Foutz is ‘In the Zone Bowler of the Week’

Whenever entering the NRV SuperBowl, it is easy to capture the feeling of having fun in a competitive sport and forget that it is also a business that conducts a successful operation which has contributed to the community in general.

With the Virginia Senior Open Bowling Tournament underway at the SuperBowl, I thought it would be an appropriate time to both highlight some of the local bowlers as well as focus on the contributions that the local center’s management has made to Christiansburg’s revenue base.

This year, there are three state-wide events that have taken place (the Senior tournament will conclude in November). The United State Bowling Congress Association’s Open State Bowling Tournament had over 6000 bowlers from Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland compete this year with many local bowlers also taking part in the competition.

For the past 12 years, the SuperBowl has been the host site of the Commonwealth Games. This event, which is the largest event at the Games outside of Roanoke, began with a total of 52 entrants and have reached as many as 700 bowlers for the summertime competition, which has produced revenue for local hotels, restaurants and other businesses at a time of the year what it is significantly lower than their peak seasons.

Let’s take a look at how the numbers stack up for these special events that the SuperBowl and the New River Valley United States Bowling Congress Association (NRVUSBCA) has brought to our area.

Since 1997, there have been 30 state-wide events held at the SuperBowl. There have been a total of 30,415 participants with a conservative estimate of over 90,000 bowlers and guests coming into the Christiansburg area to spend their money at various venues.

With the vast majority of these people staying for two days, the economic impact has been both noteworthy and previously not focused on by television or radio. Perhaps the most significant factor for most of us (myself included) is that we did not have to pay anything in additional taxes to see this money flow into our area. I believe that the significance can not be overstated on its total impact.

Now, on to the bowlers who have recently produced scores that warrant acknowledgement.

Let me begin by saluting one of the bowlers who competes in various leagues at the center. Travis Foutz, who already has one 300 game in league competition, threatened that perfect score a couple of weeks ago in the Tuesday Open League.

The laid back bowler bowled against my team in the league and began with 10 consecutive strikes. With both his team as well as our team hoping he would capture his second “perfecto”, he went to the 11th frame and threw what most bowlers would classify as a perfect first bowl.

The bowling gods were not kind to him as he left a single pin.

His efforts made him an easy choice for this week’s “In the Zone Bowler of the Week.”

Another good story is the success of Eleanor Horton. She is the wife of Ronnie Horton, who is the pro shop manager at the SuperBowl. Her 192 game and 489 series paced the ladies in the Ball and Chain League on Sept. 30.

Joining Horton were Ella Trent, Amanda Ross and Brittney Sulloway with solid performances.

Gary Ross paced the men with a 233 game while Jerry Linkous and Nate Hiner had scores of 227 and 224 respectively.

Adam Phillips’ 235 game set the high mark in the Dixie League on Sept. 24 with a 235 game. John Stanger and Roger Dice shared runner-up honors with matching 216 games. Dice was on quite a roll (excuse that pun) as he had the third high series for the night.

Nancy Moses began October with a 173 high game in the SuperBowlin Ladies League. Helena Buckner and Bonese Harris had high games in this long established league.

I guess the name Collins worked out well in the Sunday Triples League as Danny Collins and Amanda Collins were the high scorers in their respective genders. Danny had games of 217 and 215 while Amanda had scores of 202 and 183 for the Sept. 30 session.

The Shelor Toyota Moose League saw a pair of familiar names at the head of the class on Oct. 1. Andy Cox, Jr. and Ronnie Horton had matching 268 games. Only two pins behind was Danny Crawford.

Since I spoke earlier of the Virginia Senior Tournament taking place at the SuperBowl, I thought I would conclude this week’s column with a salute to some of the top senior performances in league play.

In the Golden Years Senior League, Don Compton had a high game of 210 while Larry Tryon and Jim Hawkins were within 10 pins of matching Compton.

Alice Wrenn, Pat Swain,  Jackie Betts, and Tootie Howery recorded notable scores on the women’s side of the league.

Donald Melia and Don Agee each had high games above 200 with Melia’s 225 leading the Up and At’Em League on Sept. 26.

Sylvia Duncan had the high game among the women while Lucille Wilson and Carol Folger “poured” out some good scores as well.

I would be very surprised if some of these names don’t appear high in the final standings in the state Senior tournament.

Until next week, good bowing to everyone!!

-Randy Thompson, special to The Burgs

Leave a Reply Cancel reply