United States Bowling Congress

The United States Bowling Congress is a sports membership organization dedicated to Ten-pin bowling in the United States of America. It was formed by a merger of the American Bowling Congress, Women's International Bowling Congress, Young American Bowling Alliance, and USA Bowling in 2005. The USBC's headquarters are currently located in the Milwaukee suburb of Greendale, Wisconsin, but the Congress has announced that they will be relocating to Arlington, Texas as of November, 2008. The move will enable the USBC to combine its operations with the Bowling Proprietors Association of America (BPAA). [Miller, Mark. "Preparations for USBC's new home in Texas begin." Article at www.bowl.com, July 23, 2008.]

Purpose

The USBC is the primary governing and sanctioning body for ten-pin bowling in the United States. Among the duties and responsibilities to over 2.6 million members ["About USBC" at [http://www.bowl.com Bowl.com] , the official website of the United States Bowling Congress] are:
* Maintain specifications, conduct research testing for, and certify: bowling lanes, lane dressings, pinsetting and ball return equipment, bowling pins, bowling balls and other bowling-related products.
* Establish and publish playing rules.
* Sanction bowling leagues for men, women, mixed and youth categories. Also serves as a sanctioning body for High School and Collegiate bowling in the USA, as well as Team USA.
* Sanction numerous local, regional and national bowling tournaments.
* Provide recognition and award merchandise for sanctioned "honor scores" (299 and 300 games, 800 series, 100 pins over average game, 150 pins over average series, etc.).
* Maintain historical bowler average records for use in USBC sanctioned leagues and tournaments.
* Certify bowling coaches for both youth and adult bowlers.

History

The first official governing body of bowling was the American Bowling Congress (ABC), founded in 1895 in New York City. The membership through the time of the merger in 2005 was primarily male, although women were permitted to join. In 1916, the Women's International Bowling Congress (WIBC) was formed by a group of 40 women, and served as a partner organization with the ABC through 2004. The Young American Bowling Alliance (YABA) was established in 1982, after previously existing as the American Junior Bowling Congress, specifically to serve youth bowlers from pre-school through collegiate level.

These three organizations, in addition to High School Bowling USA and College Bowling USA, became one under the USBC umbrella on January 1, 2005.

USBC Hall of Fame

The USBC Hall of Fame was formed in 2005 by the merger of the ABC Hall of Fame (established 1941) and WIBC Hall of Fame (established 1953).

Through 2007, there are 371 Hall of Fame members in three categories:
* Superior Performance (243)
* Meritorious Service (109)
* Pioneer (19)

USBC in the Media

The USBC acquired the rights to the U.S. Women's Open in 2007. The event, which had been on a three-year hiatus since the disbanding of the Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA) in 2003, was telecast for five weeks on ESPN in September-October, 2007. The eventual winner was 11-time PWBA titleist Liz Johnson. ESPN again carried the event in September-October, 2008.

In May 2008, the USBC hosted a special event called "Bowling's Clash of the Champions." The made-for-television event was broadcast May 10 and 11 on CBS, marking the first time bowling had been broadcast on regular network television since June 26, 1999. [" [http://www.bowl.com/articleView.aspx?i=13864&f=1 Special event brings bowling back to network television] " January 22, 2008.] The event featured 8 male and 8 female bowlers representing youth, college, senior, amateur and professional bowlers who had won recent USBC titles. Included in the field:

Men:
*Sean Rash (professional) - 2007 USBC Masters champion
*Pete Weber (professional) - 2007 U.S. Open champion
*Mike Rose, Jr. (amateur) - 2007 USBC Tournament regular All-Events champion
*Tom Baker (professional) - 2007 USBC Senior Masters champion
*David O'Sullivan (amateur) - 2007 U.S. Amateur champion
*Adam Martinez (amateur) - 2007 U.S. Junior Amateur champion
*Jason Price (amateur) - 2007 USBC Youth Tournament Boys All-Events champion
*Tim Pfeifer (amateur) - 2007 USBC Intercollegiate Singles champion

Women:
*Kelly Kulick (professional) - 2007 USBC Queens champion
*Liz Johnson (professional) - 2007 U.S. Women's Open champion
*Wendy MacPherson (professional) - 2007 USBC Women's Tournament Classic All-Events champion
*Lucy Sandelin (amateur) - 2007 USBC Senior Queens champion
*Lynda Barnes (amateur) - 2007 U.S. Amateur champion
*Jenny Brown (amateur) - 2007 U.S. Junior Amateur champion
*Brittni Hamilton (amateur) - 2007 USBC Youth Tournament Girls All-Events champion
*Elysia Current (amateur) - 2007 USBC Intercollegiate Singles champion

The event was won by Lynda Barnes, who defeated Sean Rash 258-237 in the final. Barnes was awarded $50,000 for first, while Rash took $25,000 for second. [Wiseman, Lucas. "Barnes wins Bowling's Clash of Champions." Article at www.bowl.com, May 11, 2008.]

External links

* [http://www.bowl.com/ United States Bowling Congress]

References