Three elected to USBC Hall of Fame for 2022

ARLINGTON, Texas - The United States Bowling Congress Hall of Fame will have at least three new members when the 2022 class is inducted April 27 during the USBC Convention in Las Vegas.

The USBC Hall of Fame Committee recently elected Bo Goergen of Midland, Michigan, in the Outstanding USBC Performance category, Bill Allen of Orlando, Florida, in the Veterans category and Roger Zeller of San Antonio in Meritorious Service.

In addition to the three electees, the USBC Hall of Fame Committee selected six bowlers - five men and one woman - for the Superior Performance ballot that will be distributed to a national panel of USBC Hall of Fame members, USBC Board members and veteran bowling writers.

Selected for the men's national ballot are Dave Ferraro of Kingston, New York; Bryan Goebel of Shawnee, Kansas; Wes Malott of Fort Wayne, Indiana; Randy Pedersen of Orlando, Florida; and Mike Scroggins of Amarillo, Texas.

Named to the women's national ballot was Tammy Turner of West Palm Beach, Florida.

Bo Goergen from 2009 USBC Open ChampionshipsGoergen, a 61-year-old right-hander and current USBC Board member, is a two-time champion at the USBC Open Championships.

He won the 2009 Regular Singles title with a record score of 862, which included games of 299, 299 and 264 and still is the highest series ever rolled in Open Championships competition.

Goergen returned to the tournament lanes in 2010 as a defending champion, and though he was not able to repeat in singles, he posted a 2,031 all-events total and helped Northern Lanes Pro Shop of Sanford, Michigan, to the Team All-Events title with a 10,284 total, the ninth-highest total since the category was added in 1947.

In 42 years on the tournament lanes, Goergen has maintained a 205 average and collected five additional top-10 finishes. He also earned a pair of titles at the 2015 Bowlers Journal Championships.

Allen and Zeller both will be inducted posthumously, as they died in 1992 and 1997, respectively.

Bill Allen retro action photoAllen was a 13-time Professional Bowlers Association Tour champion, with all of those wins coming between 1963 and 1968. During the same time frame, he collected three top-10 finishes at the U.S. Open.

He was a regular on the USBC and Bowlers Journal All-America teams in the 1960s and claimed seven top-10 finishes at the Open Championships between 1966 and 1976.

Allen was inducted into the Florida State USBC Hall of Fame in 1970, the Orlando USBC Hall of Fame in 1982, the PBA Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Central Florida Sports Hall of Fame in 1984.

Zeller helped leave his mark on the sport as the owner, president and chief executive officer of Columbia Industries, which he purchased in 1960. He initially focused on the creation and distribution of plastic and polyester bowling balls.

After selling the company in 1964, he bought it back in 1967, serving as the majority owner for approximately 30 years.

As the sport hit its highest participation points in the 1970s and 1980s, Columbia 300 produced more than 5,000 bowling balls a day, and the company sold more than 1 million bowling balls for the first time in 1976. Through the 1990s, Columbia was the largest manufacturer of bowling balls and even produced balls for AMF and Track.

Columbia 300 served as the title sponsor for many professional events on both the men's and women's tours over the years, and Zeller was elected to the PBA Hall of Fame for
meritorious service in 1995.

Roger Zeller retro photo

Zeller also spent time as a proprietor, served as a National Bowling Council board member and as trustee for the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame.

He was inducted into the San Antonio Bowling Council Hall of Fame in 1977 and received the Billiard and Bowling Institute of America Industry Service Award in 1988.

Zeller established the John Jowdy Scholarship Fund and created the Roger L. and Laura D. Zeller Charitable Foundation, which funded a wing of the Cancer Therapy & Research Center in San Antonio.

Along with the 2022 inductees, the six members of the 2020 class and the four members of the 2021 USBC Hall of Fame class also are awaiting their inductions.

The 2020 class will take the spotlight in Las Vegas on the night of April 26, and the inductees for 2021 and 2022 will celebrate with a separate ceremony April 27. Both will take place at The Orleans Hotel & Casino as part of the 2022 USBC Convention and Annual Meeting.

The 10 waiting bowlers were slated for induction in 2020 and 2021, before COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the 2020 Convention in Las Vegas, along with all supporting activities and events. The 2021 Convention was held virtually, and inductions were delayed to 2022.

The 2020 class includes Marianne DiRupo of Succasunna, New Jersey, and Patrick Allen of Garfield, New Jersey, in the Superior Performance category, Patrick Healey Jr. of Niagara Falls, New York (USBC Outstanding Performance), Bob Learn Jr. of Erie, Pennsylvania (Veterans), and Andrew Cain of Phoenix and Jim Zebehazy of Leesburg, Florida (both in Meritorious Service).

The 2021 class includes Sandra Jo Shiery of Coldwater, Michigan, and Mark Williams of Beaumont, Texas, in the Superior Performance category and the husband-and-wife duo of Bill and Barbara Chrisman of Pleasant View, Utah, the co-founders of Storm Products, Inc., who were elected by the committee in the Meritorious Service category. They will be the seventh husband and wife overall to be inducted into the USBC Hall of Fame.

Through 2019, there are 432 members of the USBC Hall of Fame - 223 in Superior Performance, 120 in Meritorious Service, 51 in Veterans, 22 in Pioneer and 16 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.