ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

N

ow that summer’s here, and we have a chance to reflect back on the 2009-10 bowling season, only one word comes to mind: “Wow!” The 2009-10 season featured some of the most exciting events, starts, stops,

finishes and everything in between in the history of our great sport. The International Bowling Campus in Arlington, Texas, featuring the

International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame, along with the International Training and Research Center, had its official grand opening. USBC Youth Bowlers nationwide were adorned in brand new jerseys. The incomparable Walter Ray Williams Jr., arguably the greatest bowler to ever don shoes, added to his legend by having a season for the ages at age 50. And a little- known unemployed autoworker from Michigan shocked the pros by coming out of nowhere to claim the title at the PBA World Championship. But the biggest story of the year was undoubtedly Kelly Kulick’s unprecedented string of

titles, including her history-making victory at the PBA Tournament of Champions where she became not only the first woman to capture a PBA Tour title, but she did it in grand fashion by grabbing a major title against dozens of other pro champs.

Kulick’s Unprecedented Year

It started last September for Kulick at the World Series of Bowling in Detroit. She had finished second at the USBC Queens the year before and was ready to kick off the 2009- 10 season with a victory. But consecutive seventh-place fin- ish at the PBA Women’s Series Chameleon and Viper champi- onships didn’t sit well. But a third-week Shark

Championship victory put Kulick in a position to com- pete at the inaugural Women’s World Championships, the winner of which would become the first woman in history to earn a berth in the PBA’s elite major, the Tournament of Champions. That would have been

plenty groundbreaking in any other year, but Kulick, who had previously made history in 2006-07 by becoming the first woman to earn an exemption on the PBA Tour, wasn’t look- ing to just show up. She was in it to win it, especially after a disappointing 2008-09 season.

QUEEN FOR A DAY: click on the above video to see Kelly Kulick’s post- USBC Queens victory interview.

SUMMER 2010 USBOWLER 21