Free bowling - Free bowling - Free bowling - Free bowling. You would think a statement such as that would draw in the bowlers. However it did not seem to catch the attention of the bowlers that were eligible to participate in the Bowler Of The Year Roll Off.

The Bowler Of The Year Roll Off for both the Men’s and Women’s Associations was held on Saturday, September 15, 2007, at AMF West at 1:00 p.m. Out of the possible 40 women and 40 men that were eligible to participate only 12 women and 14 men participated. This is disheartening because this is a service that the two associations provide to the bowlers. Apparently this is a service that the bowlers are not interested in. The associations will be discussing continuing this service due to the lack of participation on the part of the bowlers. True you will never find a date and time that will be convenient to everyone but you would think that more than 12 women and 14 men would be available to compete.

The Ocala USBC Women’s Association Bowler of the Year is Jamie Scott. Jamie bowled 113 pins over her average to win the title. Jamie was presented with a bouquet of flowers and a plaque to commemorate her win.

The Marion County USBC Bowling Association Bowler of the Year is Brian Eppinger. Brian bowled 88 pins over his average to best the field and take top honors. The roving trophy will be moved from AMF Ocala to AMF West where it will preside for the next year.

The future of the bowler of the year roll off is in the hands of the two associations. More to come.

Entry forms for the Northeast Bowling Conference Tournament are at the centers. This year’s tournament will be held in Ocala, Florida, at AMF Ocala (or Central). This is a team/doubles/singles tournament and there are some changes this year. Check out the entry form and put together a team and have some fun.

Entry forms for the Ocala Senior Open Bowling Tournament to be held at AMF West are in the centers as well. There is some overlap of this and the Northeast Tournament due to circumstances beyond our control. The Senior Tournament is a doubles/singles only event.

Check out the dates and times and if you coordinate everything you should be able to participate in both tournaments.

Checks are in the mail for the 2007 State Tournament which was held in Ocala. The deadline for appeals and hearing relative to the disqualifications (over 20) have expired. As soon as a complete list of the winners is available I will spread the word as to who from Ocala received checks. Quite a few from what I gather. I do not want to put out only part of the information so hopefully in a few days I will have all the information I need to put out the results.

The 2007 USBC Open Championship was held in Reno, Nevada, and Ocala made a good showing in both participants and winners (in no particular order):

Billy Reynolds - Doubles/All Events	James Coe - Doubles
Gerry Cairns - Singles	Guy Bowles - Doubles/Singles
Dick Jeffery - Singles	Bill Ireland - Team/Singles
Allen Prachel - Team/Doubles/Singles	Gay Prachel - Team/Doubles
Terri Spence - Doubles/Singles/All Events	George Nanry - Doubles
Art Grimes - Doubles	Claudette Grimes - Doubles
Pat Monahan - Singles	Walt Kalin - Singles
Jerry Abrams - Team/Singles	Penny DeMaso - Team
Beth Jones - Team/Doubles	Debbie Whitten - Team/Doubles
Jenny Mayhew - Team/Doubles	Dave Bellanca - Doubles
Tracy Bucci - Doubles	Jeff Edens - Team/Doubles
Amanda O’Cull - Team/Doubles/Singles	Ryan O’Cull - Team
Larry Mayhew - Team/All Events	Steven Bell - Team
Tyson Kurth - Team/Doubles/Singles/All Events	Larry Kurth - Team
Pat Jewell - Singles	Mike Blanton - Singles/All Events
Eddie Dubeck - Team/Doubles/Singles/All Events	Joe Galloway - Team/Doubles/All Events
Jimmy Osteen - Team/Singles	Wesley Vaughn - Team
Ron Wojack - Team/Doubles	Ray Naclerio - Singles

The 2007 USBC Women’s Championship Tournament was held in Charlotte, North Carolina. There were some disqualifications which held up the finalization of the tournament but we have received word "the checks are in the mail." Ocala made a good showing in participants and many of those ladies will be receiving checks (in no particular order):

Cynthia Barrie - Team/Doubles	Lorraine Dougherty - Team/All Events
Amy Faulkner - All Events	Donna Hatcher - Team
Janet Jones - Team/All Events	Glee Lagasse - Team/Doubles
Christine Milligan - Team/Singles	Susan Moody - Singles/All Events
Theresa Neil - Singles	Barbara Payne - Team/Doubles/All Events
Jan Robb - Team/Singles	Alberta Sarris - Team
Donna Tooley - Team/Singles

Congratulations to all the men and women who represented Ocala whether or not you brought home any winnings. Bowling in the national tournament is an experience that every bowler should partake in so make plans to go to Albuquerque or Detroit and join in all that nationals has to offer.

Women remember that Detroit will be the last year that the Women’s Tournament is held in bowling centers. Beginning with 2009 the tournament will be in a stadium type setting, like the Open Tournament has been for many years. This is another milestone for USBC.

Moving on to scores on the local scene:

Youth High Game	Youth High Series
Vigo Sisto - 258	Vito Sisto - 718
Justin Yurcak - 236	James Tripp - 520
David Kinglsey - 224	Justin Yurcak - 513
James Tripp - 210	Noel Ready - 512
Alex Tuggerson - 214	David Kingsley - 509
Kyle Rodgers - 183	Kim Reynolds - 503
Maggie Melim - 169	Logan Rodgers - 487
Tristen Hynard - 152	Kyle Rodgers - 470
Kaylin Rodgers - 113	Kaylin Rodgers - 295
Jennifer Tripp - 90	Jennifer Tripp - 250

Sr. Men’s High Games	Sr. Men’s High Series
Ken Dengler 278	Ken Dengler 768
Vito Diblasi 276	Vito Diblasi 719
John Brignall 264	Joe Quaranta 688
Gerald Dibble 257	Harry Schindehette 684
Rich Gibson 248	Gerald Dibble 673
Harry Schindehette 247	Bill Desimone 670
Stew Irwin 245	Rich Gibson 658
Larry Thompson 239	Cliff Osborne 655
Bill Desimone 239	John Brignall 648
Phil Arena 236	Stew Irwin 636

Men’s High Games	Men’s High Series
Gerry Cairns 300	Scott Lathrop 750
Darren Dukes 286	Shaun Long 739
Guy Bowles 279	Matt Ruby 733
Billy Kidney 279	Tyson Kurth 727
Stephen Edwards 278	Sam Wesolek 721
John Lynch 278	John Lynch 718
James Rattley 277	Guy Bowles 717
Matt Ruby 277	Gerry Cairns 716
Sam Wesolek 277	Willie Tyler 715
Justin Blanton 277	Chris Young 710

Women’s High Games	Women’s High Series
Melissa Bonnell 259	Melissa Bonnell 658
Crystal Blanton 248	Crystal Blanton 644
Freida Gates 245	Bette Holloway 641
Sabrina McFarland 237	Freida Gates 633
Jessica Rugg 237	Sabrina McFarland 632
Bette Holloway 235	Jodi Ryder 606
Linda Law 233	Julie Kapellusch 594
Dedra Monroe 229	Debra Burckhardt 576
Kerry Tims 226	Lisa Vaughn 556
Julie Kapellusch - 218	Jamie Scott 533

Reminder: The Annual Meeting of the Marion County USBC Youth Association will be held on Saturday, September 29, 2007, at 1:00 p.m. at AMF East in the conference room. This will be a re-organizational meeting with election of council members; adoption of new by-laws; election of delegates to the State Meeting; discussion of the future of youth bowling and the registered volunteer program. All youths are eligible to attend. Make plans to attend and participate in the formation of the new organization. This is the time to ask questions and present comments, criticisms, suggestions, etc. As the old adage goes "we can’t fix it if we don’t know it is broken."

Remember to pass along information that you feel the bowlers of Ocala would like to know by placing the information in any of the 600 Club Women’s boxes or the Ocala Women’s Association box so that I will get it in a timely manner.

That should be enough for this week.