TNBA From The Beginning

Excerpts from

A HARD ROAD TO GLORY

Blacks have had great difficulties in bowling. Bowling began in the Midwest and is the most popular indoor athletic activity for the average citizen. In cities where there were few alleys but a sizable black population, racial friction was inevitable. Consequently, by the late thirties, blacks decided to form their own association of clubs. Thus, was born the National Negro Bowling Association (NNBA).

The NNBA was organized on August 20, 1939, in Detroit. The primary factor in its formation was the "Caucasians only" clause in the constitutions of the white American Bowling Congress (ABC) and the Women's International Bowling Congress (WIBC). Clubs from the following cities were represented at the inaugural NNBA meeting: Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Racine, Wisconsin.

The first officers were present Wynston T. Brown; vice president L. Huntley; secretary Richard Benton; treasurer Brownie Cain; and organizer, Henry Harden. They resolved to encourage "...Negroes to develop their skills in the game of Ten Pins" and later to participate "...actively in the fight for equality in bowling..."

In 1939, the NNBA held its first tournament in Cleveland. Although only men competed in this first event, women began one year later. Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland produced the best black bowlers during the Second World War. Teams from these three cities won every NNBA National men's team and doubles event in all but three years. In the men's singles (up to 1950), only players from Indianapolis and Newark broke the three city monopoly in nine years of play. The NNBA suspended play from 1943 to 1945, and changed its name in 1944 to The National Bowling Association (TNBA).

Competition among the best black bowlers was keen in the early years. In the men's singles, no player won the TNBA title more than once, but in the all-events category, two Chicago bowlers, Merrit Thomas and G. Walker, each won twice. In 1950, Ben Harding became the first participant to win the singles and the all-events titles in the same year.

Among the women, Hazel Lyman and Virginia Dolphin each won the singles and the all-events in the same year. Doris Largent won the all-events title two times, in 1949-50.

As more blacks found time to practice, and more lanes were constructed, their scores rose. Wherein a men's singles score of 589 won the TNBA title in 1939, by 1950 a score of 650 was needed. The men's all-events winner bowled 1662 in 1939, but a score of 1843 was the winning tally in 1950. The women's singles winner in 1939 bowled 483, whereas a 609 was needed in 1950. This trend continued into the fifties while the winning scores were rising, advances were made in the fight against discrimination. In June 1948, a National Committee for Fair Play in Bowling was formed, with Mayor Hubert Humphrey of Minneapolis as chairman. This committee met in New York City to consider steps to be taken to persuade the ABC to open its tournaments to all qualified bowlers, Eighteen months later, the ABC and WIBC repealed their "Caucasians only" clause and, in 1951, any qualified bowler was eligible for ABC and WIBC events.

The ABC and WIBC were forced to act because of lengthy out of court maneuverings in 1950 and the threat of a law suit. The two groups dropped their constitutional racial clauses, which kept membership for white only. Assistance was given to TNBA by the white union leader Walter Reuther, and Father Carow, a Catholic priest based in Brooklyn, New York. They were of immense influence behind the scenes. a year before, black, oriental, and white bowlers held a protest tournament in New York City, that presaged the 1950 court action. J. Elmer Reed, a founder and TNBA historian, and Eric de Freitas, a black Trinidadian, worked tirelessly to organize the protest event and the court action.

In an August 1974 Black Sports magazine article on De Freitas, writer Joe Marcos stated, "It was Eric who joined up with other prominent blacks as well as whites to force the issue, which finally was resolved when, under heavy threat of lawsuits, the ABC relented its ban." De Freitas had been active in black bowling organizations for over thirty years. He was a teaching professional at the Madison Square Garden lanes, in New York City.


Black America's Most Popular Sport:

In 1947 Ebony magazine listed bowling as the number one sport among blacks. Fifteen thousand keglers (as bowlers were called) participated every night across the country, and in Bermuda. like its tennis counterpart, the American Tennis Association, TNBA had a Bermuda chapter, or senate.

William "Jack" Marshall of Montgomery, Alabama, who had played in the Negro Baseball Leagues for the Kansas City Monarchs, was the acclaimed- number one bowler, though he never won the TNBA title. The Brunswick-Balkes Callender Company sponsored a sixteen-week tour of black bowling centers that featured Marshall.

As popular as bowling had become, it was, nevertheless, initially concentrated among blacks in the Midwest and eastern sections of the country. It was not until 1971, that a women's TNBA winner came from a non-Midwest or non-eastern area (Wanda Bruce hails from Los Angeles, California. Joe Calloway, the 1984 men's TNBA victor, was from Denver, Colorado.)

Bowling's lack of seasonality was also an attraction. Though most major tournaments were held during the fall and winter months, lane owners devised marketing strategies to make their lanes profitable all year long, hence the appeal to women. After World War II, thousands of returning black GIs took over the jobs their wives, girlfriends, mothers, sisters, and aunts had assumed during the war years. With spare time on their hands for recreation, black women learned to bowl. It was, without a doubt, the most popular sporting activity for black women by the middle 1950s.

The great heavyweight champion Joe Louis and Ted Page, one of the outstanding performers in the Negro Baseball Leagues, also were instrumental during the formative years of organized black bowling. In addition to his golf interests, Louis established a large, twenty-four lane alley in Detroit in 1942, and was often seen participating in the competition (The first black-owned lanes were built in 1940 by Wi1liam Pierson in Cleveland, Ohio.) By way of his involvement in bowling and golf, Louis endeared himself even more to the working as well as upper class blacks, who were more likely to be found on the golf course. Ted Page was also a lanes owner in Pittsburgh.


Blacks Join the ABC:

TNBA never envisioned itself as a permanent substitute for the ABC. William DeHart Hubbard, TNBA president in the 1950s and the first black gold medalist in the long jump in the 1924 Olympic Games, said TNBA provided a point of entry into the ABC for blacks. This capability was needed because of the sport's "social" nature.

In the 1950s, before the civil rights movement affected a public accommodations congressional bill, bowling was included in a group of what were termed the "social sports" swimming, golf, and tennis. Each entailed, in the natural course of its activity, constant social interaction among the participants. Entire families often joined in. Teenagers' dating plans frequently revolved around bowling, and social clubs had bowling teams. It became obligatory, therefore, for blacks and whites to habitually segregate themselves in certain parts of bowling establishments, out of choice and to avoid any embarrassment.

Some blacks flourished under these difficult circumstances. On May 24, 1951, at St. Paul, Minnesota, blacks participated for the first time in ABC National competition. A team from Detroit that trained at Joe Louis' alleys, finished in 72nd place and won $600 in prize money. This team, representing Allen & Sons Supermarkets (Lafayette Allen tied for first place in the 1960 TNBA Nationals), had the following members: Maurice Kilgore, George Williams, William Rhodman, Clarence Williams, and Lavert Griffin. As a team, they began shakily with a game of 886 but finished with tallies of 989 and 1,035. As a twosome, Rhodman and Clarence Williams rolled a 1,278 point game for 22nd place. Individually, Kilgore had a 619 series average, George Williams a 582, Rhodman a 596, Clarence Williams a 588, and Griffin a 525. Though all were admittedly nervous at the outset, they were favorably received and this historic breakthrough did not go unnoticed.

Seven years later, Kilgore was the first black kegler to bowl on television. The 5 foot 9 inch, 205 pound bowler compiled a total score of 678, to earn $225 at the Faetz-Nielson Lanes in Chicago. "It was the biggest stop in the history of the game except for the Negro's acceptance to the American Bowling Congress," said Matt Nielsen, the show's producer.


TNBA Champions:

In spite of the ABC breakthrough, TNBA continued to grow. Though bowling kept its image as a social sport, it acquired the further reputation as being "blue collar" by the mid-sixties. Lane fees were low, thus keeping the sport within the financial means of nearly everyone.

As bowling became more and more the primary means of active athletic participation's by the white working man and woman, bowling assumed a social significance not accorded tennis, golf, or swimming.

Blacks had just begun to feel more comfortable in TNBA events when interracial teams formed under business auspices in the late fifties and early sixties. Bowling, black sociologists noted, was for a time the only non-workplace social activity between and among blacks and whites in the lower middle class income strata.

Bowling among blacks kept its Midwest and eastern geographical focus through 1984. Because there were so many excellent players, the list of TNBA Nationals winners changed constantly. Subsequently, there has emerged a select roster of double-winners of TNBA Nationals titles (winning both the singles and all-events title the same year); bowlers who, through dedication, practice, and natural talent, set themselves apart from their competitors.

The highest and lowest winning singles scores in TNBA history were Alphonso T. Harris' 845 in 1983 and Jimmy Jones' 589 in 1939. For the women the highest and lowest scores were Mattie Worthy's 744 in 1979 and Edna Conner's 483 in 1939.

Individual women stars of black bowling included Ruth Coburn and Doris Miller of Cleveland; Sadie Dixon of Chester, Pennsylvania; Mac Gordon of Chicago; Wanda Bruce of Los Angeles, and Laura Jones of Indianapolis, Indiana. Professional bowling for women is, at present, regional in scope.


Men and Women Doubles Winners


The Black Professionals:

In 1960, Fuller Gordy of Detroit, Michigan, became the first black professional bowler. His family, who started Motown Records, was also in the construction business. As such, he was one of a handful of young blacks who could afford to consider a career on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) tour.

Bobby Williams was the first black presence on the PBA's nationally televised program, debuting at the PBA United States Open in January 1972, at Madison Square Garden. He was quick to point out his primary obstacle at the beginning, "...the money problem. To do well on the tour, you have to stay out and bowl every week. To do that you must have a sponsor to pay the bills. Finding one isn't all that easy if you're black."

Charlie Venable of Brooklyn, NY, was just as candid. As a rookie professional on the PBA tour in 1973, he lamented, "...it's tough getting sponsors, and you must work hard and sacrifice to be a pro bowler. If a black bowler can break through and win, it will be easier for him, and all black bowlers."


Other Distinctions:

Black bowling figures have made inroads outside the lanes as well. Don Scott was a member of the American Machine & Foundry (AMF), Advisory Staff. Joe Ferguson heads the New York branch of the ABC. In 1978, J. Elmer Reed was inducted into the ABC Hall of Fame for Meritorious Service.  In 2001, Louise Fulton was inducted into the WIBC's Hall of Fame and Tom DeChalus becomes president of the American Bowling Congress.  These and other stories about black bowlers can be seen at the International Bowling Hall of Fame and Museum in St. Louis, Missouri.  

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