Three Madison Area USBC members have been elected to the 2019 class of the Madison Area USBC Hall of Fame. We will also be recognizing two youth bowlers as the 2019 Stars of the Future and presenting the annual Fred G. Engelke memorial scholarship award.
The inaugural Hall of Fame dinner will take place on Thursday, August 15, at the Sheraton Madison hotel. Dress is casual to business casual.
Refreshments start at 5:00. The program will begin at 6:00, with a ‘Taste of Wisconsin’ buffet dinner at 6:30. The recognitions and inductions will be at 7:30. Invitations to the Hall of Fame are being mailed out to Hall members, Association officials, proprietors, and distinguished guests.
If you would like to attend the dinner, see the shows, and help us honor these fine bowlers, you may access a reservation form here: Hall of Fame Reservation Form
Christine T. Smith
Distinguished Performance
Chris Smith’s Hall of Fame career began as a youth bowler in San Antonio, TX. Relocating to Madison, Chris joined the youth program at Bowl-a-Vard Lanes and participated in the All-Star Youth Traveling League. She went on to bowl for Madison Area Technical College earning first team honors and third place in Singles at the WTCC year-end tournament in 1984.
She has earned four association tournament Titles; Doubles at the 1994 Wisconsin Women’s State Championship, and three Madison Women’s Championship Titles – Team in 1994 and 2011, and Doubles in 2013. Chris along with her Jilz Designs teammates hold the all-time MWBA four person team game and series records of 911 and 2605.
Chris has devoted considerable time coaching youth as a USBC Bronze level certified coach with the Prairie Lanes Youth leagues and assisted with high school bowling. She has also served as an association director, officer, and delegate for the Madison bowling associations for several years.
Smith has a career high average of 212, series of 756, and two perfect games. Her first 300 game bowled in 1991 was the 7th perfect game in MWBA history. Smith was chosen as the 2019 Dee Fix Senior Woman Bowler of the Year.
Jay S. Heinzelman
Distinguished Performance
Jay Heinzelman has long been among the top scorers in the association, and is a threat to win every tournament he enters – on any tournament condition. He competed for UW Madison and earned Honorable Mention for the All-American Team based on performance named by the National Collegiate Bowling Coaches Association.
Four Association Titles highlight his local career, three of them in Doubles (2004, 2009, 2015) with fellow Hall member Eric Pederson, and one in the 2016 Team event. He has innumerable top 10 finishes. In the Madison Area Scratch Tour, he has eight wins and seven runner up finishes in 15 Title matches, and led qualifying in Year End Championship events four times, with two wins and two second places. He’s won the All Star Fall Classic in La Crosse as the top seed, the New Year’s Eve ‘BFI’ Tournament, its successor the Kurt Davids memorial tournament, and a host of others.
Heinzelman, to date, has posted a high single season average of 246. He has 18 800 series, with a high of 868, and 22 perfect games. One of those perfect games was authored in the 2006 USBC Open Championships and another on Sport Bowling conditions in the Bullseye Masters league.
Gerald L. Wilson
Meritorious Service
Jerry Wilson has been a Madison Area USBC member for over 50 years. He has been a valuable member of the Madison Bowling Association for more than 25 of those years, serving as a director from 1992-1996. He rose to Association Vice-President in 1998, Executive Vice-President in 2000, and was elected to his first term, of three, as President in 2003.
Wilson served a total of nine years as President of the MBA, representing local bowling every year at the USBC National Convention and at several Wisconsin State Annual Meetings and Jamborees. Beyond his service in official roles with the MBA, Wilson has served on the Wisconsin State Board of Directors, and he has regularly volunteered time on site to support the successful execution of countless local and state association tournaments.
His greatest role as an association leader was acting as chair of the Transition Committee, formed to guide our four previously separate local associations into one unified group. Wilson’s leadership as a parliamentarian and considerable association experience defined him and proved invaluable.
Outside of his association activity, Wilson served as league secretary of the venerable Bowl-A-Vard Merchants league for 20 years. He is also a Level 1 USBC Certified Coach, with many years of experience coaching in the Bowl-A-Vard youth bowling program.
Caitlin L. Powers
Star of the Future
Caitlin Powers booked an average of 195 in the Prairie Lanes Thursday Storm Major league, and a 183 (197 adjusted) in the Prairie Lanes Saturday Storm Challenge League. She had nine series over 600, with a high of 684.
She led all High School District 4 girls bowlers in fill percentage at over 87%, and her strike percentage of nearly 61% was more than 10 points over any other.
Powers had three top five finishes on the Badgerland Youth Bowlers Tour, with a win at Ten Pin Alley.
Austin Est
Star of the Future, Engelke Scholarship
Austin Est had the third highest average for youth bowlers, with a 214 in the Prairie Lanes Thursday Storm Majors. He averaged 203 in the Storm Challenge League (217 adjusted).
In High School District 4 competition, he was fourth in fill percentage at 88%, and had a strike percentage over 59%.
Est won one of five Badgerland Youth Bowlers Tour events, at Schwoeglers, and finished in the top five twice.
He finished 12th in the Storm Scholarship Doubles Tournament.
At Youth State, Est finished fourth in the Doubles event.