2020 USBC Open Championships Bracket Challenge

With a history dating back nearly 120 years, the USBC Open Championships has been home to some of bowling's most memorable moments and noteworthy competitors.

 

As we excitedly wait for the start of the 2020 event at the newly remodeled National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada, and wonder what kind of memories we'll make this year in The Biggest Little City in the World, we're going to take a look at many of the tournament's most significant moments, mind-boggling accomplishments and prolific performers.

 

We've selected 32 of our favorite moments from the 116 years of Open Championships competition, but we need YOUR help in determining the most significant piece of tournament history. 

 

We scoured the record book, news releases, photo archives and video playlists to find the 32 contenders and then divided them into four categories (quadrants). 

 

Some bowling bracket fun to start your summer off right!

 

Here are the categories you'll see in the four corners of our bracket:

 

 

In the coming weeks, we'll provide the info, photos and video clips that best explain and illustrate each contender, and votes from the OC fans (via the official Open Championships Facebook and USBC Facebook pages) will determine the advancers in each matchup.

 

The winner from each eight-moment quadrant will be celebrated, of course, and then advance to the semifinals, where the fans again will vote until we have an overall champion.

 

We'll roll out a list of the 32 contenders in advance to give you a chance to see the selections and start picking your favorites. More details, staff assessments and choices from guest pickers will be posted before the start of voting for each matchup.

 

Voting for the first matches will begin June 11, and we'll announce the OC Bracket Challenge champion during the week of July 20. A full recap and fan reactions will be on the agenda for the July 23 edition of the Inside the OC podcast!

Watch the OC Bracket Challenge episode of the Inside the OC podcast here.

Details on championship match

Overall semifinal info

 

Record Moments

Read all about the Record Moments, and see analysis from the experts HERE

Check out the Round 2 info and expert analysis HERE.

Check out the Round 3 info and expert analysis HERE.
 

1. Artistic Expressions 1 shoots 3,720 in 2014

2. Janawicz 10th-frame strikes to break 20-year-old team record by one pin (3,538)

3. Ron Vokes tosses a record 30 consecutive strikes on the way to 857 in singles and a 2,321 AE record

4. Bo Goergen shoots a record 862 to pass Vokes for 2009 singles title

5. Matt McNiel breaks AE record one year to the day later, shooting 2,326

6. Brenda Padilla bounces back from tough team event with doubles record (1,566) and highest AE total by a woman (2,132)

7. Pollard's Bowl wins TAE in 1996 with 10,425, now the longest-standing scoring record at the OC

8. Turbo Grips team shoots highest game in tournament history in 2014 (1,318)

 

Participation/General milestones 

Read all the details about the Participation & Milestones, and see analysis from the experts HERE 

Check out the Round 2 info and expert analysis HERE.

Check out the Round 3 info and expert analysis HERE. 

1. The three-way tie for years of participation (71 years - Doehrman, Norris, Thiel)

2. National Bowling Stadium opens and hosts OC for first time (1995) and gives OC its first permanent/regular location.

3. Center Aisle introduced (1954)

4. Automatic pinsetters introduced (1957)

5. Automatic scoring introduced (1979)

6. Joe Bowler tradition begins (1951)

7. A vote rejects the use of a bowling center for the first OC (1901), and the precedent of building lanes each year is set. Six lanes are built on the second floor of the Welsbach Building in Chicago.

8. Bill Lillard's all-time pinfall record of 124,087

 

Tournament firsts

Read all the details about the Tournament Firsts, and see analysis from the experts HERE 

Check out the Round 2 info and expert analysis HERE.

Check out the Round 3 info and expert analysis HERE. 

1. Philadelphia's William Knox rolls the first perfect game in tournament history in 1913 (tournament first was held in 1901)

2. Kristine Kropf of Antioch, California, becomes the first woman to roll a 300 game at the Open Championships (women first participated in 1994).

3. Matt McNiel becomes first bowler in history with three 800 series at the Open Championships (2010, 2011, 2012)

4. Bill Doehrman becomes first bowler to topple 100,000 pins (1971)

5. Harry Steers becomes first bowler to reach 50 years of participation (1955).

6. Craig Szplett of Illinois becomes first bowler to roll three perfect games at the Open Championships (1996, 2005, 2013)

7. Former Junior Team USA member and collegiate standout Kristal Wilson becomes the first woman to roll an 800 series at the Open Championships when she posts an 816 during her team event in 2006

8. Lou Veit of Milwaukee becomes the first bowler in Open Championships history to roll an 800 series, shooting 804 in his team event in 1977

 

Head to Head 

Read all the details about the Head-to-Head matches, and see analysis from the experts HERE

Check out the Round 2 info and expert analysis HERE.

Check out the Round 3 info and expert analysis HERE. 

1. Nelson Burton Jr. - most wins on tournament lanes (9)

2. Anthony LaCaze - one of two bowlers to win titles in three consecutive years (2013-2015)

3. Rayetta Dominguez - helped break the gender barrier in 1994 and became first woman overall to win a title at the OC - Booster Team (1994)

4. Ed Lubanski - won four titles in 1959

5. Mike Neumann - won four titles in 1990

6. Wendy Macpherson - first woman to win a Regular Division title (2006 singles)

7. Les Zikes - first to win titles in three consecutive years (1962-1964)

8. Bill Lillard Sr. - first bowler with four titles in one year (1956); Eight titles overall

For more information about the Open Championships or to register for 2021 (March 6-July 18), click HERE.

To read about how it ALL turned out, see the final OC Bracket Challenge recap HERE.