One of the happiest men in El Paso today has to be Matt Cannizzaro.
Hey, it’s no easy task handling 16,000 five-player teams that include between 60,000 and 80,000 participants, but as the 2015 United States Bowling Congress Open Championships Tournament reached the halfway point this weekend things were chugging along so smoothly it’s enough to make any public relations man smile.
The meet, held at the El Paso Convention Center, started in March and will run through July 12.
“All is going well,” Cannizzaro, who’s in charge of USBC tournament communications, says. “The venue turned out great and the Destination El Paso folks and the convention center staff are a pleasure to work with.”
AND LIKE the people from all over the world who are streaming in and out of our city, Cannizzaro can’t stop singing the praises of El Pasoans. He has been head of tournament communications for the event 11 years and says El Paso is his favorite site.
“The people here are so friendly, so welcoming and it’s so easy to move around,” he beams. And he says he’s been enjoying seeing the many El Paso fans of the sport who have been turning out to see the action.
“They come and some of them have lunch and just sit there and watch,” he says.
THERE HAVE been some spectacular things to watch. There was 87-year-old Bill Lillard, one of the sport’s greatest stars, setting a record to remember on March 31. He became the tournament’s career pinfall leader during his first game of singles in front of a standing-room-only crowd of friends, family, fans and fellow competitors.
He needed just 852 pins to match the 123,770 pins toppled by late USBC Hall of Famer Joe Norris of San Diego. Lillard now owns the record with 124,087.
USBC Executive Director Chad Murphy, USBC national board member Karl Kielich and Open Championships Tournament Manager Duane Hagen were on-hand to present Lillard with a special trophy.
THE TOURNAMENT is not only for high average bowlers. It’s split in two divisions, 180 average and below and 181 and above.
And there was 92-year-old Sylvester Thiel setting a record of his own the other day. No, not for knocking down pins, but for competing in the 112 year old tournament for the 70th time.
And then there’s 78-year-old Clinton Zavakos of Daytona Beach, Florida. Exactly one year ago, Zavakos marched down the famed Center Aisle for the 60th time, and he was back on the championship lanes this year to join another elite club as he toppled the 100,000th pin of his tournament career.
WHAT MAKES bowling so attractive for so many people? I think Mr. Zavakos hit the nail on the head.
“I’ve had a love for the game all my life, and I have a lot of good friends because of bowling,” Zavakos said.
As I look back, some of the most enjoyable years of my life were when I, my wife and our children were bowling. The fun, the companionship, the togetherness of family are things I treasure to this day.
MY FAMILY and I started bowling in the 1950s and continued doing so until the late 1980s. It wasn’t always a family sport. I remember my first encounter with bowling “alleys,” as they were called in the 1930s and 1940s. They were at the Knickerbocker Club on South Mesa Street in a dingy, smoke-filled basement.
But when I came back from serving in the Army, things began to change, and one beautiful bowling establishment after another began to pop up all over town in the 1950s.
The new “lanes,” as they are called now, were not only beautiful but inviting and family-oriented and it was a pleasure to go there.
Sometimes I wish my family and I were back in those wonderful days, so you can imagine how happy I am to see El Paso hosting the national tournament.
Enjoy, folks.