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Memory Lane
Beamus

When my dad took me to the duck pin bowling alley when I was about seven years old back in Rhode Island, I thought that the pins looked real big along with the ball.  An average of 150 and over was doing real good.  Now, whenever I see the duck pins at Triple Play, I have to adjust my glasses to really see the pins.  My dad would joke about the new bowling system by criticizing the tremendous size of the ball compared to the duck pin ball. He would say to me, "How can anyone miss a pin with the size of that ball and the size of that pin."      Tony Campos

babebowl.jpg


Babe Ruth duckpin bowlingTHE HISTORY OF DUCKPIN BOWLING

Duckpin bowling was born in Baltimore, Maryland, has been around since 1900. It was one of Babe Ruth's favorite games, besides baseball, of course! Ten-pin bowling used to be strictly a winter sport. Most alleys closed down for the summer, but a few of them remained open so that bowlers could practice with small balls, about 6 inches in diameter. They usually played odd games called "back five," using just the 5, 7, 8, 9, and 10 pins, and "cocked hat," which used only the 1, 7, and 10.

In 1900, summer bowlers at the Diamond Alleys in Baltimore suggested it might be interesting to trim down the standard pins to match the size of the ball. Manager John Van Sant liked the idea. He had a wood turner do the job and many of his customers enjoyed the new bowling game. At first, the rules of ten-pin bowling were used. But, because it's much harder to get strikes and spares, one small rule change was made: A bowler is allowed to use three bowls on each turn. If all ten pins are knocked down with three balls, it simply counts a score of ten.

Van Sant demonstrated the new sport to the owners of the alley, John McGraw and Wilbert Robinson. Though they're much better known as baseball managers, McGraw and Robinson were also avid duck hunters. When they saw the way the small pins flew wildly around the alley, one of them remarked that it looked liked a "flock of flying ducks."

That was the beginning of duckpin bowling. Originally a summer sport, it became so popular in the area that winter leagues were organized in Baltimore in 1903 and in Washington, D. C., in 1904. During the 1920s, duckpin bowling spread along the east coast, from New England to Georgia. While the rules were basically the same everywhere, balls, pins, and lane sizes weren't standardized.

The National Duckpin Bowling Congress (NDBC), founded in the fall of 1927, worked with member organizations and manufacturers to bring about standardization. The NDBC held its first national tournament, patterned after the American Bowling Congress's ten-pin tournament, in the spring of 1928. There were 126 five-person teams, 162 doubles teams, and 201 singles entries. Duckpin bowling grew rapidly during the 1930s.

By 1938, an estimated 200,000 bowlers were participating in sanctioned league play. Growth continued more slowly after World War II, reaching a peak of 300,000 sanctioned bowlers in 1967. The sport's popularity has declined greatly since then, but it's still strong in a narrow geographical region from Washington and Baltimore to Connecticut and Rhode Island.

A variation, rubberband duckpin bowling, developed during the late 1930s. The pins are circled with bands of hard rubber that increase pin action and scores. In 1946, the NDBC created an affiliate, the American Rubberband Duckpin Bowling Congress, to sanction leagues and conduct a national tournament. The rubberband version of the sport never spread very far beyond the Baltimore-Washington area.

Bowling History courtesy of: Hickock's Sports History


HOW TO PLAY THE GAME


The rules of duckpin bowling are easy to learn, and once you become acquainted with the basic rules of play, you will be ready to roll in no time at all.

A regulation game consists of 10 frames, or boxes. A bowler is allowed up to three balls per frame to knock down as many pins as possible

If all ten pins are knocked down by the first ball in any frame, it is called a 'Strike' and is usually symbolised on the score sheet with an X.

A Strike counts as 10 plus the total of the pins knocked down with the next two balls that are rolled.

Strike Symbol
(counts 10 + next two balls)


If all ten pins are knocked down with the first two balls in any frame, it is called a 'Spare', and is usually symbolised with a diagonal line on the score sheet. A spare counts as 10 plus the total of the pins knocked down on the next ball rolled.

Spare Symbol
(counts 10 + next ball)


If the bowler fails to get a strike or a spare, he/she rolls the third ball to get the remaining pins and the total pins knocked down on three balls becomes the score for that frame.

Score is kept in an accumulated manner, left to right, through the 10 frames, with a perfect game being 300. Information is from the brochure of the Duckpin Bowling Proprietors of America.

A PERFECT GAME OF 300 HAS NEVER BEEN BOWLED.

THE HIGHEST SCORE EVER THROWN WAS 279.

DUCKPIN WORLD RECORDS
 
Current Thru March 2006

Men's
03/05/1992 Single Game Pete Signore Jr. T-Bowl Lanes, Newington, CT
279
04/24/1978 Three Game Set Jeff Pyles Glenmont Bowl, Wheaton, MD
655
08/15/1994 Four Game Set Nappy Ranazzo Fair Lanes, Westview, Baltimore, MD
758
05/20/1988 Five Game Set William Schwartz Greenway Bowl East, Baltimore, MD
988
11/17/1984 Six Game Set James E. Deviers Luray Lanes, Luray, VA
1116
04/27/1985 Seven Game Set Jeff Pyles Greenway Bowl East, Baltimore, MD
1329
08/05/1995 Eight Game Set Jeff Pyles Long Meadow Bowl, Hagerstown, MD
1412
01/14/1989 Nine Game Set Steve Iavarone Town Hall Lanes, Johnston, RI
1535
04/05/1980 Ten Game Set Jeffrey Ferrand Holiday Lanes, Manchester, CT
1760
02/27/1993 Twelve Game Set Scott Wolgamuth Lucky Strike Lanes, Mansfield, CT
2066
06/09/1979 Fifteen Game Set Charles "Buddy" Creamer Fair Lanes P.G., Hyattsville, MD
2482
08/13/1996 Twenty Game Set Jeff Pyles GWDA 30 Game Classic - Var Lanes
3170
08/15/1996 Twenty-Five Game Set Jeff Pyles GWDA 30 Game Classic - Var Lanes
4028
08/17/1996 Thirty Game Set Jeff Pyles GWDA 30 Game Classic - Var Lanes
4835
1982/1983 Season Average Jeff Pyles Wheaton Triangle, Wheaton, MD
164.47

Women's
05/06/1973 Single Game Carole Gittings Fair Lanes Timonium, Timonium, MD
265
06/16/1988 Three Game Set Diane Jasper Suitland Bowl, Suitland, MD
586
11/28/2005 Four Game Set Amy Bisson T-Bowl Lanes, Newington, CT
741
03/20/2005 Five Game Set Amy Bisson Rivieria Lanes, Pasadena, MD
877
11/27/2004 Six Game Set Amy Bisson Perillo's Bowladrome, Waterbury, CT
1006
03/20/2004 Seven Game Set Amy Bisson Riviera lanes, Pasadena, MD
1173
10/16/2005 Eight Game Set Amy Bisson AMF Eastpoint, Baltimore, MD
1360
05/20/1989 Nine Game Set Pat Malthan Fair Lanes Southwest, Linthicum, MD
1421
02/10/1979 Ten Game Set Kathy Spindler-Lischio Collinwood Lanes, Portsmouth, VA
1508
05/14/1983 Twelve Game Set Veronica Schwarzkopf Fair Lanes Westview, Baltimore, MD
1806
06/09/1979 Fifteen Game Set Patricia Rinaldi Fair Lanes P.G., Hyattsville, MD
2310
08/12/1997 Twenty Game Set Theresa Vermillion GWDA 30 Game Classic - Var Lanes
2860
08/14/1997 Twenty-Five Game Set Theresa Vermillion GWDA 30 Game Classic - Var Lanes
3537
08/16/1997 Thirty Game Set Theresa Vermillion GWDA 30 Game Classic - Var Lanes
4204
2005/2006 Season Average Amy Bisson Highland Bowl, Cheshire, CT
155.08