Potential bowling loss hits city's heart
By Judy Keen, USA TODAY
MILWAUKEE — Bowling is as essential to this city's identity as beer, which explains why Betty Bignell is so dismayed about the prospect of the U.S. Bowling Congress moving its headquarters to Texas.
"Bowling is very important in Milwaukee. It's been that way for I don't know how long — forever," she says between frames at Classic Lanes in Greenfield, where she plays in a league. "It goes along with beer and camaraderie. We're proud to have the USBC right here. We don't want to lose it."
Bignell, 77, whose bowling average is 155, speaks for a lot of people around here. The USBC's departure would be a loss of pride for the city, says Terry Reed (200 average), a retired police officer who bowls three times a week. "Milwaukee's been so supportive of the sport. I just feel bad that they're taking it away from us," he says.
Rich Barczynski (185 average), manager of the 16-lane Root River Center (the industry swapped "alley" a few years ago for the more chic "center") in suburban Franklin, says Milwaukee stands to lose its status in the sport and access to the latest innovations. "To lose (the USBC) would be just absolutely devastating, because bowling is what we're all about," he says.
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The lure of Texas
The relocation of the USBC, the sport's governing body, to Arlington, Texas, isn't quite a done deal. Chief operating officer Kevin Dornberger (190 average) warns that Milwaukee must find ways to reduce the cost of doing business here to keep the group and its 195 employees in suburban Greendale.
There are no personal income taxes in Texas, Dornberger says, and health care costs and real estate taxes are more affordable there. Arlington might offer tax incentives. Dornberger has asked officials here for a proposal today, and a decision will be made by March 14, when the USBC's contractual hold on property in Arlington expires. The USBC's board of directors voted in January to start negotiations for a move, which would happen this year.
The Bowling Proprietors' Association of America is in Arlington. Dornberger says proximity would allow the two groups to collaborate on youth and coaching programs.
Jim Paetsch (155 average as a youngster), director of corporate expansion for Milwaukee 7, an economic development consortium, hopes the USBC can be persuaded to stay. "We understand the cultural tie that's there," he says, "but even if you put that aside, we're talking about almost 200 jobs, we're talking about an organization that has a $50 million budget. We want them to stay."
If the organization does head South, it would end a relationship that dates back to 1907. That's when the USBC's predecessor organization set up shop here, says Doug Schmidt (190 average), author of a 2007 book on Milwaukee's bowling history, They Came To Bowl: How Milwaukee Became America's Tenpin Capital.
Bowling was brought here in the late 1800s by German immigrants, including the city's beer barons, Schmidt says. "It was more than coincidental that beer and bowling became synonymous with Milwaukee," he says. Owners of office buildings put bowling lanes in their basements, and taverns squeezed in a few lanes to entertain factory workers stopping in for a brew at the end of their shifts.
Bowling's popularity, here and across the nation, grew until around 1980, Schmidt says. In 1979, there were 9 million registered, or sanctioned, bowlers nationwide, he says. Today there are 2.6 million, the USBC says. Dornberger says at least 63 million casual bowlers play the game once a year or more. In 1980, 83 Milwaukee locations had bowling lanes; now there are 38.
Michael Kosinski owns one of them with his sister, Sandy Higgins. Bay View Bowl, which is almost 100 years old, is proof that bowling is making a comeback, Kosinski says. On weekends, 70 people jam the bar waiting for league play to end so they can hit the 12 lanes. On Sundays, when there are family specials, people line up waiting for the doors to open at noon. "Bowling is trendy now," he says.
Increasing participation
Kosinski (190s average) says he doesn't think the USBC's departure would affect business but the loss would be symbolic. "We were the bowling capital of the world at one point," he says. "The more snow that comes, the more they want to move. There's a lot of snow."
Some centers jazz up the game with black-light "glow" bowling and add pool tables, video games and outdoor volleyball courts. At Root River Center, 300 volleyball teams play in the summer, Barczynski says, and he hosted 30 wedding receptions last year.
Root River is home to the Franklin High School Sabers bowling team, which will compete in the state tournament next month. Andy Schneider (200-210 average), 16, says it's cool to be a bowler. "Kids ask us all the time, 'Hey, did you guys win last night?' " he says. His teammate Chris Hoefs (200 average), 16, says, "We've been attracting crowds!"
Bowling is the fastest-growing high school sport this decade, the National Federation of State High School Associations says. Nineteen states have varsity teams and more students participate in bowling than in ice hockey, according to the group.
Increasing participation is the USBC's goal, Dornberger says, and it doesn't really matter where the group is based. Milwaukee's bowling tradition isn't part of the decision: "It was a sentimental factor that was not very important in the overall scheme of things," he says.
Retiree Dick Evans (200 average), who's in five leagues, wishes for Milwaukee's sake that it had been. "You're either a bowler or you're not," he says. "Here in Milwaukee, it's in our blood."
Fastest-growing high school sport?
Methinks Stoner is provoking me, after hearing about the project I’m working on to demolish our bowling alley for the development of half-million dollar townhouses. When the apocalypse comes, I know where fingers will be pointing. This is a set up for sure.
Feral Boy: As we know, childhood obesity is on the rise, and with schools teaching abstinence instead of proper sex ed, kids today have no real incentive to get in shape -- so yes, bowling's their sport.
Rocky: It worked!
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