Ohio bowler takes Standard lead at 2024 USBC Open Championships
June 29, 2024
LAS VEGAS – Jeffrey Robinson of Westerville, Ohio, usually can be found helping others with their games, but this week in Las Vegas, he showed everyone he can still roll the ball pretty well, too.
Robinson, a United States Bowling Congress Silver-trained coach and the head coach of the men’s and women’s bowling teams at Ohio Northern University, took the lead in Standard All-Events at the 2024 USBC Open Championships on Wednesday, posting a 1,957 total at the South Point Bowling Plaza.
The 67-year-old right-hander had sets of 703 in doubles, 630 in singles and 624 in team to pass the 1,920 posted by Douglas Moore of Loveland, Ohio, on June 9.
Prior to his trip to Las Vegas, Robinson had been working on some things in his own game with USBC Gold-trained coach Ron Hatfield. He was able to apply the training and settle in during his time at the Bowling Plaza.
“I’ve been putting in a lot of time, and I’m blessed that I get to work with Ron Hatfield,” said Robinson, who made his ninth USBC Open Championships appearance. “He identified a couple things that we worked through, and it’s just been a lot of hard work getting up to where I’m at.
“When I came out for my first game of team, I was pretty nervous and shot 178. I went through the transition with the team and followed with two 220 games and a nice 624 series. In doubles and singles, we had a plan with the way we were going to do it. I surfaced the new (Roto Grip) Idol that I have, and it was just good out of the box. I used it for all six games and shot my first 700 series at this tournament in doubles bowling with my son (Jamie Robinson), which was really special for me. Singles came along, and I was still bowling pretty well, but I had gotten a little quick with my feet a couple times. In the last game, I knew I had to get my feet underneath me and slow down, and I was able to finish with 244.”
Robinson was unaware that he was approaching the lead in singles, since he still was working in his role as a coach to try and help some of his teammates.
“I had no idea – it wasn’t at the top of mind,” Robinson said. “I’m probably way more coach than I am bowler, so I was trying to help the one guy who was new with our group today. Our group is pretty special because we have one Gold- and seven Silver-level coaches in our 10-player group. I was just trying to stay loose, relaxed and have a bunch of fun.”
In 2022, Robinson returned to the Open Championships after a long hiatus from the tournament. He made his first appearance at the 1981 event in Memphis and had made six visits to the tournament through 1992.
“I just didn’t feel like I bowled that well, so I stopped coming – it was a struggle for me,” Robinson said. “Then, my son got brought onto this team, and they needed a bowler. I said OK, but don’t expect anything because I hadn’t thrown a ball in some time because I took a year off for a left knee replacement and right rotator cuff. It did not go very well.
“This year, I just was not going to bowl bad. I worked on my game, and my goal walking in here was to shoot 1,800.”
Robinson has had some health struggles in recent years, but he’s worked hard and has surrounded himself with a great support team to come back stronger.
“Eight years ago I was diagnosed with a form of cancer called squamous cell carcinoma,” Robinson said. “I wasn’t ready to go, and I had the best head and neck doctor, best radiologist and best chemo doctor. The doctor said the good news was it had a 91% cure rate, but the bad news was the next nine weeks were going to suck. I went through 33 rounds of radiation and six rounds of chemotherapy, but I came out healthy on the other side. Just two weeks ago, I have my five-year checkup and I’m now very healthy.
“I had been bowling on a bad knee for probably 10 years, so we finally decided to get it replaced. I had a total knee replacement, and that went well, but along the way, my shoulder started to hurt. About 10 months later, they worked on my right rotator cuff. I just worked hard with the physical therapy for both of those and came out on the good side.”
With only a month remaining at the 2024 Open Championships, Robinson now will see if his score will remain at the top of the leaderboard.
He’ll stay busy giving back to the sport by helping others to pass some of the time before the final ball is rolled in Las Vegas on July 29.
“I’m still a bit shook,” Robinson said. “When you told me, it makes you want to cry and jump up and down with jubilation. I’m just blessed to be with this group of guys. It would be incredible.
“Giving back to the game that’s been really good to me is what I’m about, and I spend a lot of time coaching high school and college kids with individual lessons. Ron (Hatfield), Chris Via and I are putting on a two-handed coaching clinic in the beginning of July, and we’re really excited about that. There are over 60 coaches from all over the country signed up to come and do that. It’s all about giving back to the sport and making it better.”
Standard All-Events features bowlers with entering averages of 156-175.
The 2024 Open Championships got underway Feb. 23 and will run through July 29 at the South Point Bowling Plaza. The tournament is scheduled to feature more than 11,000 teams and 55,000 bowlers making their way to compete in Las Vegas.
Visit us on Facebook at the official USBC Open Championships page.
Robinson, a United States Bowling Congress Silver-trained coach and the head coach of the men’s and women’s bowling teams at Ohio Northern University, took the lead in Standard All-Events at the 2024 USBC Open Championships on Wednesday, posting a 1,957 total at the South Point Bowling Plaza.
The 67-year-old right-hander had sets of 703 in doubles, 630 in singles and 624 in team to pass the 1,920 posted by Douglas Moore of Loveland, Ohio, on June 9.
Prior to his trip to Las Vegas, Robinson had been working on some things in his own game with USBC Gold-trained coach Ron Hatfield. He was able to apply the training and settle in during his time at the Bowling Plaza.
“I’ve been putting in a lot of time, and I’m blessed that I get to work with Ron Hatfield,” said Robinson, who made his ninth USBC Open Championships appearance. “He identified a couple things that we worked through, and it’s just been a lot of hard work getting up to where I’m at.
“When I came out for my first game of team, I was pretty nervous and shot 178. I went through the transition with the team and followed with two 220 games and a nice 624 series. In doubles and singles, we had a plan with the way we were going to do it. I surfaced the new (Roto Grip) Idol that I have, and it was just good out of the box. I used it for all six games and shot my first 700 series at this tournament in doubles bowling with my son (Jamie Robinson), which was really special for me. Singles came along, and I was still bowling pretty well, but I had gotten a little quick with my feet a couple times. In the last game, I knew I had to get my feet underneath me and slow down, and I was able to finish with 244.”
Robinson was unaware that he was approaching the lead in singles, since he still was working in his role as a coach to try and help some of his teammates.
“I had no idea – it wasn’t at the top of mind,” Robinson said. “I’m probably way more coach than I am bowler, so I was trying to help the one guy who was new with our group today. Our group is pretty special because we have one Gold- and seven Silver-level coaches in our 10-player group. I was just trying to stay loose, relaxed and have a bunch of fun.”
In 2022, Robinson returned to the Open Championships after a long hiatus from the tournament. He made his first appearance at the 1981 event in Memphis and had made six visits to the tournament through 1992.
“I just didn’t feel like I bowled that well, so I stopped coming – it was a struggle for me,” Robinson said. “Then, my son got brought onto this team, and they needed a bowler. I said OK, but don’t expect anything because I hadn’t thrown a ball in some time because I took a year off for a left knee replacement and right rotator cuff. It did not go very well.
“This year, I just was not going to bowl bad. I worked on my game, and my goal walking in here was to shoot 1,800.”
Robinson has had some health struggles in recent years, but he’s worked hard and has surrounded himself with a great support team to come back stronger.
“Eight years ago I was diagnosed with a form of cancer called squamous cell carcinoma,” Robinson said. “I wasn’t ready to go, and I had the best head and neck doctor, best radiologist and best chemo doctor. The doctor said the good news was it had a 91% cure rate, but the bad news was the next nine weeks were going to suck. I went through 33 rounds of radiation and six rounds of chemotherapy, but I came out healthy on the other side. Just two weeks ago, I have my five-year checkup and I’m now very healthy.
“I had been bowling on a bad knee for probably 10 years, so we finally decided to get it replaced. I had a total knee replacement, and that went well, but along the way, my shoulder started to hurt. About 10 months later, they worked on my right rotator cuff. I just worked hard with the physical therapy for both of those and came out on the good side.”
With only a month remaining at the 2024 Open Championships, Robinson now will see if his score will remain at the top of the leaderboard.
He’ll stay busy giving back to the sport by helping others to pass some of the time before the final ball is rolled in Las Vegas on July 29.
“I’m still a bit shook,” Robinson said. “When you told me, it makes you want to cry and jump up and down with jubilation. I’m just blessed to be with this group of guys. It would be incredible.
“Giving back to the game that’s been really good to me is what I’m about, and I spend a lot of time coaching high school and college kids with individual lessons. Ron (Hatfield), Chris Via and I are putting on a two-handed coaching clinic in the beginning of July, and we’re really excited about that. There are over 60 coaches from all over the country signed up to come and do that. It’s all about giving back to the sport and making it better.”
Standard All-Events features bowlers with entering averages of 156-175.
The 2024 Open Championships got underway Feb. 23 and will run through July 29 at the South Point Bowling Plaza. The tournament is scheduled to feature more than 11,000 teams and 55,000 bowlers making their way to compete in Las Vegas.
Visit us on Facebook at the official USBC Open Championships page.