Bowling Oddities

There were a group of regulars who participated in what we called, "Pot Bowling," - jackpot bowling for money. There were many times when they had 40 - 50 bowlers bowling across 10 to 12 lanes and 2 to 3 scorekeepers. The regular game pots were fairly large but the side bets were much larger. This was our hometown's best coming together on the weekends in what was actually a weekend tournament, albeit unsanctioned and they bowled for cash money.

In the 1970's, the police department raided the pot game one Sunday and a lot of them got charged with illegal gambling. A shrewd, small-town attorney, who was an avid bowler himself, defended them and got them off the charges. Here is the premise: When someone, regardless of average, places his/her money into a jackpot, that person is saying, "I am betting my skill against your skill that I can win your money from you." Therefore, anytime someone bowls for cash money, it is not gambling, it is a game of skill. But, I digress.

They used to bowl with 4-lbs pins and it was always fun to watch them bowl because odd things happened. For example, one of the hardest throwers had his ball stop after hitting the pins and start rolling back toward us leaving the 7-8-9-10 standing. Another time had a guy's ball bounce back out of the pit area and come to a stop on the pin deck. Odd things happen in bowling and I'm sure many of you have witnessed more of the same.

In the USBC record books are some weird things that have happened. Here's a brief "Choc-List" of strange stuff good enough for Ripley's:

1) The most splits in a single game is 11. Accomplished only once. A split in every frame, he spared the 10th one, then had another split on his fill ball.

2) The most gutter balls ever recorded in a single season of bowling is 89 in the year of 1895. No report of what his average was.

3) The lowest score ever recorded in tournament history was in the 1902 ABC nationals. The gentleman shot 59 - 63 - 82 for a 204 series.

4) The lowest final score with 10 strikes in the game is 199.

The names have been withheld to protect the record holder. I think they'll appreciate my gesture.

A Hui Hou! (See You Again!)