A Return To Tough Guy for Grand Finals Rewarding

Of the 56 SISBA members eligible to bowl in the Grand Finals tournament, 51 showed up to compete. And they found the competition stiff especially with the great lane conditions available.

  As in the Bowladrome tournament in Twin Falls, Idaho, the scores were phenomenal. The top two qualifiers, Mike Taylor of Emmett, Idaho, and Kevin Broderick of Harrisville, Utah, were both over the 1200 mark, with nine scores of 1100 to 1199, and 18 with scores of 1000 to 1099. There were several 279 and over games and one 300 game.

  Den Fernandez, West Valley City, Utah, put the strikes together in the first game of his two-game playoff for a super 300 game. To this he added a 211 game to score a 511 series and thus eliminate Craig Harrington of Herriman, Utah, who posted a 407, two-game series. 

  Close to perfection, twice, was Larry Wasson of Idaho Falls, Idaho. Wasson started out the five-game series in a rather sluggish manner, but by the third game, he had found something comfortable and rolled out a 235, 299, 266. He rolled a 424 in his two-game match, but in the one-game eliminator, Wasson put together 11 strikes-in-a-row for a 290 game, and to win his match against, who else, Den Fernandez.

   Other great bowling included Don Winter of Kearns, Utah, who shot a 279 game in the five-game series and 278 in the one-game match; JR Lopez of Pocatello, Idaho, rolled a 289 game for a 702 series; Craig Harrington of Herriman, Utah, shot 285-726; Ed Hodges, Missoula, Montana, had a 249 for a 718 series; Broderick rolled a 257-259 for a 740 series as part of his 1201, five-game series; top qualifier, Mike Taylor, had games of 245 and 243 for a 709 towards his tournament leading 1206 series; Mike Fries, Boise, Idaho, had a 267 game for a 707 series; and Jay Ankeny of Jackson, Wyoming, had a 258 game for a 700 series.

  Dave Johnson came all the way from Fallon, Nevada, to participate in the Grand Finals, and shot a huge 268 game for a 731 series. To this he added a 204 game for 935 and first place in the Non-Casher's Tournament. Second place went to  Steve Bordley of Roy, Utah, for his 874 series, and Randy Millspaugh of Kuna, Idaho, was third with 838.

On Saturday, a doubles sweeper was held with 42 teams participating. First place winners were Craig Harrington and Don Winter with a 1503 and $500, followed by Alf Lopez of Pocatello, Idaho, and Bob Bywater of Rupert, Idaho with 1422 and $250; Den Fernandez and Alf Lopez with 1405 for $180; Randy Millspaugh and Allen Nelson of Boise with 1370 for $160; JR Lopez and Troy Wareing of South Jordan, Utah with 1363 for $140; Maury Hardman of Bend, Oregon and Alf Lopez with 1362 for $130; Jim Spoklie of Pocatello, Idaho, and Alf Lopez with 1352 for $120; and Allen Nelson and Don Winter with 1347 for $106.

  At the SISBA Membership Meeting 

   The question of what qualifies a Super Senior to be automatically seeded in the two-game match was brought up. Currently, the rules read that a Super Senior will be seeded in the two-game match if there are twelve bowlers in a squad regardless of their score. This was not a problem until this past season when several Seniors who would have qualified were bumped because of the rule. It was agreed that if there are at least six Super Seniors in the squad, and the high Super Senior does not qualify, that Super Senior would be paid the last place out of the prize fund, but not bowl in the match play games.

  Women participating in the SISBA tournaments have been in the same category as the Super Seniors in the past, but now to be considered a Super Senior, women will have to be 55 years of age or older.

  Brad Edelman of the High Rollers Tournament has agreed to continue to give one entry to the High Rollers Tournament to an individual over 50 years of age. The format of awarding the entry worked well last season and we will continue through the next season: the entry will go to winner of the tournament. If the winner does not qualify it will go down the winners list until someone does qualify and agrees to take the entry. Each SISBA member is eligible to win the entry only once in a season.

  Bowlers of the Year 

  The competition was pretty stiff for this year's SISBA Bowler of the Year and Super Senior Bowler of the Year, as well as the high average, series and game in both categories:

   In the regular category: High game went to Kevin Broderick of Harrisville, Utah for his 299 game; High series was won by Bob Bywater of Rupert, Idaho for a 1226 series; and high average was taken by Craig Harrington of Herriman, Utah, for his 217.8 average.

  Bowler of the Year was Larry Wasson of Idaho Falls, Idaho, who averaged 205.8 for the season, had a high series of 1156 and a high game of 279. He was in the step-ladder finals four times times, winning one tournament and during the season and won $1850.

  In the Super Senior category: High game went to Ed Strommen of Anaconda, Montana for his 255 game; high series was won by Chris Leary of Missoula, Montana for a 1079 series; and high average was Ron Hendricks of Fort Hall, Idaho who rolled through the season for a final 200.5 average.

  Super Senior Bowler of the Year was Den Fernandez of West Valley City, Utah, who had a super year by averaging 213.3, having a series of 1186, high game of 279, being in the top five once and taking home $630 in prizes over the tournament season.

  The SISBA Iron Man award was given to Ed Hodges of Missoula, Montana, for never missing a squad throughout the season. That's 17 squads, rolling 18,898 pins over 98 games. 

  SISBA would like to thank Pat Luras, Gary Call and Steve Young as well as the staff of Tough Guy Lanes. They always welcome the SISBA members and are great hosts for the tournament.

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