Bowler's passion pays off

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, May 17, 2009 by Steve Thompson

By Steve Thompson

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Seventy-three steps, running, for a 9-year-old boy. Forty-eight years later, Rex Haney remembers every anticipation-filled stride.

Bursting out of the back door of his boyhood home in the southeast Kansas town of Cherryvale, Haney would sprint "about 219 feet" to the front door of the eight-lane Cherry Bowl every chance he got.

Every day, if possible.

Bowling, without a doubt, had ignited a passion in Haney that little else could touch. A passion that would lead him to a lifelong career and, next month, to the highest honor in the bowling business -- recognition for a lifetime of service to the game he loves.

On June 23 in Las Vegas, Haney, who owns the two Gage Bowls in Topeka with his wife, Kathi, will receive the Victor Lerner Memorial Medal and be inducted into the Bowling Proprietors' Association of America Hall of Fame. (Haney also will be inducted into the Kansas State Bowling Proprietors' Association Hall of Fame on June 2.)

And all it took was 73 steps, running -- to a 37-year career in bowling -- to get him there.

"I told my two sons (Britt and Bernie) when they were growing up, there's probably nothing better in life than to find something you love doing," Haney said. "If you do, getting up and going to work every day is not a chore, it's not something you dread, it's something you enjoy and think about.

"That's basically what bowling has meant to me. It's a passion and love that, next to my wife, my children and my granddaughters, has always been big in my life. It's something I get immense pleasure and joy from."

Whether Haney has gotten more out of bowling, or bowling has gotten more out of him, is hard to say, however. They are as intertwined, it seems, as an individual and an industry can be.

Haney the bowler (and a pretty good one at that), manager and owner, is also Haney the association (take your pick from several) member, director and officer. He hasn't been along just for the ride, he's been helping steer the business for a long time.

In 1998, after years of serving mainly in local and statewide positions, Haney was asked by the BPAA to fill a gap in its leadership ranks by becoming vice president. He would be in line to become president in one year -- a seven-year reduction in the amount of time it usually took to go through the BPAA chairs.

"It was sort of a dream come true," said Haney, who previously had considered working his way through the ranks in the BPAA. "I did it because I wanted to give back to the industry. Bowling has been very, very good to me in regard to having a chance to better myself in life and having the opportunity to work in a field I loved."

As a long-time manager and owner, Haney was well aware of the overall decline bowling had been experiencing since the 1980s and that the business was changing. But he had no idea how much the industry's landscape would be altered over the last decade.

Haney would have a hand in making many of those changes happen, although some of the changes set into motion during his BPAA presidency are just now taking place. Among them are the consolidation of the industry into a single voice when it comes to marketing.

"The bowling industry had so many factions out there (in 1999) -- from the American Bowling Congress to the Women's International Bowling Congress to the Young American Bowling Alliance to the Federation Internationale to the PBA and the PWBA," Haney said.

"Corporate America was having a tough time with us at that time because they'd open the door and say, 'Who's here to talk about bowling?', and there would be 12 to 15 different groups stand up and say, 'We are.' We needed to have one group stand up and say, 'I'm here to represent the industry.' "

During Haney's presidency, the BPAA signed its first partnership agreement with Pepsi, which is now the official soft drink of bowling. He also helped the BPAA -- now part of the newly opened International Bowling Campus in Arlington, Texas -- become better funded, more efficient and more attentive to its members, giving it new vitality.

Still, Haney never lost touch with the 9-year-old boy who fell in love with bowling and couldn't wait for his next youth league outing. He has been a strong supporter of youth bowling, twice serving as president of the Kansas Young American Bowling Alliance and currently serving as president of that organization's successor, Kansas USBC Youth.

Haney was instrumental in getting high school bowling approved by the Kansas State High School Activities Association in 2004, which to date has resulted in the establishment of programs at six of the seven high schools in Topeka and elsewhere across the state.

"My love and passion for the industry has always been youth," Haney said. "I think we've made some great strides. We've come up with a huge amount of scholarship dollars that go out to our youth bowlers. That's probably the part of bowling I'm most happy about.

"You know, it's sort of fascinating to look at what's happened in the last 10 years. To see that vision come to fruition 10 years later, when I'm getting this award, I think is very, very gratifying."