Update
Fun and Games California League spreads the wealth.
WALKING INTO AMF Southshore Lanes in Alameda, Calif., to bowl the Alameda County Medical Center league is like walking onto the set of a game show. You’re greeted at the
door by an enthusiastic Steve Winters, the brainchild behind a league that has grown so large it had to be stretched over three weeknights. You come as eager to bowl
as you are to find out what prizes might be on the line tonight — maybe a big-screen
more than just their bowling balls to pack on their way out the door. The ACMC league is one
whose vacancies fill within five minutes, the kind of league that attracts 25 new applica- tions the minute word gets around that it is expanding once again. “Bowlers consider this
league an extension of their family,” Winters says. “We do consider ourselves a fam- ily-oriented group. We have bowlers that average 235 and
GAME SHOW: Steve Winters works the mic with Barbara McBride (above), while a bowler tries his luck on the prize wheel (left).
television, maybe a brand new laptop, maybe a generous wad of cold, hard cash. You come to bowl, but you
also come hoping to get a shot at the festival of games that Winters has devised — Spin the Wheel, Lucky Squares, Mystery Score. Some league members walk
in with 40 bucks and leave with $1,300 in their pockets. Others go home with a little
bowlers that average 98; and it’s amazing to see these people bowling together and having such a good time competing at different levels of skill but still have fun and be a part of the group. We really are a big extended family.” Each year, that extended
family does what any family might do: They pack up and hit the highway for a family road trip to Reno, where they
36 USBOWLER WINTER 2010-11 And by the time they pack
up to head back home, they will have been awarded nearly $200,000 in team and sweeper prize money, bracket and side pot payouts, Bowlinko and Mystery Score winnings and much more. “Our league bowlers know
that they will not just bowl all season long and get nothing back at the end of the season; we spread the wealth,” Winters
LARGEST MEN’S LEAGUE IN COUNTRY ENTERS 67TH SEASON Named for the bowling center in which it originated in 1943, the Parson’s Recreation League in Columbus, Ohio, is now the largest men’s bowling league in the U.S. with more than 340 members. That membership is as varied as it is vast, and tells the story of a league that spans nearly 70 years of American history. “Some guys in the league
were juniors that I coached; they’ve grown up and are now in the league themselves,” says Charlie Buhrts, who began bowling the league the same year he started as secretary — 1965. “We have their kids in the league, we have grand- kids. One guy in the league is 85 years old. There’s a lot of father-son teams and grandfa- thers bowling the league.”
stay two nights in hotel rooms paid for by money raised throughout the season—the Bowlinko and raffle tickets alone bring in nearly $1,000 a night—and enjoy a season- ending sweeper event and banquet.
LEAGUES CHECKING IN ON LEAGUE NIGHTS NATIONWIDE
explains. “That is another thing that has kept this league popular, and it’s amazing to me because league participa- tion has gone down around here over the past 20 years, but we’ve just turned it all around and made this a success story.”
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