The inside tracks: from the venue setup to the final roll, our look behind the scenes at a PBA event reveals pros, prospects, promoters, pro-ams, and much more

Bowling Digest, June, 2003 by Larry Paladino

WALTER RAY WILLIAMS Jr.'s name was etched on the PBA World Championship trophy for 2003. And up-and-coming pro Brian Kretzer was the last man standing next to Williams, falling 226-205 in the title match. But Forrest Wasko probably was just as excited over his own performance at the prestigious season-ending event--despite the fact that his best game was a mere 141.

While Williams was basking in the attention from ESPN and news media from all over the country at the March event, concluding one of the finest seasons ever in professional bowling, young Wasko was back home in Sioux Falls, S.D., savoring his visit to the tournament at Taylor Lanes in suburban Detroit. "I kinda was nervous, but not that much," he said. "I just found an easier way to bowl when I was practicing. I throw really, really hard and try to throw it straight."

Master coach John Jowdy wasn't the one who passed that advice on to Wasko. The eight-year-old figured it out by himself. The 141 was his best game ever--pretty good pin action from a six-pound ball--and it went with a 108 and 100 for a 349 series.

As you may have guessed, Wasko wasn't among the 261 entrants in the tournament itself. Instead, he was among the 1,067 participants in the pro-am, the fiscal lifeblood of a tour event for hosting centers.

Wasko's pro partners weren't exactly household names on the tour--Erick Atlee, Travis Raskey, and Bill Gates--but it didn't matter. "He said this is the best day of his life, so we're having a good time," says his mother, Maria. "He got his first ball on his fourth birthday, and he's been bowling since he was two. He wants to be a pro bowler when he grows up. I was trying to get him into golf, but pro bowling is what he wants."

Taylor Lanes had to fork over $50,000 to the PBA to host the final jewel of the Triple Crown of major tournaments--and on short notice. Normally the PBA World Championship is in Toledo, but an arena finals site couldn't be secured. So the PBA approached the Dobbins family, owner of Taylor Lanes, which hosts the PBA's Greater Detroit Open each November.

Taylor paid $35,000 to host the November tournament, says Erin Dobbins, the 29-year-old general manager of the center. "It's a struggle to break even," Dobbins says. "Even if we lose some [money], it's a success because of the publicity you get."

The great pro-am turnout came despite the absence of the top eight players on the tour, who for this tournament were seeded into the round of 16. But those top eight did bowl in a pro-am in mid-week, a special one held at the posh Detroit Athletic Club.

Pro-ams are but one of many aspects of a PBA tournament. There are countless behind-the-scenes elements: equipment trucks and lane maintenance crews; public relations; TV crews and on-air talent; lane and configuration setup for arena finals; souvenir vendors; regional bowlers; up-and-coming stars; volunteers; arena supervisors; and so much more.

The snapshots we present here, taken mostly from the World Championship, provide an inside look at how it all works.

The New Venue

Ted and Leona Dobbins had been co-partners with the DeBiasi family in 75% of Taylor Lanes but purchased the DeBiasi shares in February 2002, leaving little transitional learning time, Erin Dobbins says. She had been the manager of her parents' real estate business for 10 years prior to taking the bowling center post.

"It was scary more than tough," she says, with the first big challenge coming last June when the snack bar operator suddenly left and the center had two days to take it over in time for a women's tournament. Taylor's November 2002 PBA tournament, meanwhile, was around the corner and everyone had to hustle to prepare for it. Adding the PBA World was a bombshell that hit soon afterwards. (The PBA later announced that the event will continue at Taylor for three more years.)

"The first thing you have to do is negotiate a contract with the PBA, for the host fee and components," Dobbins says. The center would get revenues from ticket sales, excluding the two days of arena finals, plus bar and restaurant receipts and sponsorship packages.

"It started with a handshake," Dobbins says. "Next we had to prepare for the pro-am. We got flyers ready and talked to ball companies to find out what they could do for us. Ebonite had Demo Days, with free sampling on a Sunday. Storm sponsored our youth pro-am and gave shirts to the staff.

"We mailed out the flyers the second or third week of January. We had 100 entries before the flyer was even done, and those came just off a dummy flyer that I passed out at the Greater Detroit Bowling Association meeting. We got 1,067 pro-am entries. For our tournament in November, we had 650."

The BPAA had a convention in May 2002 in Las Vegas for centers that planned to have a PBA tournament, and "that helped prepare us," Dobbins says. Once the city of Taylor found out about the event, it got involved and put the information in the city's magazine and mentioned it in the state of the city address.