1983 Fair Lanes Open

[@kenyongray2615]

It is not easy to win 4 games in a row to win the title. Great performance. There was nothing like PBA bowling with Chris and Nelson. Then going right to WWOS with the legendary Jim McKay. Thanks for posting this tournament.

[@beeemm2578]

Loved watching Soper. Not the strongest or the most talented. But grit and groin for days...throwing that little spinner, always in it just when you thought he was done. His televised 300 was a total top shelf sports event in my time. Always the underdog and always in the hunt.

[@teejay6063]

I'd love to teach Butch and Tom Baker how to throw a real ball.

[@beeemm2578]

@@teejay6063 yeah,those guys were horrible....especially the hall of famer 🙄

[@lumberlikwidator8863]

@@teejay6063 Tom Baker used to practice on Saturdays at the center where I bowled junior league, and he always drew a crowd of spectators. Back then he was overweight, with faded jeans and shoulder length hair. He was a cranker and he had as much on the ball as Mark Roth. He had wrist problems and after surgery he couldn’t rip the cover off the ball like he used to. He didn’t let his dream of being an all time great player fade away, though. He got himself into shape and developed a stroker style and did very well in the opinion of many people.

[@Igloo3471]

​@@teejay6063You couldn't bowl on anything but a league ditch. Bumper bowler.

[@teejay6063]

@Igloo3471 OK, champ. Grew up in a center, worked in bowling ten+ years in every capacity from janitor to manager, graduated from two Ritgers Bowling Academy courses, threw four 300s and two 800s in 12 months, averaged 230+ right handed and 210+ left handed, and I'm a "league ditch, bumper bowler." If I didn't break my back, I would've been on tour successfully. It's not even a question. So, next time you start thinking you have a fucking clue who you're talking to, think twice.

[@Playsinvain]

Back when they had to rush the broadcast because ABC didn’t want to miss any of the lumberjack championship from Hayward! Wi.

[@LouisCsanko]

Spoiler Alert!!!! Do NOT Read the Comments until after The Matches!!!

[@yournightmareracing1754]

Earl Anthony could have been the voice double for Evel Knievel. Crazy how their tone and cadence is so similar.

[@1USACitizen192]

I heard Earl crashed his dirt bike trying to jump 10 piles of ten pins.

[@indianapatsfan]

Thanks for the reply. These old bowling videos are fascinating to me. I remember watching this stuff with my dad when I was a kid. LOL, it makes me feel old and I'm only 42. It blows my mind that bowling used to be a fixture on Saturday afternoon television and now it's almost nonexsistent.

[@jonathantullin2990]

It is sad that we live in a world that is more complex today then back then.

[@kevinjohnson4599]

1,000% AGREED. This is when bowling was bowling. The PBA Tour is now CRAP & isn't worth watching anymore.

[@sterlingaugustine4783]

I was sitting in the stands with my Brother-In-Law Scott Traupman. Every time the bowler was on the left lane, you could see us right next to the bowlers head and left shoulder. I am wearing the yellow tee-shirt with a baseball hat. We drove 4 hours down to the telecast without any tickets. We got fairly close to the front of the line and while we were waiting, someone walked down the line selling 2 tickets so we bought them even though they were in the general admission cheap seats. A few minutes later, another person walked down the line selling 2 reserved seat tickets. My Brother-In-Law didn't want to buy them so the two women in front of us in line bought them. Shortly after a third person walked down the line with 2 more reserved seat tickets. I talked Scott into buying them for us. He got out of line and started walking down the line to sell our 2 cheap seat tickets. He never made it outside the bowling alley before they were sold. We had a great day.

[@teejay6063]

Every single element of your story is made up.

[@dnx112]

So.

[@bowler3329]

I just bowled with Bo Burton last week! 82 years young and still crushing the pins!!!

[@MIKIEEYEZ1975]

Do you have a video of you bowling 🎳 with Bo? Somehow I don’t believe you. I think you’re seeking your 15 minutes of fame.. 😂😂😂😂💩💩💩💩

[@enigmazero8624]

I wonder how Bo used to come up with his split odds. Was there really enough data points to determine that the 9-10 had odds of 5:2, or did Bo just estimate off the top of his head? I’m surprised they even had a graphic prepared for the 9-10; I kind of wish that 7 pin had stayed up just to see what Bo’s odds would have been for the 7-9-10 😂

[@robkerr8695]

I also wonder about odds for lefties and righties on split conversions. You'd think the odds would be better for a right hander on a 6-7-10 than a lefty.

[@teejay6063]

Who's the better "spinny" guy.. Butch or Tom Baker. No clue how they were so successful.

[@lumberlikwidator8863]

Tom Baker by far. Nowadays there are bowlers averaging over 230 on a THS who have high ball speed and about a five inch diameter track. This is only possible because of the modern covers and cores that are produced. I remember seeing spin biscuit throwers back in the sixties and seventies who couldn’t carry a half pocket hit if their lives depended on it. You used to see them leave a lot of 5-7s and 8-10s and crying a river. I used to love it when one of them left the 5-8-10 or the 5-7-10. Nowadays people who throw the ball that way can average 225 and they have swelled heads. It’s like the featherweight, adjustable monster sized golf clubs of today. There are clowns averaging 280 off the tee who would hit an 185 yard slice if they had to use the clubs they made when I started playing golf.

[@teejay6063]

@@lumberlikwidator8863 The best is when they wonder why they leave those weak splits. It's because you throw the ball like ass, that's why.

[@mrwp819300]

8:26 when Art Trask is talking in the PIP box, which this low resolution, he looks like ventriloquist. I swear his lips aren't not moving.

[@michaelschweizer4772]

Art Trask puts a tremendous amount of roll on the ball.

[@beeemm2578]

Art Trask puts a tremendous amount of fro on his 'do. 💂

[@kevincicero8352]

34:44 good save Mr. Schenkel :)

[@lottoweekendmiljonairs3621]

53:08 Can't throw it any better than that!

[@Eric-qv2rz]

Art Trask wins Worst hair of PBA ever 😂😂

[@lottoweekendmiljonairs3621]

31:30 wow he throw that 2 pin all over the place

[@chuckers40]

I remember the Fair Lanes Open would alternate between Baltimore and DC area. The Baltimore Sites were: Woodlawn, Towson, and Kings Point. The DC area sites were: Capital Plaza, University, and Springfield. Fair Lanes is now AMF. The only centers still open are Capital Plaza, Woodlawn, and Towson.

[@chuckers40]

@@charly3103 College Park is now a tenpin center under the "Bowlero" name and AMF Bowie closed over 10 years ago.

[@chuckers40]

@@charly3103 Capital Plaza looks really good now.

[@lockedonlaw]

@@chuckers40 Bowlero and string pins are ruining the game for bowling purists.

[@indianapatsfan]

I would have to say this was the golden age of bowling. I'm curious, in this era, did the tour regulars get any travel assistance or compensation (charter flights, hotels) from the pba or were they on their own?

[@douglasharris5216]

indianapatsfan on their own, most had small RVs, the more prolific players had remodeled buses

[@janchapman1969a]

Fair Lanes sold their entire business to AMF. It is strange to see an AMF center with Brunswick machines in them.

[@douglasskaalrud6865]

I’ve thought the same thing about AMF and Brunswick in the same corporation. Part of bowling downsizing I guess.

[@PinoyBowlerGS92]

Super weird to see an AMF Center with Brunswick GS Pinsetters

[@PinoyBowlerGS92]

Most AMF Centers have A2’s

[@wecontrolthevideo]

Those old AMF 82-30 machines take a long time to re-rack.

[@8avexp]

I seem to recall Earl Anthony retired for the first time not long after this tournament.

[@chinesemonk7424]

1983 - 2021 $5,500 - $15,500 $6,600 - $18,600 $18,000 - $50,700

[@dettigs]

one more note of interest: when art trask plays hold em, he plays very tight. and when he goes to fast food resturants, he always has a coupon!!

[@Playsinvain]

I was wondering about these two things

[@andrewphillips1011]

Do you have the 1982 Cleveland open?

[@douglasharris5216]

Andrew Phillips why, so you can spoil it?

[@mrwp819300]

@@douglasharris5216 Exactly

[@indyblimp1]

Quite simply, many of the big names didn't fly or stay in hotels in this era. They drove RV's from stop to stop. The PBA offered parking & hookup space for the RV's. Otherwise, travel expenses were handled by the bowlers. The manufacturers, on the other hand, offered incentive money for using their product on the broadcast. Using certain balls, shoes, shirts, wrist braces and finger lifts all had a bonus amount paid by those companies. These bonuses could easily add $10,000-$20,000 to a win.

[@riverdealer]

i went to pinsetter repair school with the head mechanic of this center

[@douglasharris5216]

Attention: Spoiler has been posted below by a Pillow biter, Andrew Phillips

[@dettigs]

just a little trivia: pete couture once said that he had never been mistaken for burt reynolds!!! :)

[@douglasharris5216]

dettigs I bowled with Pete Couture in the 1978 ABC Masters, a real little guy

[@AStrikingChink300]

when the PBA used this opening sequence for the telecasts, it always annoyed me the flashing spare leaves on the pindicator at the top of the tv screen, who leaves those spare combinations, LOL!!!!!

[@BigAngryPhil]

Schenkel kept calling the 7 pin a 10

[@tirmyta]

mistaphill He also called the 4-7-10 split the 5-7-10.

[@andrewphillips1011]

The second match was exciting and very close

[@douglasharris5216]

Andrew Phillips George N. Pappas and Ernie Schlegel have bowled some awesome matches

[@wesleystafford8521]

Why was Chris Schenkel so obsessed with the size of the bowlers? It makes me laugh on all these videos.

[@douglasharris5216]

Wesley Stafford back then they tried to compare bowling to other sports like basketball and football were size makes a difference

[@vanni9283]

I was more interested in Pete Couture's performance, to be honest....LOL!!! : P

[@plamormick]

What a competitor Art Trask was. Anyone know where he is at or what happened to him? I'd love to shake his hand and share a drink with him.

[@projectalchemy]

39:55 if you saw the teaser pic on this video and are here for the feature on duckpins.

[@anandguruji83]

40:18 41:08

[@anandguruji83]

40:18 41:08

[@NYDanno85]

So much for the outside line. Granted, I almost wouldn't count the third run-away... I think that was almost an "eff-it" shot.

[@NYDanno85]

I have my moments, too. But I can imagine how hard it was in the nascent days of urethane when the lanes were still being dressed for rubber and plastic. Had to have been incredibly touchy.

[@andrewphillips1011]

Art trask almost shot 300 but he did climbed the ladder to win the fair lanes open

[@douglasharris5216]

Andrew Phillips spoiler asshole

[@douglasharris5216]

Andrew Phillips Learn proper grammar moron

[@mrwp819300]

Well thanks for ruining it idi*t

[@andrewphillips2179]

Art Trask did bowl successfully well in the Fair Lanes Open

[@douglasharris5216]

Andrew Phillips Mark Roth and Earl Anthony have bowled some exciting matches

[@vanni9283]

I personally have a hard time playing the outside line myself!!!

[@douglasharris5216]

John McDevitt it was easier back then, the lanes and oil pattern made it possible to play outside

[@lumberlikwidator8863]

I agree completely with douglasharris. Lanes were oiled just about flat from gutter to gutter and anything else like a wet/dry shot was illegal. That’s why Ray Orf’s 890 and Glenn Allison’s 900 were disallowed. When urethane came out they started relaxing the rules of oil distribution and scores started going up. The bowlers weren’t getting better, the game was just getting easier. Back in the 1970s I used to bowl in pot games and because I threw a big, medium speed hook ball I often could play straight up the five board all day with five or six guys bowling on the same pair. I might have to move a couple boards left towards the end of the day. Mind you, this was when most people were using black rubber balls that were about 90-93 on the hardness scale, and if you hooked the ball ten to twelve boards that was considered a big hook. Missing a board right meant you usually were going to washout, and there was no help if you pulled the ball either. The modern game is totally different. It can be a lot easier if your game and equipment is matched up with the pattern, but it can also be harder sometimes because there is a lot more oil and it’s drying up and moving around. I liked bowling a lot better back when the pros had to make great shots and weren’t relying on ball reps and coaches to baby them through their matches.

[@20alphabet]

Honestly, if Art Trask had kept himself planted instead of standing and leaning in behind Butch Soper when Butch was up the outcome of the match would've been different. Poor sportsmanship is unbecoming anyone.

[@rockvilleraven]

Someone talked about Fair Lanes being bought out by AMF, they later merged with upscale bowling chain BowlMor. There is another former AMF Center, College Park on Route 1 which used to be all duckpin, but converted some of their lanes to tenpin when University closed as was the case when a nearby tenpin center closed down.

[@Roodog106]

Please do not connect Bowling with Bowlmor. They have done nothing but trashed the houses that they bought.

[@dnx112]

Is art trask black?

[@enigmazero8624]

Pretty sure no. The first black player to win a title was George Branham in 1987; Trask had several titles before then.