Entries Great at Christmas Tournament

 SISBA members from all over trekked to Pocatello to pickup their famous Idaho potatoes - an annual gift from the SISBA directors to the great people who participate in the tournament. We also had great sponsors to make the payoff great, too: American Electric (Vardell Tait is a SISBA member), Intermountain Beverage (who donated a ball, shirts, and keychains as well as money), and SLT Graphics (they supply those wonderful Geezer shirts).

  The weather cooperated, and the scores proved the trip was well worth the trip! Allen Nelson of Boise, Idaho, rolled out the top score for the tournament with a 1224 to qualify first in the 11:30 a.m. squad. Mark Bennett of Missoula, Montana, was also over 1200 with a 1219 to be top qualifier in the second squad.

  Nelson led throughout the tournament, posting a 476 in the bye position of the two-game playoff round, then dispatching Jim Spoklie of Pocatello, Idaho, in the one game round in an exciting match: 275-246. As top seed in the step-ladder finals, Nelson watched number six seed Fred Holbeck of Missoula, Montana, work his way up the ladder by defeating Dave Leisinger, Jackson, Wyoming, with a 224 to 185, then Ed Hodges of Missoula, Montana: 214 to 201, and finally defeating Ron Hendricks of Fort Hall, Idaho, by a score of 244 to 227. His winning streak came to an end against Max Shellabarger of Roy, Utah, when he was relegated to third place with a 211 against Shellabarger's 237.

  The match between Shellabarger and Nelson was exciting, but then, after some bad breaks on Shellabarger's part, Nelson was able to pull out a great 213 game to win over Shellabarger's 156 to take the grand prize of $1000.

  There were some great games posted during the tournament. Nelson got into the STORM 300 game pot by rolling out a 289 game, just barely beating out Ed Pullman of Boise, Idaho, who came out with a great 288 game. Shellabarger had a 279 game during the two game roll-off, Hendricks started out with an open frame, but then rolled out 11 Strikes In A Row for a 279 game and an ABC award. Bennett also posted a 279 game. Les Comer of Dillon, Montana, did the next to impossible when he picked the 4-6-7-10 split during the qualifying rounds.

  Intermountain Beverage, a great sponsor, donated Miller Lite and Miller High Life shirts to those who had at least a 250 game. That included those mentioned above as well as Fred Holbeck with a 255, Ed Hodges with a 255, Dave Leisinger with 276, Orville Edwards who had a 268 and 267, Don Winter's 259, Bob Garrison with 255, Max Adams with 277, Randy Millspaugh's 266, Mike Jones of Pocatello, Idaho (and first out of qualifying) with 256, Jerry Caple of Elko, Nevada (second out of qualifying) with 254, John Sagez, Garland, Utah had 266, and Dave Proctor of Pocatello, Idaho posted a 256. See tournament results

  In a short meeting between squads on Sunday, the divisional format was discussed. There were motions made to have two divisioned tournaments annually, and to have four divisioned tournaments annually. It was finally decided to leave the tournament as it is this year, then have a more in depth discussion at the annual meeting during the Grand Finals tournament.

  The next tournament will be at Skyline Lanes in Idaho Falls, Idaho on January 8 and 9, 2005 and sponsored by Lake City International. Rich Pottorff and Ylona Benson have installed new lanes and welcomes all to come try them. However, there are only 12 lanes, so be sure to get your entry in early as our rules do state that there can be only six players to a pair of lanes. Go to Entry Form.

 We would like to thank Pat Luras, Steve Young, and the wonderful staff of Tough Guy Lanes for hosting a super tournament.

SO!! Who's Winning the Pots?