Costa Mesa is a great city always love visiting my relatives living their and enjoying a southern cal vacation a nice break from from the northeast bitter cold we’re I’m from
tirmyta In these early years, the PBA tried a few different formats. This round robin format pitted finishers 2, 3 and 4 in a series of three matches, with each bowler bowling two matches, one against the two others. Any player who won both of his matches would advance to face the top seed. If all players split their two matches, the bowler with the highest total pins in his two matches would advance to meet the top seed. The PBA adopted the stepladder format in around '66 or '67, as I recall.
ABC Network promo at the end of this video for "The King Family," which aired at 7:30 PM Eastern/Pacific Time on ABC Saturday nights, followed by "The Lawrence Welk Show," then "The Hollywood Palace."
One of the best bowlers who bowled at Kona Lanes, and a very good friend of Dick Stoeffler, was Ralph McBee. Ralph was hard to beat in a match game. Ralph seemed to turn on a calmness and auto- McBee style that gave a lot of his opponents the nerves. He was fun to watch. I always thought that if he had a sponsor, he could have gone much further up the line of best bowlers. He passed away in 1994 from cancer.
The Metro Bowler This telecast aired on December 21, 1964. Back in those days, it wasn't uncommon for the PBA's Winter Tour to begin in December. In years later, they modified the schedule so the Winter Tour would start in January. This tournament, and the one held the week prior, the PBA Northern California Open, were part of the 13-week 1965 PBA Winter Tour package of events televised by ABC-TV. In the opening, Chris Schenkel mentions that this is the second stop of a 13-week Winter Tour.
So Buzz Fazio won the previous tournament? I wanna see THAT REAL BAD! every video with Buzz on you tube paints him up as a once great now loveable…well..also ran.
Once again we witness the man who owns the lanes making the tv finals. My question is this….who was responsible for conditioning the lanes for the tournament? Ill tell you what if that was ME 8 would know every nook and cranny of my lanes.
RUBBER BALLS, WOOD LANES and Lacquer Oil ,, Overhead write-in in scorers, Set Tea areas and seating, AMF Masking units with the Pin marking numbers that light up ,, and the early days of auto pinsetters :) , ahh the grand ole days of bowling. WIsh i wouldve been born about 10-12 yrs earlier so i couldve witnessed these as a youngster, Wasnt born till 70,,
Johnnie C I was born in 1942, and started bowling in the 50's. Initially there were pin boys, but in the latter years auto pinsetters became common, and bowling establishments became more family oriented. In the early days, "bowling alleys" were considered pretty seedy with a lot of drinking and smoking! 🙂
Loved these shows! I remember bowling as a young man in a marathon (10 gamer) starting at midnight at Triangle Bowl in East L.A. Jay Robinson bowled on my pair. Quite a nice fellow and great bowler. We also bowled "pot games" at Beverly Bowl in Montebello starting at midnight on Friday and Saturday nights. Back then "cellos" we used for scoring and projected above the foul line. Thank you Metro Bowler for your shows.
In the early telecasts, they always opened with a chamber of commerce piece about the city from which the telecast originated. Then they would have a roundtable discussion between some of the players in the tournament just before the final match. I'm not sure about this, but I think this might have been to help fill time because they may have had two hours to fill, instead of the 90 minutes that Pro Bowlers Tour would eventually have as its time window.
Dick Stoeffler (known in the building as "ol' Steff") was the longtime general manager of Kona Lanes; see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kona_Lanes for details. As someone who grew up in koh-stuh may-suh, it's fascinating to listen to Schenkel vacillate between koh-stuh and kah-stuh.
Thanks so much. Do you have any others for the 1965 season? I missed that whole year because I was bowling in a travelling league at the same time that the show aired in my area. Would especially like to see the Louisville Open - Nelson Burton Jr's first win.
An exciting match-stoeffler got a lot of bad breaks in the final game. I know Hardwick was a great one but he sure looks off balance, and tenuous on spares whenever I watch the old matches.
Billy Welu: 1932-1974
Chris Schenkel: 1923-2005
Dick Stoeffler: 1926-2007
Billy Hardwick: 1941-2013
Jack Biondolillo: 1940-2021
Surprising to me i have not heard of ABCs “Monday Night Lineup” . good stuff
Aired on Monday, December 21, 1964.
I bowled at Kona Lanes for many years.. Loved it there
Costa Mesa is a great city always love visiting my relatives living their and enjoying a southern cal vacation a nice break from from the northeast bitter cold we’re I’m from
All I had ever seen was the stepladder format. I didn't know there had ever been a round robin format. Thanks for posting.
tirmyta In these early years, the PBA tried a few different formats. This round robin format pitted finishers 2, 3 and 4 in a series of three matches, with each bowler bowling two matches, one against the two others. Any player who won both of his matches would advance to face the top seed. If all players split their two matches, the bowler with the highest total pins in his two matches would advance to meet the top seed. The PBA adopted the stepladder format in around '66 or '67, as I recall.
28:50 - Two of the last things I EVER thought I'd see in 1965. Wow.
"He has done it again. Jack Biondolillo has missed the 10 pin...again" - Chris Schenkel
Commentators:
Chris Schenkel & Billy Welu
ABC Network promo at the end of this video for "The King Family," which aired at 7:30 PM Eastern/Pacific Time on ABC Saturday nights, followed by "The Lawrence Welk Show," then "The Hollywood Palace."
Thanks for sharing this video. I grew up bowling at Kona Lanes. Great memories!
Jerry Jerry Jerry!
One of the best bowlers who bowled at Kona Lanes, and a very good friend of Dick Stoeffler, was Ralph McBee. Ralph was hard to beat in a match game. Ralph seemed to turn on a calmness and auto- McBee style that gave a lot of his opponents the nerves. He was fun to watch. I always thought that if he had a sponsor, he could have gone much further up the line of best bowlers. He passed away in 1994 from cancer.
Probably not from the 1965 season. However, I still have a few hundred to upload in the next few months.
The Metro Bowler This telecast aired on December 21, 1964. Back in those days, it wasn't uncommon for the PBA's Winter Tour to begin in December. In years later, they modified the schedule so the Winter Tour would start in January. This tournament, and the one held the week prior, the PBA Northern California Open, were part of the 13-week 1965 PBA Winter Tour package of events televised by ABC-TV. In the opening, Chris Schenkel mentions that this is the second stop of a 13-week Winter Tour.
The Metro BowlerAny from the mid 70s?
The Metro Bowler 'a few hundred', just where do you find this stuff? Great uploads.
The Metro Bowler
Good news!
The PBA archives (www.pba.com/Tournaments/FullStandings/256) put the dates at 17-21 December 1964.
So Buzz Fazio won the previous tournament? I wanna see THAT REAL BAD! every video with Buzz on you tube paints him up as a once great now loveable…well..also ran.
Jerry Hale puts a tremendous amount of roll on the ball.
thanks for posting I bowl with jerry at La Habra 300 bowl
Once again we witness the man who owns the lanes making the tv finals. My question is this….who was responsible for conditioning the lanes for the tournament? Ill tell you what if that was ME 8 would know every nook and cranny of my lanes.
RUBBER BALLS, WOOD LANES and Lacquer Oil ,, Overhead write-in in scorers, Set Tea areas and seating, AMF Masking units with the Pin marking numbers that light up ,, and the early days of auto pinsetters :) , ahh the grand ole days of bowling. WIsh i wouldve been born about 10-12 yrs earlier so i couldve witnessed these as a youngster, Wasnt born till 70,,
Johnnie C I was born in 1942, and started bowling in the 50's. Initially there were pin boys, but in the latter years auto pinsetters became common, and bowling establishments became more family oriented. In the early days, "bowling alleys" were considered pretty seedy with a lot of drinking and smoking! 🙂
Imagine what these bowlers would think if Jason Belmonte walked into the tournament and threw two handed with an active resin ball. lol
Loved these shows! I remember bowling as a young man in a marathon (10 gamer) starting at midnight at Triangle Bowl in East L.A. Jay Robinson bowled on my pair. Quite a nice fellow and great bowler. We also bowled "pot games" at Beverly Bowl in Montebello starting at midnight on Friday and Saturday nights. Back then "cellos" we used for scoring and projected above the foul line. Thank you Metro Bowler for your shows.
Same here pal because this was when bowling was bowling. The bowling is not the same anymore.
In the early telecasts, they always opened with a chamber of commerce piece about the city from which the telecast originated. Then they would have a roundtable discussion between some of the players in the tournament just before the final match. I'm not sure about this, but I think this might have been to help fill time because they may have had two hours to fill, instead of the 90 minutes that Pro Bowlers Tour would eventually have as its time window.
Dick Stoeffler (known in the building as "ol' Steff") was the longtime general manager of Kona Lanes; see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kona_Lanes for details. As someone who grew up in koh-stuh may-suh, it's fascinating to listen to Schenkel vacillate between koh-stuh and kah-stuh.
Thanks so much. Do you have any others for the 1965 season? I missed that whole year because I was bowling in a travelling league at the same time that the show aired in my area. Would especially like to see the Louisville Open - Nelson Burton Jr's first win.
An exciting match-stoeffler got a lot of bad breaks in the final game. I know Hardwick was a great one but he sure looks off balance, and tenuous on spares whenever I watch the old matches.
Like Nelson Burton Jr. said: "How does he do it, Chris? Everybody wonders how Hardwick does it."
I always liked Hardwick and marveled at how he just got up there and threw with hardly any set up once he got on the deck.
Weird format.