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| Volume 16 Issue 2 |
February 2009 |
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ADULT CITY TOURNAMENT Calling all adult league bowlers. Start thinking now about joining your friends in friendly competition at our annual City Tournament. The tournament is open to all adult USBC members and will be held at Bird Bowl on February 28, March 1, and March 8, 2009. There are separate classifications for women and the open (men or women) divisions. You may sign up for team, singles, or doubles events. Optional scratch and handicap brackets will be available. Multiple entry into each event is allowed. Entry forms can be found at the front desk at Bird Bowl. You may elect to use the internet site ( www.miamibowling.org) to submit your tournament entry. The early closing date is February 17, 2009. However, you may also register as a walk-in entry prior to each squad, but you would be subject to lane availability. So, get your entry in early.YOUTH CITY TOURNAMENT Our annual Greater Miami USBC Youth City Tournament is scheduled April 25-26, 2009. This tournament will be a scholarship tournament and is open to all USBC youth bowlers. Entry forms will be available in March. Ask your coach for details. SENIOR TOURNAMENT Our Greater Miami USBC Senior Tournament is scheduled for Sunday, March 29, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. at Bird Bowl. This tournament is open to all USBC sanctioned bowlers who will be at least 50 years of age as of March 29, 2009. Perhaps, you might be bowling in one of the senior leagues that opted to bowl without sanctioning this season and you did not bowl in a sanctioned league. You could still bowl in the tournament, as temporary or full sanctioning will be available for you at the tournament. Or, you can approach the secretary of a sanctioned league to get your sanction card application before the tournament. Our senior tournament is inexpensive, fun and competitive with separate women and open classifications. Watch for flyers and entry forms at Bird Bowl or at our annual City Tournament. Information will also be available on our web site ( www.miamibowling.org) starting in mid-February |
YOUTH SCHOLARSHIP TOURNAMENTS Two youth scholarship tournaments were held during the past several months at Bird Bowl. On September 20-21, 2008, our first annual Greater Miami Youth Leaders Memorial Tournament was held at Bird Bowl. There were 13 entries in the scratch division, 17 entries in the upper handicap division, and 11 entries in the lower handicap division. On January 10-11, 2009, our first annual Greater Miami Youth Winter Classic was held. There were 17 entries in the scratch division, 22 entries in the upper handicap division, and 17 entries in the lower handicap division. Many of our local youth bowlers along with a few from neighboring counties participated in each. The competition was exciting and it appeared that everyone had a wonderful time. This was a great opportunity for our younger bowlers to earn scholarship money for college. Be on the lookout for information about our future youth tournaments and join in the fun. The scholarship winners for each of these tournaments are as follows: Greater Miami Youth Leaders Memorial Tournament: Scratch Division: Handicap – Upper Division: Handicap – Lower Division: Greater Miami Youth Winter Classic Tournament: Scratch Division:
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Handicap – Upper Division: 1st Place Felix Lopez $250.00 2nd Place Melissa Perez 127.00 3rd Place Michael Johnson 85.00 4th Place David Garcia 65.00 5th Place Brianna Pucko 50.00 6th Place Bradlee Michael 25.00 Handicap – Lower Division: Thank you to all the Youth Leaders and the Greater Miami USBC board members who volunteered their time during the tournament. We hope to see everyone at our future scholarship tournaments. A BRIEF HISTORY OF MIAMI BOWLING During our recent move from our association office, a booklet written by Ila Callaway was discovered in our archives. (Ila was one of the women who was a leader in the early days of the Greater Miami Women’s Bowling Association). Information from that publication, along with other sources are included in this article. Our Men’s and Women’s Bowling Associations were formed in the 1930's and early 1940's respectfully. This was a time between the Great Depression and the onset of World War II. People were looking for some means of entertainment and distraction from world events. They found an outlet for this at Recreation Bowl on Red Road. League and recreational (open) bowling was in full tilt. At that time, bowling cost was 15 cents a game in the afternoon and 20 cents in the evening. Since automatic systems were yet to be developed, there was no shortage of pin boys at the lanes. In 1942, the Playdium opened and hosted the second Annual City Tournament. The entry fee was $1.50 per event. During war times, many tournaments gave war bonds and stamps as prizes to the winners. As time passed and the war ended, many other bowling houses were opened. Some of those included The Palace, Lucky Strike, Bol-Mor, Bowland and Tropical Lanes. It was around this time that the Magic City, Post Office and Biscayne leagues were established. Those leagues lasted for a very long time. In 1946, Miami women bowlers decided |
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to form a State Association. Ila Callaway was
the first president that was elected and much later was inducted into
the State Hall of Fame for all of her hard work and insight. In the time
span between 1956-1959, Bowlerama, Beach Bowl, Bird Bowl, Pinerama,
Dixie Bowl-O-Mat, Hialeah Lanes, Coliseum, Cutler Ridge, Cloverleaf,
Bowling Palace, and Palm Springs Lanes all began to sprout up around the
city. Bowling increased to 50 cents per game and everyone now had
automatic pin setters, restaurants, meeting rooms, and nurseries. In
1940, the women’s association started with 20 members and in by
1959-1960 membership skyrocketed to 9,000 members. By the early 1980's,
there were more than 16,000 women members. There were also around 15,000
men members at that time. Since 1960, we have seen additional bowling
centers come and go. Remember Crown Lanes, Congress Bowl, West Dixie
Lanes, Western Sunset Bowl, Don Carter Kendall Lanes, Airport Lanes,
Piper Lanes and Trail Bowl, to name a few?
Now, only Bird Bowl remains in the city of Miami. The Fish Bowl in Islamorada is also part of our association. Just like everything else, prices have gone up. Now bowling costs $3.00 to $4.00 a game or you can rent the lanes for an hour. The lanes also have computers that do the scoring for you. We also have "designer lanes" where you can bowl in a night club type of environment. Over the years, more tournaments have been established and we now have our own Hall of Fame, featuring local bowlers with exceptional ability and service categories. Maybe we will live to see the day that bowling makes a resurgence and other centers will open so that we can continue to enjoy this wonderful sport of ours. Come out and bowl in a league and be a part of our history! MIAMI HERALD ALL_DADE BOWLERS Congratulations to the following local youth high school bowlers who received All_Dade honors from the Miami Herald. Their class level, high school average and accomplishments are also listed. Boys: Daniel Gajus (South Dade) Shawn Humphreys (Krop) Andrew Koff (Gulliver) Andrew Meyers (Miami Springs) Patrick O’Donnell (Ferguson) |
Girls: Melissa Covert (Palmetto) Junior, 183, 6th at Districts, 5th at State
Katherine Jones (N Miami Beach) Victoria Jones (N Miami Beach) Ana Koff (Gulliver) Betty Jo Martelli (Coral Reef) Brianna Pucko (Southridge) SECRETARY OF THE YEAR AWARD The Greater Miami USBC Association wants you, the league bowler to nominate your league secretary for our Secretary of the Year award. Our committee will oversee the nomination and election process. Your league must be USBC sanctioned for your secretary to qualify. The league secretary has many important responsibilities. Do you know all of them? Please prepare a written letter about your league secretary. Let us know how he/she is doing. You might have the perfect secretary. All nominations are due by Friday April 3, 2009. Please make sure the following information is in the letter: Name of Secretary Please submit information to: mail: Danielle Graham, If you believe your league secretary is serving the league’s interests and has performed their duties in a high quality manner, please submit the nomination. We would like to provide the recognition. HIGH SCORE AWARD RECOGNITION We would like to recognize the following bowlers for their USBC high score award achievements since the start of last summer. 800 Series: |
298 Games: James Rhodus 12/18/08 Adlia Streeter 01/25/09 299
Games 300 Games: 11-In-A-Row Games: A THANK YOU FROM THE GRAHAM FAMILY Wayne Graham is a Greater Miami and Florida State Hall of Fame bowler. Sadly, Wayne was seriously injured in a work-related accident on September 9, 2008. He spent 53 days in the Ryder Trauma Center and 20 days in the Spinal Rehabilitation Center at Jackson Hospital. Wayne is now on the road to recovery. He has therapy 3 days per week for his shoulder. His 7 vertebrae that were fractured are healing. Wayne is a walking miracle. Wayne and his family (Danielle, Steven, Caitlin and Mary Lou) would like to thank everyone very much for their thoughts, prayers and cards during Wayne’s recovery.
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