league season, every single day there are approximately one million men and women who bowl in a scheduled competitive format, regardless of any weather conditions. No other sport in the world has this kind of day in, day out organized participation.
3. MAJOR YEARS OF BOWLING
The Bowling Proprietors Association of America, formed in 1932, represents about half of the bowling centers in the United States. In addition to its trade association functions and mutual promotions, the BPAA conducts a number of tournaments. Uppermost among them are the U.S. Open, held for both men and women. Previously called the All-Star. the event began for the men in 1941, making it the longest running major tournament specifically designed for a selected field of the nation’s greatest bowlers.
The Professional Bowlers Association, organized in 1958, has had perhaps the most influential impact on the sport over the past 30 years. The PBA designed a tournament tour patterned in 1962, accrued national television exposure for the organization and the sport on a weekly basis during the winter months. Because of favorable ratings, the “Pro Bowlers Tour” series has become one of the longest running sports shows in network history.
The current women’s professional organization, known as the Ladies Pro Bowlers Tour. is the first to be operated as an independent corporation, and has shown some encouraging signs since being chartered in 1981. An organization designed to handle the broad aspects of U.S. bowling promotion is the National Bowling Council. It is a collaboration by many of bowling’s major integers to boost and promote bowling.
Although most bowlers do not pay much attention to industry related activities or the services provided by the ABC or WIBC; many are caught up in the biggest spotlights affecting the sport today, especially in the escalation of scores and averages among the better players. While the ABC and WIBC have turned down a record number of Honor Tallys (300 Games, 800 Series and even a Perfect 900 Trio), the numbers of high scores that have been disapproved by the respective Congresses have still skyrocketed.
Until certain standards were established by the ABC, which brought some basic uniformity to the sport (terms of equipment, rules. practices. etc), it was possible evolute to a comparable condition. After those standards were established, bowling moved through a series of stages (or eras) all deeply related to the coefficient of friction that exists between ball and lane, a factor that is largely responsible for the integrity of the game. To be sure, the way the bowling ball interacts with the playing surface identifies the most critical consideration with regard to scoring opportunities.
Another factor in any all-encompassing consideration of bowling integrity is the bowling pin. Here the coefficient of restitution (between ball and pin) and the pin weight itself, also have much to do with the ease or difficulty of the scoring condition.
Development of the rubber ball early in this century was a great improvement. The change after World War II from “shellac” to “lacquer” lane finishing, was another very significant development. As the results of this change, the full-roller track was replaced with the semi-roller track.
The coming of the automatic pin spotters and the Taj Mahal decor in the late 1940s freed the bowling establishments from the limited availability of lanes due to pinboy shortages and gave great impetus to larger participation by women bowlers. Also, in the late 1950s, the development of the plastic-coated pin provided a significant change in terms of pin related scoring standards.
Finally, throughout the nation, the erosion of five-member scratch leagues (beginning around 1961), certainly provided a different perspective and approach to those who would consider the sport from the standpoint of challenge and professionalism. This is especially true when one compares ”team bowling” decline to the growth and continued vigor of the relative newcomer, the Professional Bowlers Association. However, of late, interest in five-member classic leagues seems to be resurfacing.
