Four elected to 2018 USBC Hall of Fame class

ARLINGTON, Texas – The United States Bowling Congress Hall of Fame will have at least four new members after the USBC Hall of Fame Committee selected Jeri Edwards, Kendra Gaines, John Janawicz and Tim Mack for the 2018 class.

Gaines and Janawicz were elected in the Outstanding USBC Performance category, Edwards was selected in the Meritorious Service category and Mack was chosen in the Pioneer Category.

KendraGaines135x150Gaines, 44, owns four USBC Women’s Championships titles, taking doubles in 1998 and 2016, all-events in 1997 and earning a team title with Bowlieve In A Cure in 2014. She has 16 top-10 finishes at the event, including four second-place finishes, and posted the first 800 series in tournament history in 2000. She also has a second-place finish (2003) and third-place finish (1998) at the USBC Queens.

She was a five-time member of Team USA, finishing as runner-up at the 1995 World Cup and earning a silver medal in the FIQ World Tenpin Team Cup in 1996. She was a member of the FIQ American Zone team that won gold in 1997. She was named to the Bowlers Journal All-Amateur Team in 1995 and its All-American Team in 1996, selected Amateur Bowler of the Year by the Bowling Writers Association of America in 1996 and 1997, and named Amateur of the Year by Bowlers Digest in 1996. She was named to the USBC All-American Second Team in 2002 and 2003.

Gaines, of Orlando, Florida, also won two Professional Women’s Bowling Association Tour titles.
 
JohnJanawicz135x150Janawicz, 45, of Winter Haven, Florida, is a three-time Eagle winner at the USBC Open Championships. He won the singles (then-record 858 series) and all-events (2,224) titles in 2004 and helped Lodge Lanes Too post a then-record score of 3,538 to win a team title in 2013. He has four additional top-10 finishes at the Open Championships and is second on the lifetime average list (min. 20 years) with a 217.45 average over 27 years.

An eight-time member of Team USA, he has won 11 medals at Pan American Bowling Confederation championship events, including eight gold medals. At the 2013 World Bowling Men’s Championships, he took silver in team and bronze in doubles. He was selected Amateur of the Year in 2004 by BWAA and Bowlers Journal, and earned the award from BWAA again in 2009.

JeriEdwards135x150Edwards, 55, of Medina, Ohio, served as head coach of Team USA from 2004-2009 after serving as an assistant from 1991-1996 and again from 2000-2003. She also served as head coach of Junior Team USA from 2002-2003.

During her tenure as Team USA head coach, she led the team to more than 90 medals, including 47 gold medals. A highlight victory came at the 2006 World Bowling Men’s Championships in Busan, South Korea, where Team USA broke a 35-year drought to claim team gold. She also helped the program’s transition after professional players were allowed to compete in international events, starting in 2008.

She has been the head coach of Puerto Rico’s national team since 2010.

TimMack135x150Mack, 46, of Indianapolis, has won more than 70 titles around the world and was one of the first Americans to compete extensively overseas, helping pave the way for bowling to become a more global sport. Through the late 1990s and into the 2000s, before there was a World Bowling Tour, Mack won titles on five continents, in more than 30 countries, and earned the World Bowler of the Year Award from Bowlers Journal three times.

Among his titles are the 2003, 2004 and 2006 Bahrain Open, 2003 Indonesian International Open and 2002 Qatar Open, events now recognized by the Professional Bowlers Association as PBA Tour titles. He made one appearance on Team USA, winning gold in trios and silver in singles, team, all-events and Masters at the 2003 World Bowling Men’s Championships in Malaysia, and he earned United States Olympic Committee Male Athlete of the Year for Bowling.

In addition to selecting the preceding four members for the 2018 class, the USBC Hall of Fame Committee slated nine bowlers for the Superior Performance national ballot that will be voted on by a panel of USBC Hall of Fame members, USBC Board members and veteran bowling writers.

The men’s ballot will have six nominees: Dave Ferraro of Kingston, New York; Bryan Goebel of Wichita, Kansas; Randy Pedersen of Clermont, Florida; Mike Scroggins of Amarillo, Texas; Mark Williams of Beaumont, Texas; and Danny Wiseman of Baltimore.

Three competitors were placed on the women’s ballot: Marianne DiRupo of Succasunna, New Jersey; Tennelle Milligan of Arlington, Texas; and Tammy Turner of West Palm Beach, Florida.

The induction ceremony for the 2018 USBC Hall of Fame Class will take place April 25 at the USBC Convention at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada. The class will include the four selected by the USBC Hall of Fame Committee and those elected for Superior Performance.

Through 2017, there are 419 members of the USBC Hall of Fame – 218 in Superior Performance, 117 in Meritorious Service, 50 in Veterans, 20 in Pioneers and 14 in Outstanding USBC Performance.

The USBC Hall of Fame was created in 2005 by merging the former American Bowling Congress and Women’s International Bowling Congress Halls of Fame.

For more information on the USBC Hall of Fame, visit BOWL.com/HallofFame.