An eagle who has earned his wings: thanks to some timely advice, the former Dale Glenn transformed into a PBA champion - The Match I'll Never Forget

Bowling Digest, Dec, 2003 by Dick Denny, Dale Eagle

I'VE ONLY BEEN ELIGIBLE FOR PBA Senior events for seven years (I turned 50 on April 22, 1996), but I've already accomplished more there than I did on the national PBA tour, which I joined in 1964.

The Eagle is flying high at 57, with eight Senior wins to go with the three victories I claimed on the national tour. I've always worked hard at my game, but it seems I'm getting better as I'm getting older.

Of my eight Senior victories, four are majors: two national championships (both at Jackson, Mich., in 1996 and 2001), a world championship (in The Villages, Fla., in 1999), and the ABC Masters. I won the Masters this year in Tucson, where I came from the losers' bracket to beat Bob Glass in two three-game matches, 718-550 and 707-654, to earn the title and $20,000. I also was voted Senior Rookie of the Year in 1996 and Senior Player of the Year in 1999, when I won four titles (the Villages, plus events at Lakewood, Calif., Spokane, Wash., and Brentwood, Calif.).

Despite all of my recent success, I still cherish my three national tour victories (Detroit, 1975; Baltimore, 1984; and Seattle, 1986). That first triumph, at Hartfield Lanes on September 1, 1975, is the match I'll never forget.

In Detroit, I defeated my roommate, Matt Surina, 222-215, to win $6,000. Matt and I roomed together for 10 years, and we never had an argument. We used to goof around and say, "How many eyes do you have? How many ears do you have? How many toes do you have? How many feet do you have?" People would say, "I don't know." And we'd say, "Two-two-two-two." It was a fun thing. Somebody stole the idea and made it into a television commercial. I remember it went something like, "Darby Dan station, two-two-two-two."

My first title turned out to be two-two-two too much. I won with a game of 222, and my hotel room number was 222. There was even an eagle over my hotel door.

I won that tournament as Dale Glenn, which is my real name. Soon after that victory, I became known as Dale Eagle and started to sign autographs with that name. Marty Anderson, who was on the pro tour at the time, used to make like a bird and pretend to fly. I took that a step further and said I'd be an eagle. I even drew an eagle on the ball return after I won at Hartfield Lanes and made an eagle call. Everybody got a kick out of it. I've never had my name legally changed to Dale Eagle, but it's become my calling card. I just liked the sound of the name, and that's become what I am: an Eagle.

Entering the Columbia 300 Open, I didn't feel very comfortable. In four full years on the tour, my best performance was a third-place finish at Dick Weber's former lanes in St. Louis. I used to throw a full-roller release, but with the help of Fred Borden, I switched to a three-quarter roll. I spent about 10 days with Borden in Akron not long before going to Detroit.

Matt had finished second the week before to Earl Anthony in a two-frame rolloff at Waukegan, Ill., after tying, 257-257, in regulation. Anthony and Surina finished 1-2 in qualifying at Detroit. I won my first 15 games in match play to quickly move up the standings. I finished with a 17-7-0 match-play record and earned the top seed in the televised finals.

Surina was second (15-9-0), Bobby Fenton third (14-10-0), Anthony fourth (13-10-1), and Don Johnson fifth (also 13-10-1). In the first game of the televised finals, Anthony beat Johnson, 247-203. Anthony then defeated Fenton, 199-180, before being eliminated by Surina, 207-204.

In practice before the finals, I couldn't even hit the pocket. Before the match began, I called Borden and told him my problem. He said, "Go right for the pocket and jam it. Have a lot of will power." I used a Columbia 300 plastic ball and was really locked in. Everything I did was right.

By the 6th frame, I was ahead of Surina by six pins. I then struck three times in a row and spared to clinch my first title. My bar bill afterward was about $300. Detroit was good to me. People have always been good to me.

That win at Hartfield Lanes got me started as a PBA pro. I kind of went down for a while, but I beat Art Trask for the title in Baltimore in 1984. Two years later, I won in Seattle in another memorable match.

A week before the Seattle event, the tour stopped in Dublin, Calif., for a tournament at Anthony's place, and I got married. I led the first day of qualifying at Dublin but didn't cash. I told my wife, "Don't worry, we've got $83 in our pockets." I had no money, but I wanted to go to the next tour stop. All I had was a 1969 Ford van that I got in exchange for four bowling balls.

We drove to Seattle from Dublin in that Ford. I qualified 24th and won the tournament, beating Marc McDowell in the title match. My prize was $18,000--three times what I won for my first victory in 1975. I also won $8,000 in incentive money. The week after that win, I lost to Dave Husted in the championship round at Tucson.

You don't make much money as a PBA touring player. My biggest one-season earnings total on the national tour was $61,050 in 1984. My career earnings going into 2003 were $723,220, with $253,340 of that coming as a Senior. This year--my eighth on the Senior tour--I added $34,000 to that total.