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Bowlers Journal Timeline TIMELINE


BY J.R. SCHMIDT { jrschmidt@bowlersjournal.com }


1954 4


1954


Budweiser sponsors a super team.


The Anheuser-Busch Brewery assembles what


many call bowling’s greatest team — the Budweisers of St. Louis. In their seven seasons, the Buds win the BPAA team match-game title four times. During those same seven seasons, their bowlers capture fi ve match-game doubles titles and win 10 major individual championships. The Buds also set a three-game series record that endures for nearly 40 years.


A new TV bowling program debuts.


Chicago auto dealer Peter DeMet decides to take his local bowling TV show national, and fi lms 26 matches at Faetz- Niesen Recreation. At various venues, his “Championship Bowling” series will continue for 14 seasons, be syndicated in as many as 200 diff erent markets, and introduce bowling to the largest audience in its history.


EVERYTHING BOWLING, ALL THE TIME


THE 1950s 1957


The World’s Invitational rolls out.


With the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America taking the All-Star Tournament on the road, local Chicago proprietors concoct their own match-game marathon. The fi eld is fi lled strictly by invitation, with the hope of building into a truly international event. The World’s Invitational soon becomes a rival to the All-Star, but eco- nomic pressure kills it after only seven years.


1958 5


The PBA is formed.


Akron, Ohio, attorney Ed- die Elias meets with the


country’s top bowlers during the ABC Masters at Syracuse. When 33 of them chip in $50 each, the Professional Bowlers Assn. is founded, and the fi rst tournament is held in Albany the following year. Though there had been various at- tempts to organize the better bowlers before, the PBA is the organization that succeeds


1959 6


The PWBA is formed.


Led by Mary Bundrick, a group of Chicago’s top


female bowlers begin organiz- ing a pro group for women. At a meeting during the World’s Invitational, the Professional Women’s Bowlers Assn. is founded with 23 charter mem- bers. Magazine editor Georgia Veatch (shown below) becomes the fi rst executive director.


About The Author: J.R. Schmidt has been BJI’s resident historian since 1990. Normally, he writes the monthly “Time Capsule” feature,but during BJI’s 100th an- niversary year, we’ve asked him to assemble a monthly bowling timeline — one for each decade of the magazine’s exis- tence — to be comple- mented by photographs and illustrations from BJI’s massive “morgue.” Schmidt, an avid bowler, also maintains a blog about bowling history.


CLICK HERE: To check out his personal photo gallery of ABC/USBC Open Tournament team photos


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May 2013


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