New Host Highlights
Since that first trip to Chicago, the Open Championships has visited 48 cities and 26 states through 2014. El Paso will be the 49th city to host the event, and Sun City will be the talk of the bowling world until the 2015 tournament concludes July 12.
El Paso was a first-time host of the USBC Women's Championships in 2010, and the city rolled out the red carpet for the bowlers, proving to be an accommodating and excited host. The El Paso Convention Center not only housed the Women's Championships in 2010, but also the USBC Queens, Senior Queens and XBowling Intercollegiate Team Championships.
Participants at the 2015 Open Championships can expect that same celebrity treatment, and the stories coming from the lanes surely will be memorable.
Here's a look back at some of the exciting stories that transpired from the Open's last few visits to new cities.
1996 - Salt Lake City
The 1996 event not only marked the tournament's first visit to Utah, but also its first journey to a host city in the Mountain Time Zone (2015 will be the fifth occurrence - Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2000 and 2008 and Billings, Montana, in 2002).
On the lanes, Pollard's Bowl of Versailles, Indiana, took home some hardware and a few spots in the record books. The team consisted of four players who eventually earned spots in the USBC Hall of Fame - Rick and Ron Pollard, Don Scudder and Bill Spigner. Along with Jerry Kessler, they set the Team All-Events record with 10,425, which still stands today. Scudder also earned his third eagle by capturing the Regular Singles title with an 823 series.
1997 - Huntsville, Alabama
The Open's second trip to Alabama (Mobile - 1994) proved to be the showcase for some of the sport's biggest names.
The Team All-Events crown went to Lodge Lanes of Belleville, Michigan, a star-studded group featuring USBC Hall of Famer Bob Goike, future hall of famer John Gaines, PBA champions Chris Barnes and Patrick Healey Jr., and Brad Kiszewski. The team came back to successfully defend the title in 1998 and just missed making it three titles in a row in 1999, finishing second.
Another future hall of famer, Jeff Richgels of Oregon, Wisconsin, finished the event without an open frame to take home the Regular All-Events win with 2,241.
John Socha of Milwaukee won the first of his three Open Championships titles by posting a then-record 847 series in Regular Singles. Socha is one of just three players in tournament history to record multiple 800s on the championship lanes (809 in singles at the 2002 event).
2000 - Albuquerque, New Mexico
The Open's first visit to New Mexico was the final appearance for USBC Hall of Famer Joe Norris. Norris, who made his record-tying 71st appearance and extended his tournament-leading pinfall total to 123,770 in Albuquerque, died in 2001 at the age of 93.
The Open Championships returned to Duke City in 2008 for the 105th running of the event.
2002 - Billings, Montana
The tournament's lone trip to Montana was perfect. A record 64 perfect games were rolled on the championship lanes, including two by Kyle McCrackin of Wichita, Kansas. He became the first bowler in tournament history to roll two perfect games on the championship lanes in the same year.
Stephen Hardy of Manchester, New Hampshire, captured the Regular All-Events title with a then-record 2,279 total.
2005 - Baton Rouge, Louisiana
More than 13,000 teams traveled to the tournament's debut in Louisiana, which ranks as the highest team total outside of the state of Nevada.
Jeff Richgels and his talented teammates - Marc McDowell, Gail Myers Jr., Steve Richter and Mike Shady - earned the Team All-Events title with Richgels and Richter posting 1,500 to win Regular Doubles.
The tough conditions in Red Stick produced 12 300s and no 800s, the lowest totals since the 1990 event.