In the coming months, we'll talk with some of the best-known bowlers at the USBC Open Championships and get their thoughts on their time at the tournament and what it takes to succeed on the championship lanes.

This week, we heard from Tom Elston, a USBC Eagle's Nest member who won the first of four 2011 Chevrolet Silverado pickup trucks courtesy of the Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority.

The USBC Eagle's Nest is an exclusive club for team captains who fielded teams in 2010 and are registered to do so again in 2011.

The club was created in conjunction with the RSCVA as a way to recognize captains for their hard work and to celebrate the return of the Open Championships to Reno for an unprecedented second-consecutive year.


HOMETOWN: Sterling Heights, Mich.

OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS APPEARANCES: 28 consecutive

OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS TITLES: None

BOWLING BALL WEIGHT: 15 lbs.

FAVORITE BRAND OF BOWLING BALLS: Brunswick

ONE all-time favorite host city: Reno

TWO best Open Championships memories: 1. winning a new truck at this year's event; 2. shooting my first 1,800 all-events total (1,823) at the 2005 event in Baton Rouge, La.

THREE keys to success at the Open Championships: 1. concentration; 2. the right equipment; 3. best friends as teammates.

FOURgettable Open Championships moment: During my first tournament, the 1984 event in Reno, I shot my lowest all-events score of 1,452.

FIVE bowlers in history on your Open Championships fantasy all-star team: My current team that consists of me, Rick and Jerry Kopec, Doug Jeffs and John Stolarski.

SIX bowling balls currently in your Open Championships arsenal: I only have two: Columbia Pure Physics and a Brunswick Inferno.

SEVEN cities you'd like to see the Open Championships go to/return to: Las Vegas; Reno; Corpus Christi, Texas; Tulsa, Okla.; Knoxville, Tenn.; St. Petersburg, Fla., Baton Rouge

EIGHT favorite bowling balls ever: Columbia Pure Physics, AMF Angle, Brunswick Inferno, Brunswick Smokin' Inferno, Brunswick Radical Inferno, Brunswick Ultimate Inferno, Brunswick LT48, Brunswick Rhino Pro

NINE other current/eligible bowlers you would choose to join you on your ideal pair of companion teams at the Open Championships: Rick Kopec, Douglas Jeffs, Jerry Kopec, John Stolarski, Paul Wichmann, Evan Eldridge, Greg Morrow, Mike Burton, Bill George

TEN seconds or less, who is your favorite bowler of all-time?: Walter Ray Williams Jr.

ELEVEN strikes in a row to start a game at the Open Championships, what's going through your head?: Throw the last shot exactly the same.

TWELVE years from now, where do you hope to be in your bowling career?: I would like to have a 300 game and make my 40th consecutive Open Championships appearance.