Bowl for the Cure celebrates its 25th year

It was just a fun idea, though its planning felt like a whirlwind. The idea: A bowling fundraiser pitting a team from Dallas against a team from Milwaukee branded as “Bowl for the Cure.” No one knew where it might lead, if it would lead anywhere at all. No one knew how much money it might raise for its promoted cause, if indeed it raised any money at all. 

It was just a friendly competition to see which region could raise the most money — one that, if nothing else, at least might help raise awareness. 

This would became an annual event over the next few years, with Dallas winning the first year. 

“That was the only time,” Sheila Nyren, the original project lead of BFTC and a Wisconsin native, said with a laugh. 

Overall, that first event raised a total of more than $12,000 in a little under a week. Nyren acknowledged that, “Money is important, but the goal was awareness.” 

In order to put breast cancer awareness at the forefront, the BFTC team put together packets that went out to the leagues that included information on early detection, breast-cancer screening, mammograms, and other resources that could be passed out to event and league participants. 

BFTC grew exponentially, raising $805,000 in its first year. Roseann Kuhn, the former Executive Director of the Women’s International Bowling Congress and founder of BFTC, was blown away by the response, noting, “It wasn’t just women that embraced this, but men as well.” 

Nearly 5,000 bowling leagues around the country had raised $740,000, with an additional $65,000 coming from merchandise sales. The most exciting moment for Kuhn and Nyren was at the first Meet for the Cure, held in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, during the WIBC National Convention on April 25, 2001. Nancy Brinker, the founder of Susan G. Komen, the world’s leading breast-cancer organization, personally came to collect the check from them. 

Nyren recalls a poised, gracious woman as she walked down the aisle to present Brinker with the check. 

“I wasn’t used to being kissed on both sides of my cheeks,” she laughed, “and it was a magical evening for everyone involved.” 

Everyone wore pink and they sold pink glowsticks for $1. The room was filled with women, all with some connection to BFTC and breast cancer, holding glowsticks, celebrating a successful year of fundraising all while bringing much-needed attention to breast cancer. 

Kuhn remembers the event as “very emotional” because, at the end of the evening, WIBC members and delegates that had breast cancer walked down the aisles holding candles, a powerful humanization of the disease.

After the convention, in an unprecedented move, Komen invited BFTC to the Million Dollar Donor Council after their first year of fundraising. BFTC representatives were suddenly in the company of large corporations like BMW at council meetings. Nyren recalled that these large, multimillion dollar corporations were really interested in BFTC’s fundraising tactics, even asking for advice or specifics about how they were raising money. After the enormous success of year one, BFTC never looked back.

As Bowl for the Cure (BFTC) celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, the women who got it off the ground find themselves in as much disbelief as Kuhn was at the success of those earliest efforts long ago. 

“I am just overwhelmed. I had no idea it was 25 years,” said Kuhn.

Nyren echoed her sentiments, saying, “It’s so unreal to me. I’m thrilled that it is still going strong.”  

BFTC started as a grassroots fundraiser to benefit Komen. As Kuhn tells it, the idea for BFTC came from the desire to raise money for something that primarily affected women. With one in eight women in the U.S. being diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime, it was an obvious choice. 

The initial meeting with representatives at Komen was well received and, after a tour of Komen’s former headquarters, it was clear the partnership was “a match well-fit,” as Nyren put it.  

The Komen team saw the potential donor pool of the bowling world’s large audience of both men and women and were immediately on board. 

Full Speed Ahead
During the first five years of fundraising, donations never dipped below $700,000 and tournaments being organized all over the country. As of this writing, there are 40-60 officially registered tournaments a year, with the only dip in registration coming in 2020, during the first year of the Covid 19 pandemic. Tournament organizers seldom host tournaments just once, with many hosting one or multiple tournaments every year. 

One such host is Shannon McHugh, the second vice president of the Iowa State USBC and tournament director for the Iowa BFTC mail-in tournament. McHugh has been director of this tournament since 2004 and hasn’t missed a single year, even during 2020. McHugh had experience with other mail-in tournaments, so another board member selected her to run this one when she was the secretary of the women’s Iowa 600 Bowling Club. 

Despite being new to her position with the club, she had no hesitation in running the BFTC tournament, as she was drawn to the cause after having her own cancer scare years ago. 

“Actually, I had no idea what I was doing or getting into, but wow, it’s been a ride,” McHugh said. 

In the 21-year history of the mail-in tournament, McHugh said they have raised just shy of $260,000. This unique format allows all adult bowlers in the state of Iowa to participate, creating a large pool of donors. Bowlers can mail in their certified league scores from a predetermined timeframe along with a $5 entry fee ($2.20 immediately goes to BFTC). 

The winners of each division receive their checks within a month of the end of the tournament, but McHugh said, “Each year, more and more of our bowlers have been donating back their prize check,” so the money can be sent to BFTC. 

McHugh’s dedication and effort earned her the USBC BFTC Award at the National Convention in 2019. She calls the award “an incredible honor” but points out that it “wouldn’t have been possible without the support of our Iowa bowlers.” 

Impact
This sentiment that the community is greater than the individual is common among BFTC hosts and participants alike.

Another longtime host who credits her community is Weida Scott, first vice president of the Denton County (Texas) USBC and the charities chair. She organized and hosted her first BFTC fundraiser in 2009 and has held them every year since. Scott gushed about the generosity of the bowlers in her small community, stating, “I’m so proud of our Denton County bowlers. They always amaze me with their giving.” 

Despite the small size of her association, Scott has witnessed the struggle of bowlers with breast cancer more than once. In a rare case, Scott “has a male bowler who is facing a difficult time” right now in his own struggle with breast cancer. In the U.S., less than 1% (about one in 1,000)  breast-cancer cases are in men, so this rarity so close to home only furthers her drive to fundraise for BFTC. 

She encourages anyone who is interested in hosting a BFTC event to do it. 

“When [it] is for a good cause, people will line up to donate. You will also be rewarded by their generosity,” she assures.

Many tournament hosts chose to do so to honor friends or family who have battled the disease. Russ Rehner is one of those. Rehner, a Central Ohio USBC board member from Columbus, Ohio, is in his 11th year hosting BFTC tournaments. Rehner said the main motivating factor was honoring his late mother, who died in 1992 due to breast cancer after battling for four years. Rehner attended his first USBC Annual Convention in 2013 and witnessed firsthand the “wonderful work” between BFTC and Komen and “knew then this was a way to honor [his] mother and help raise money to find a cure.” 

Since the 2014-2015 season, Rehner’s association has proudly raised just shy of $75,000 for BFTC. He recalled the pain of driving his mother to chemotherapy, and his ultimate hope is that the next dollar will be the one to find the cure. 

While there is no cure yet, the need for organizations like Komen and initiatives like BFTC shows that breast cancer isn’t going away anytime soon. In fact, according to the American Cancer Society, since 2012, overall breast-cancer incidence rates have increased by 1% per year. Among women younger than 50, rates have increased by more than 1% per year. In 2025, more than 300,000 new cases of breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in the U.S.

Despite this increase, the death rate in the U.S. has dropped by an astonishing 44% since 1989 thanks to medical breakthroughs yielding more effective treatments and better early-detection methods. Sarah Rosales, senior vice president of corporate partnerships at Komen, noted that, over the past 12 years, Komen played a role in the development of 20 life-saving, FDA-approved breast-cancer drugs that are now used in the clinic. This means that funds raised by the BFTC have helped propel these advancements.  

Rosales, a lifelong bowler who grew up in Milwaukee and now lives in Dallas, said she is “such an incredible fan of this partnership” and that it’s exciting when such a good match is made, like that between Komen and BFTC. She also sees parallels from how the two groups started. BFTC was the result of hard work from many people, but Kuhn and Nyren were the two women leading the charge. Similarly, Komen was started after a promise was made between Nancy Brinker and her sister, Susie Komen, who died of metastatic breast cancer at age 36. Brinker vowed to never stop fighting to find a cure. Rosales believes the similarities are what make the partnership so unique. As Nyren noted, “Bowlers are dedicated, and women are powerful. If you want something done, we’ll get it done. We proved it almost overnight. [The fight for a cure] is too important to let it go.”

While getting breast cancer is an unfortunate reality for many women, it’s one from which many survivors don’t shy away. Gone are the days of stigma, whispering about breast cancer behind closed doors, and hiding. The BFTC participants who have breast cancer want people to know their stories. 

Valerie Olson from Moorhead, Minnesota, is one of those survivors. Olson is an avid bowler and enjoys spending time with the friends she’s made while doing so. Her life changed in 2018 when she found a lump in her right breast and immediately went to the doctor. She was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Her cancer was stage 0, and with surgery and radiation, it has not returned. 

During her recovery, her bowling family stepped up. The two leagues she was in at the time came together to sell breast cancer awareness bracelets and gave Olson the money they raised, as well as the leftover bracelets. Olson was touched and said, “The thoughtful gesture really made me feel grateful for all my bowling friends I’ve made, and it showed how much they cared.” 

At the time, she was still unfamiliar with BFTC, but her daughter, Cassie, would soon change that. 

Cassie attended the USBC National Convention in 2022 and learned about BFTC. She returned to Olson with breast cancer awareness bowling jerseys and stories of the pink glowsticks, the same type that Roseann Kuhn and Sheila Nyren brought to the first convention 22 years earlier. In 2024, Olson attended the National Convention herself and was invited to the breast cancer survivor luncheon. There, she met with members of Komen and got to see the pink glowsticks for herself. 

“We [the survivors] were honored during the BFTC presentation by walking up on stage and [I] was very humbled seeing all the glowsticks. That day will be etched in my memory forever,” Olson said. 

Though she has been lucky enough to not need financial assistance from Komen, Olson said she is an avid supporter of BFTC now. Olson reports that “we ask all of our leagues to donate in October during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, as well as February for BFTC month.” 

She also urges people to see their doctor if they see or feel something that isn’t right. Due to acting quickly, Olson “was one of the lucky ones” and says that “with any luck, they will find a cure for this nasty disease.” 

While early detection and effective treatments are key, having a bit of luck doesn’t hurt.

Carol Kendricks can be considered lucky as well. This year marks her 47th year as a breast-cancer survivor, following a diagnosis at 30 years old. At the time of her diagnosis and surgery in 1977, there were no real support systems apart from her family. She underwent a radical mastectomy and radiation, and for three decades, her cancer has not come back. The lack of support groups during her battle is what drove Kendricks to support BFTC. 

For the past seven years, she and her leagues in San Antonio, Texas, have been holding BFTC events and fundraisers. Kendricks said that BFTC and Komen have supported her in many ways and she’s “made lifetime friends from all over the country” and that she is most thankful for those friendships. As Kendricks celebrates decades without recurrence, some survivors, like Krissy Stewart, are in earlier stages of their journey. 

Stewart, the President of the Southwest Florida Bowling Association, holds several BFTC fundraisers and worked in the bowling industry. She created numerous fun ways to get donations, one of which she calls “The Pink Purse.” With this, bowlers who leave a 5 pin or 8-10 split wear a pink purse attached to their belt loop until they roll a strike. They are encouraged to put a dollar in the purse as well. 

Stewart said many bowlers put larger denominations in and that at the end of the season, they send the money from the pink purses (“yes, there is more than one” she said with a laugh) to BFTC. Another fundraiser involves pink pins on postcards that are passed around at tournaments. For $2, bowlers can keep the pin. She said the response to these fundraisers was amazing and she had sent a few thousand dollars to BFTC in the last couple of years off these two things alone. 

However, in 2021, she received unexpected news. After years of raising money for BFTC, Stewart was “blindsided” by her own breast-cancer diagnosis. In an interview with USBC in 2024, Stewart details her emotional journey navigating breast cancer. After her annual mammogram, she was asked to return for another look. She thought it would be a couple of ultrasounds, and they would tell her, “You’re good to go, see you in a year.” 

She hadn’t felt any lumps and had no signs or symptoms. A week after some additional testing, she was called back into the doctor’s office and was told she had breast cancer. Stewart stated she wasn’t worried about herself, but her family. 

The uncertainty of how it would affect them bothered her the most. Their bowling family came through with support when they needed it most. Her son had a hard time coping with the diagnosis and “he was looking for support and those people were there for him.” Through it all, Stewart is incredibly grateful for the bowling community and all that BFTC has done. Being a part of BFTC warms her heart and, “seeing all of the love poured out from everyone, whether it's from their donations, their smiles, their tears, [or] their kind words,” is part of what makes bowling such a special sport. 

Going Forward
As of today, BFTC has raised $14.5 million for Komen, a staggering number that left Kuhn and Nyren speechless. Sarah Rosales hopes to continue to reach new bowlers and is always excited to see what’s next from the community, observing that, “There is such power in people coming together for a cause. Bowlers doing what they love in support of a cause that has impacted their lives and communities. To see that number, ($14.5 million) speaks to the power of the bowling community and their generosity. The bowling community is committed and taking action. It’s individual people raising their hand and saying, ‘This matters to me and I want to do something.’”

While communicating with BFTC hosts, participants, and breast cancer survivors over the past few weeks, there is one word that continues to pop up in conversation: hope. Whether it is hope for BFTC to continue thriving and raising millions for Komen or hope for a cure to end the need for such fundraising altogether, hope truly springs eternal in this group. 

The strength, dedication, and tenacity of all those involved with BFTC is nothing short of inspiring. The relationships forged on the lanes in times of sickness and health seem to be unbreakable, as is the spirit of those fighting for a cure. 

Thanks to this unique community of bowlers, BFTC is now bigger than anyone could have imagined and looking forward to the next 25 years of bowling for a cure.