BWAA Newsletter Message
By Lyle Zikes
“There were so many reporters covering “The Pete” that Western Union finally installed a full time operator to handle all the copy.”
That one sentence in Mort Luby’s recent Bowlers Journal column talking about the early days of the Petersen Classic tournament in Chicago certainly got me thinking. It’s hard to imagine how different the sports landscape was in the United States during the time period when the BWAA was founded in 1934.
Mind you, this was well before bowling’s big boom in participation. When our organization was chartered there were less than 20,000 lane beds in the country compared to more than 130,000 in 2000. Still, in that era of economic depression, major bowling tournaments received big league style coverage.
Of course, those days are long gone. It begs the question: if the BWAA didn’t presently exist, would anybody even think of forming such a group in today’s environment. I doubt it. At least not in the same form with the thrust of membership coming from sportswriters from daily, general interest newspapers.
Instead, to fill the void, I imagine some of our more energetic, high-powered organizers would put together something like a “21st Century Inter-Industry Communications Group.” The group would set up and administer awards, although the criteria and basis of the awards, I’m suspect, would inevitably differ from our present Luby, Martino and Rip Van Winkle elections.
I imagine this new organization would develop information seminars and schedule an annual meeting. But where? Seeing that it would be “Inter-industry” by nature, the most likely meeting location would be in connection with Bowl Expo.
Don’t get me wrong. If it sounds like I’m eagerly proposing a name change, a start from scratch constitutional, a revision of membership requirements, a revamping of our awards program and a plan to scrap our typical convention process, I’m not. That entire scenario is my fear, not my preference.
In my view, the whole cliché about “thinking outside the box,” is a cop out for those who lack the background, respect and resolve to meet challenges within a reasonable and traditional set of boundaries. To every extent possible, I’m in favor of staying within the foundation and building blocks of the original BWAA as we evolve.
Of course, what our organization needs now (and has for several decades) is a resurgence of interest among the nation’s print and electronic media in their coverage of bowling. To have that happen we continue to pin our hopes on the pro tours and bowling’s Olympic quest.
The hopeful news is the new ownership of the PBA has the vision and financial resources to seek to reposition bowling in today’s sports market to a position we believe it belongs. If, in the next few years, there is a U.S. Open, a Masters or a PBA World Championship where dozens, if not hundreds of reporters show up, the BWAA will thrive as never before.
And just think, we won’t even need the services of Western Union!