Wisconsin State USBC BA Tournament Opening, Annual Meeting and HOF
By Jerry Wilson, President, Madison USBC BA
I attended a day of WI State USBC BA events in Appleton and Neenah on Saturday, January 10, representing the Madison USBC BA. The day started with the opening ceremony for the 2015 State Championship Tournament at the Super Bowl in Appleton, followed by a luncheon for State board members, officers, delegates to the Annual State BA Meeting, and spouses. The biggest news of the morning was that the State Championships starting that morning will no longer have minor events bowlers switch lanes between bowling doubles and singles. Most of you know this change was previously made at the national USBC Open Championships. The main reason given is to speed along of shifts, reducing time delays.
The afternoon started with a closed door State board and officers meeting. Afterwards the Annual Meeting was held including State board members and officers, and delegates from local associations. The State association manager reported that while remaining the largest state tournament in the country, they did experience a loss of 100 tournament teams in 2014 compared to the previous year. Also, the state association created an Audit Committee.
In the evening a dinner was held and the State USBC BA Hall of Fame inducted three new members: Hank Posnanski Jr (skilled), Norb Wetzel (skilled), and, posthumously, Gene Schrank (exemplary service). In attendance was a good number of current WSBA Hall of Fame members, including Madison locals Marc McDowell and Jeff Richgels.
I have attended several of these state association event days over the last 22 years, this time I paid particular attention to the tournament opening ceremonies and meeting schedule, with these events coming to Madison in 2016. We are looking forward to hosting the 114th Wisconsin State USBC BA Tournament. Prairie Lanes will host the team events and Bowl-A-Vard Lanes will host the minor events. The 2016 Advance Reservation form is available for reserving your bowling dates. The tournament will run for 18 weekends, scheduled to begin Saturday, January 9, 2016, ending on Mother’s Day, May 8.