How good have bowlers become in the past 20 years? Better yet, how easy has scoring become during this period?
From a practical standpoint, American sports fans must accept the fact that progress has been made in every sport:
• Years ago, football linemen weighed from 220 to 250 pounds. Today, no team in the National Football League carries an interior lineman tipping the scales at less than 270. As a matter of fact, the Dallas Cowboys’ offensive line averages over 300 pounds per man.
• Tiger Woods has shaken the golf world with 325 to 350 yard drives that convert par five holes into surefire birdie and eagle possibilities.
• Mark McGwire has startled the baseball world with orbital home runs that travel well over 500 feet.
Outstanding marks in sports, set by a few individuals, are not necessarily the norm for the sport itself.
McGwire, Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey, and other big name players have been doing it for years. Occasionally, other talented players rise to stardom and carry the torch, but they are few and far between.
Which leads us to this question: Are so many bowlers so much better during the past 20 years?
Scoring at the ABC Tournament has skyrocketed to such an alarming extent that 300 games, 700 series, and 2,000 all events totals are no longer noteworthy accomplishments.
Following are scores that led the tournament 20 years ago at Reno, Nevada:
Who will have the wisdom and intestinal fortitude
to put an end to this mess?
• Team Event: Rendel’s GMC, Joliet, Ill., 3,075.
• Doubles: Bob Roy/Walt Roy, Glenwood Springs, Colo., 1,318.
• Singles: Frank Galadeto, Lansing, Mich., 738.
• All Events: Bud Debenham, Los Angeles, 2,117.
These were considered outstanding scores at that time, but oh, how times have changed!
Here are the final scores of leaders for the 1997 ABC Tournament held in Huntsville, Alabama:
• Team Event: Dan Ottman Enterprises, Troy, Mich., 3,379.
• Doubles: Rob Stueber/Paul Zuehlke, Oshkosh, Wis., 1,464.
• Singles: John Socha, New Berlin, Wis., 847.
• All Events: Jeff Richgels, Oregon, Wis., 2,241.
While these scores seem pale in comparison, it should be noted that the 50th place team in 1997, SOS Pack #1 from Honolulu, Hawaii outscored the 1977 leader by a mere 157 pins—50th place!
The 50th-place doubles team in 1997 (R.D. Miller/Tony Manna) outscored the winning 1977 team by 41 pins.
The singles champion in 1977 would have tied with three others for 53rd place, 109 pins out of the lead!
The all events leader in 1977, Bob Debenham, would have been the closest of all others. His winning score of 2,117 would have tied him for 14th place, yet, 124 pins shy of Jeff Richgels’ 2,241.
The serious scoring madness began at Wichita, Kansas in 1989. The Chilton-Vending team of Wichita, Kansas exploded for 3,481 pins, a record that stood until 1993 when Bruegger’s Bagels #1 erased the mark with an unbelievable 3,537 total!
The Wichita scorefest featured a record-shattering doubles total of 1,499 by Gus Yannaras and Gary Daroszewski, a mark that has been surpassed on two different occasions, a 1,505 by the Jimmy Johnson/Dan Nadeau duo at Toledo in 1991 and a 1,508 record-setter by doubles partners Jamie Burke/Drew Hauck at Salt Lake City in 1996.
Paul Tetreault of Lebanon, New Hampshire recorded the first 800 series in ABC Tournament history, toppling 813 pins at Wichita. Since then, it has taken over 800 to win a singles title in all but two tournaments. The other two winners barely missed the 800 mark, a 791 at Reno in 1991 by Bob Hochrein and a 798 at Tulsa in 1993 by Dan Bock of Owatonna, Minn.
George Hall of Mundelein, Ill., set a record all events score of 2,227 at Wichita, only to be broken at Tulsa in 1993 by Jeff Nimke of Kenosha, Wis., who toppled 2,254. Hall’s record also was surpassed at Huntsville by two players, singles champion Jeff Richgels and second-place finisher Dave Theis of Chaska, Minn., whose 2,231 was 10 pins short of Richgels’ leading tally.
It must be noted that these scores are being recorded on ABC Tournament conditions. If there is any solace to be found in this absurdity, lane maintenance at the ABC Tournament is far tougher than the majority of those being laid down for league bowlers around the country.
Still, questions remain:
• Have bowlers really gotten that much better?
• When will the bowling lords declare a distinction between sport and recreation?
• Have we let this madness go on too long?
• At what point are scores too high?
• When does it stop?
• Most of all, Who will have the wisdom and intestinal fortitude to put an end to this mess?