TNBA Singles Classic swarms Cleveland
February 15, 2010
With snow on the ground in 49 states and storms quilting cities from Dallas to Baltimore in historic snowfalls, you might assume that a bowling tournament would be among the first things people would have scratched off of their travel lists this past weekend. But if that sounds like a safe assumption to you, then you have never been to The National Bowling Association's Reed-Hawthorne Memorial Singles Classic at Freeway Lanes in Wickliffe, Ohio.
"Whatever you have to do to get here, you do it. That's just how it is," says George Gohagan, owner of 2 Eagles in USBC Open Championships competition as well as a certified 899 series. "This is a can't-miss tournament."
Gohagan is hardly the only talented amateur who did what he had to do to get here.
Anita Manns, former Team USA member, Collegiate Bowler of the Year, and Wichita State teammate of Clara Guerrero and Sean Rash, drove from Austin to Dallas to catch a plane out of DFW Airport just as the area was setting its greatest single-day snowfall total in recorded history. This despite an illness that had completely stripped Manns of her voice by the time her plane touched down in Cleveland.
"I got sick before I came out here, but I really wanted to bowl," Manns said with the rough whisper of a voice she had left. "I've been waiting for this tournament all year."
With a total of 377+ after ten games in which she averaged 238 as well as an appearance in the stepladder finals on Sunday, Manns can officially consider that long wait to have been worth the time.
The list of talent willing to travel just about any distance and through any obstacle to get to the Reed-Hawthorne is seemingly endless. Talent like Nicole Spratford, the defending champion who made the 8-hour trek from snowed-in Jersey for the chance to do it again. Though she would not head back to Jersey a winner, she did head home knowing that the 300 she bowled to defeat another bowler's 299 in a bracket match ensured one thing: By the time the last person left Freeway Lanes on Sunday night, everyone who passed through those doors knew who had been there that day.
Talent like Tesa Dyson, who along with eight others declined a short flight in favor of a 12-hour drive from Atlanta to ensure they could bring as many bowling balls as possible into competition. Or Ike Reese, who also made the trip from Atlanta even after the friends he planned to travel with all pulled out.
And if it seemed to others that Reese just figured the competition needed a little help to beat him when he showed up two frames late for an opening game of 150, they very well may have been right. Reese would storm back with a 758 series, qualify fifth, and climb the entire stepladder to win the senior division title.
"Players play in this event," USBC Officer of Diversity and Education Eric Kearney said.
One man who can count himself among the players Kearney speaks of is Mike Rose, Jr. In a torrid stepladder finals performance in which he climbed to the title match all the way from the fifth seed, Rose average nearly 250 with a four-game pinfall of 986 to seize the men's division title.
Now in its 51st year, the Reed-Hawthorne Memorial Singles Classic draws only the finest talent from coast to coast each year. They come for the history. They come for the camaraderie. They come because they know that to go home a Reed-Hawthorne champion is to go home knowing that you have beaten the best that amateur bowling has to offer.
Marvin Hale of San Jose, Calif.
"Once you've bowled this event, you know where you want to be when the second week of February comes around -- at Freeway Lanes in Cleveland bowling the Reed-Hawthorne," Kearney says. "That's how it is. Sure, people come to this event to make money and to compete, but they also come to see the friends they made here this time last year."
This is, after all, the TNBA -- a 71-year-old organization that since 1939 has prided itself as a "promoter of sportsmanship, friendship and fellowship."
And even in an event famous for its hundreds of $10 brackets that can reward a solid weekend of bowling with up to $15,000 in winnings, anyone who comes to Cleveland for the Reed-Hawthorne will tell you that prize funds and brackets are nice, but the respect you earn as a Reed-Hawthorne champion will outlast any amount of money that may pass through your hands.
"The money is not the motivation at this coveted event. If it was, a bracket winner would feel just as satisfied as the winner of the tournament. Winning this tournament is about pride and honor," says TNBA President Dr. Michael L. Boykins, who himself made it to Cleveland against the bizarre odds of a 7-inch snowfall in, of all places, Jackson, Miss. "They come here to showcase their talent among the best amateur bowlers from around the country. We're talking about 51 years of history. To win this tournament is an unbelievable accomplishment."
By now, several of the bowlers who showed up at Freeway Lanes this weekend understand the pride that Dr. Boykins speaks of. Those bowlers include 2010 Reed-Hawthorne women's division champion Michelle Bowden, whose opponent in the title match, Samantha Williams, posted a 780 series in the preceding three stepladder finals matches that included an opening victory of 289-259 over Melissa Brenders. But when Williams followed up a pocket 7-10 split in the foundation frame with a stone 8-pin in the 10th, Bowden stepped up with one shot to win or lose the match.
"She absolutely packed it," Eric Kearney says.
"I just told myself to take a nice, deep breath and execute like I had been doing all weekend," Bowden explained shortly after defeating Williams by just a single pin, 182-181. "I didn't focus on anything else, it was just between me and the pins."
What happened next is between her and history now, as Bowden joins a select group of two-time champions in one of the country's longest-standing and most competitive amateur bowling tournaments. Bowden previously won the tournament in 1999.
So if you think you've got game and the calendar happens to tell you that the second week of February is here once again, shoe up, pack as many bowling balls into your car as you'd like, and hit the highway for a place called Freeway Lanes just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. When you get there, you'll find hundreds of other top amateur bowlers who are pretty sure they've got some game, too.
Men: Qualifying
A Squad
B Squad
Women: Qualifying
A and B Squads
Seniors: Qualifying
A and B Squads
Stepladder Finals (all divisions)
Click here
"Whatever you have to do to get here, you do it. That's just how it is," says George Gohagan, owner of 2 Eagles in USBC Open Championships competition as well as a certified 899 series. "This is a can't-miss tournament."
Gohagan is hardly the only talented amateur who did what he had to do to get here.
Anita Manns, former Team USA member, Collegiate Bowler of the Year, and Wichita State teammate of Clara Guerrero and Sean Rash, drove from Austin to Dallas to catch a plane out of DFW Airport just as the area was setting its greatest single-day snowfall total in recorded history. This despite an illness that had completely stripped Manns of her voice by the time her plane touched down in Cleveland.
"I got sick before I came out here, but I really wanted to bowl," Manns said with the rough whisper of a voice she had left. "I've been waiting for this tournament all year."
With a total of 377+ after ten games in which she averaged 238 as well as an appearance in the stepladder finals on Sunday, Manns can officially consider that long wait to have been worth the time.
The list of talent willing to travel just about any distance and through any obstacle to get to the Reed-Hawthorne is seemingly endless. Talent like Nicole Spratford, the defending champion who made the 8-hour trek from snowed-in Jersey for the chance to do it again. Though she would not head back to Jersey a winner, she did head home knowing that the 300 she bowled to defeat another bowler's 299 in a bracket match ensured one thing: By the time the last person left Freeway Lanes on Sunday night, everyone who passed through those doors knew who had been there that day.
Talent like Tesa Dyson, who along with eight others declined a short flight in favor of a 12-hour drive from Atlanta to ensure they could bring as many bowling balls as possible into competition. Or Ike Reese, who also made the trip from Atlanta even after the friends he planned to travel with all pulled out.
And if it seemed to others that Reese just figured the competition needed a little help to beat him when he showed up two frames late for an opening game of 150, they very well may have been right. Reese would storm back with a 758 series, qualify fifth, and climb the entire stepladder to win the senior division title.
"Players play in this event," USBC Officer of Diversity and Education Eric Kearney said.
One man who can count himself among the players Kearney speaks of is Mike Rose, Jr. In a torrid stepladder finals performance in which he climbed to the title match all the way from the fifth seed, Rose average nearly 250 with a four-game pinfall of 986 to seize the men's division title.
Now in its 51st year, the Reed-Hawthorne Memorial Singles Classic draws only the finest talent from coast to coast each year. They come for the history. They come for the camaraderie. They come because they know that to go home a Reed-Hawthorne champion is to go home knowing that you have beaten the best that amateur bowling has to offer.
Marvin Hale of San Jose, Calif.
"Once you've bowled this event, you know where you want to be when the second week of February comes around -- at Freeway Lanes in Cleveland bowling the Reed-Hawthorne," Kearney says. "That's how it is. Sure, people come to this event to make money and to compete, but they also come to see the friends they made here this time last year."
This is, after all, the TNBA -- a 71-year-old organization that since 1939 has prided itself as a "promoter of sportsmanship, friendship and fellowship."
And even in an event famous for its hundreds of $10 brackets that can reward a solid weekend of bowling with up to $15,000 in winnings, anyone who comes to Cleveland for the Reed-Hawthorne will tell you that prize funds and brackets are nice, but the respect you earn as a Reed-Hawthorne champion will outlast any amount of money that may pass through your hands.
"The money is not the motivation at this coveted event. If it was, a bracket winner would feel just as satisfied as the winner of the tournament. Winning this tournament is about pride and honor," says TNBA President Dr. Michael L. Boykins, who himself made it to Cleveland against the bizarre odds of a 7-inch snowfall in, of all places, Jackson, Miss. "They come here to showcase their talent among the best amateur bowlers from around the country. We're talking about 51 years of history. To win this tournament is an unbelievable accomplishment."
By now, several of the bowlers who showed up at Freeway Lanes this weekend understand the pride that Dr. Boykins speaks of. Those bowlers include 2010 Reed-Hawthorne women's division champion Michelle Bowden, whose opponent in the title match, Samantha Williams, posted a 780 series in the preceding three stepladder finals matches that included an opening victory of 289-259 over Melissa Brenders. But when Williams followed up a pocket 7-10 split in the foundation frame with a stone 8-pin in the 10th, Bowden stepped up with one shot to win or lose the match.
"She absolutely packed it," Eric Kearney says.
"I just told myself to take a nice, deep breath and execute like I had been doing all weekend," Bowden explained shortly after defeating Williams by just a single pin, 182-181. "I didn't focus on anything else, it was just between me and the pins."
What happened next is between her and history now, as Bowden joins a select group of two-time champions in one of the country's longest-standing and most competitive amateur bowling tournaments. Bowden previously won the tournament in 1999.
So if you think you've got game and the calendar happens to tell you that the second week of February is here once again, shoe up, pack as many bowling balls into your car as you'd like, and hit the highway for a place called Freeway Lanes just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. When you get there, you'll find hundreds of other top amateur bowlers who are pretty sure they've got some game, too.
Men: Qualifying
A Squad
B Squad
Women: Qualifying
A and B Squads
Seniors: Qualifying
A and B Squads
Stepladder Finals (all divisions)
Click here