Open Championships

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Tournament Facts

  • The first USBC Open Championships (formerly the American Bowling Congress Championships Tournament) was conducted in Chicago's Welsbach Building in 1901. The entry fee was $5 per event and 41 teams competed for a $1,592 prize fund. There was no all-events entry fee because that category was not yet recognized.
  • The tournament received 100 team entries for the first time in 1904.
  • In 1908, ABC declared that the all-events winner will be crowned the "best bowler of the tournament."
  • Also in 1908, Bill Doehrman of Fort Wayne, Ind., bowled in the first of a record 71 consecutive tournaments.
  • In 1910, Tom Haley of Detroit rolled the first 700 series in tournament history with a 705 in singles.
  • The first 300 game in tournament history was rolled by William Knox of Philadelphia at the 1913 event in Toledo, Ohio.
  • Canadian Sam Schliman of Toronto became the first foreign champion, winning the singles crown with a 685 series in 1916.
  • The Saunders team of Toronto, Ontario become the tournament's first foreign team champion in 1921 with a score of 3,066.
  • The tournament passed the 1,000-team entry mark for the first time in 1922 with 1,126 teams entering the competition. The tournament lasted a then-record 30 days.
  • Also in 1922, Herb Lange, a University of Wisconsin student, became the first bowler to roll nine games of 200 or better for a winning 1,943 all-events total.
  • Philadelphia's Billy Knox became the first bowler to break the 2,000 mark in all-events with a record-setting 2,019 in 1923.
  • The tournament celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1925 with 2,200 teams competing on 28 lanes.
  • The prize fund topped the $100,000 mark for the first time in 1929, reaching $107,790.
  • In 1933, Milwaukee's Gil Zunker (750) and Frank Benkovic (665) became the first doubles pair to break the 1,400 mark with a 1,415 winning total.
  • Also in 1933, Gil Zunker of Milwaukee became the first to roll two 700 series in one tournament with a 712 effort in singles competition.
  • Joe Norris' Stroh's Bohemian Beer team won the team event with only three open frames in 1934.
  • Also in 1934, Milwaukee's Fred Weber shot 768 in the team event, a record that stood for 43 years.
  • In 1936, the first Hawaiian team traveled 4,400 miles to join a record 2,853 teams entered in Indianapolis.
  • In 1938, Chicago's Birk Bros. team, which also won in 1917, became the first team sponsor to win two titles.
  • Also in 1938, a record 4,957 teams competed on the tournament's first 40-lane installation.
  • In 1940, the tournament topped the 6,000-team entry mark and the prize fund broke the $200,000 barrier for the first time reaching $240,827.
  • Also in 1940, Monarch Beer teammates Matt Faetz Jr. and brother Leo Faetz join father Matt Sr. (1915 team) as the first of six father/son combination to win tournament titles.
  • The tournament headed west for the first time in 1947, visiting Los Angeles.
  • Also in 1947, Team All-Events was introduced. Despite the fact it offered no cash prize, it would eventually become one of tournament's most prized titles.
  • Electronic foul lights were used for the first time in 1949 in Atlantic City, replacing human foul judges.
  • Also in 1949, Detroit's Fred Bujack and the E&B Beer team won the Team All-Events title, the first of eight titles he would win as an E&B and Pfeiffer Beer team member.
  • In 1950, the Indiana State Fair Board refused to honor its commitment to ABC to make the Coliseum available, the first and only time a host city failed to fulfill its obligations to ABC. The tournament was moved to Columbus, Ohio.
  • After ABC delegates dropped the "Caucasian only" clause from the membership eligibility rule at the 1950 Convention, Allen Supermarket of Detroit became the first all-black team to compete in the ABC Tournament in St. Paul, Minn in 1951.
  • Also in 1951, Dean Larsen of St. Paul was selected as the tournament's first "Joe Bowler," representing all tournament players to follow. The tradition of randomly selecting a bowler on the opening squad to roll the ceremonial first ball while dressed in crown and cape has endured ever since.
  • In 1953, the tournament topped 8,000 teams for the first time. The record stood for 31 years. The prize fund topped $500,000 for the first time.
  • In 1954, the first center aisle was constructed for the 32-lane installation in Seattle.
  • In 1956, Bill Lillard of Houston, became the first bowler to win four titles in one tournament, winning team, doubles, all-events and Team All-Events. Lillard, Ed Lubanski of Detroit (1958) and Mike Neuman of Buffalo (1990) now share the record for titles in one tournament.
  • Scores posted by Mike Neuman of Buffalo, N.Y., on the first two days of the 1990 tournament in Reno held up for 123 days as he won team, Team All-Events, doubles and all-events titles.
  • In Fort Worth, Texas in 1957, Dick Hoover of Akron, Ohio, defended his title to become the first two-time Masters champion.
  • Also in 1957, underground ball returns and automatic pinsetters were used for the first time.
  • In 1959, the Association of College Unions-International (ACUI) conducted its first championships on the tournament lanes.
  • In 1960, participation plaques were awarded for the first time to bowlers who competed in 30 ABC Tournaments, and every five years thereafter.
  • In 1961, the Classic Division was introduced to separate the professional and non-professional entrants, only to be eliminated in 1979 due to lack of entries.
  • Also in 1961, Bud Horn of Los Angeles recorded the first 300 in Masters competition.
  • In 1962, Philadelphia's Jack Winters rolled a record-shattering 30 strikes for a 792 series in doubles on his way to a victory in the Classic All-Events title with a 2,147 total. Glenn Allison matched Winters' 30-strike total as he and partner Dick Hoover won Classic Doubles.
  • In 1965, Tom Hennessey of St. Louis earned a record $4,000 as Classic All-Events champ with a 2,549 total for 12 games.
  • In 1966, Les Schissler became the first bowler to roll a 300 game in Classic Team play. Schissler also rolled a Classic Singles record 760, while Ace Mitchell Shur-Hooks set the Classic Team series record with 3,357.
  • Also in 1966, Norm Meyers of St. Louis bowled a record fifth consecutive 1,900-plus in all-events.
  • Pinkys Bowl of Milwaukee won the 1967 team title with a Regular Division record 3,327.
  • In 1970, the Classic Division changed to a team qualifying and six-team roll-off format. The Merchant Enterprises team of New York (Ernie Schlegel and lefties Johnny Petraglia, Larry Lichstein, Butch Gearhart and Mike McGrath) won the title.
  • Also in 1970, Bill Doehrman of Fort Wayne, Ind., bowled in his 60th consecutive ABC Tournament.
  • In 1974, Detroit's Ray Williams became the first non-pro to roll a 300 in team play.
  • Also in 1974, Jim Godman became the first to record three 700's in one year, winning Classic All-Events with a record 2,184.
  • In 1975, following his previous nine straight 200-plus games in 1974, Bill Hohensee of Buffalo started with eight more for a Tournament record 17 consecutive games of 200 or higher. Bob Goike of Belleville, Mich., now holds the tournament record for most consecutive 200 games with 27.
  • The prize fund topped the million dollar mark for the first time in Reno in 1977, reaching $1,045,065.
  • Also in Walt and Rob Roy of Glenwood Springs, Colo., became the first father-son combination to win doubles, while Lou Veit of Milwaukee became the first bowler to roll an 800 series in tournament history, rolling an 804 in team.
  • In 1978, Jim Godman rolled a record-tying 11th straight 1,800 plus all-events total.
  • Computer scoring was used for the first time in 1979 in Tampa, Fla.
  • Nelson Burton Jr. of St. Louis won Classic Doubles and Classic All-Events in 1979, the division's final year, setting a record with nine career tournament titles. Burton Jr. and his brother Burton hold the record for most championships won by brothers with 11.
  • Randy Lightfoot of St. Louis won the first televised Masters, which aired on CBS-TV in 1981.
  • The 1982 ABC Tournament in Baltimore was the first to last 100 days.
  • School teacher and part-time pro Mike Lastowski of Baltimore upset Earl Anthony and 19-year-old Pete Weber to win the 1983 Masters.
  • In 1984, team entries broke a 31-year old record with 8,380 entering the competition.
  • The tournament broke the 10,000 team mark for the first time in Las Vegas in 1986, while the prize fund topped $2 million for the first time.
  • In 1989, a deluge of honor scores was shot: a then record 44 perfect games, 18 299s and 10 298s. The previous record for 300 games was four (1974 and 1986).
  • In 1991, Jimmy Johnson of Columbus, Ohio, and Dan Nadeau of Las Vegas topped the 1,500 mark in doubles, winning with 1,505.
  • Joe Norris broke Bill Doehrman's tournament career pinfall record of 109,398 in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1992. Norris improved his record to 123,770 in his final tournament in Albuquerque in 2000.
  • In 1994, Tony Lindemann of Detroit became the oldest person, at age 74, to roll a tournament 300. He rolled the perfect game in doubles.
  • Also in 1994, the ABC opened its membership to women and several of them used the opportunity to become the first of their gender to compete in the tournament in Mobile, Ala. Rayetta Dominquez of Grove, Okla., helped Canterbury Lanes 1 win the Booster Team title and became the tournament's first woman champion.
  • In 1995, ABC christened Reno's 78-lane, $53 million National Bowling Stadium, the first public facility ever constructed strictly for bowling. All ABC participation records were shattered as 92,432 individuals and 17,285 teams competed in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the ABC.
  • In 1998 in Reno, Mike Aulby of Indianapolis became the first and only three-time USBC Masters champion.
  • In 1999, the Classified Division expanded upon the old Booster Team concept, allowing those who average 180 and under to compete in their own doubles, singles and all-events categories.
  • Also in 1999, Hall of Famer Dick Weber of St. Louis became the fifth member of the 100,000 Pinfall Club.
  • In 2000, Hall of Famer Joe Norris of San Diego tied Bill Doehrman's participation record of 71 ABC Tournaments.
  • The 2001 event in Reno was the first to use the Twister synthetic pin made by Artemis Rubber Technologies of Hanover, Germany. Kristine Kropf of Antioch, Calif., became the first woman to bowl a 300 in tournament competition.
  • In 2002, the tournament in Billings, Mont., saw a record 64 perfect games and 29 299 games bowled. Kyle McCrackin of Wichita, Kan., became the first bowler to roll two 300 games in one year.
  • In 2003 at the 100th ABC Tournament in Knoxville, Tenn., Ron Bahr of Topeka, Kan., became the first person in tournament history to bowl back-to-back 300 games, shooting 237-300-300 to win the singles competition.
  • Also in 2003, Derek Sapp or Keokuk, Iowa, and Sean Rash or Anchorage, Alaska, broke the Regular Doubles record with a 1,540 score. Sapp also shot the then-highest tournament series in non-Masters play with an 857.
  • In Reno in 2004, John Janawicz of Winter Haven, Fla., shot 858 to win Regular Singles. It is the highest individual series in tournament history (excluding the Masters) and also helped Janawicz to the Regular All-Events title.
  • The 2005 ABC Tournament in Baton Rouge, La., was the largest ever held outside of the National Bowling Stadium in Reno and the fifth largest overall with 13,222 teams.
  • Formerly the ABC Tournament, the event unveiled its new name, the USBC Open Championships, for the 2006 event as the result of the merger of ABC, WIBC and YABA into the USBC on Jan. 1, 2005.
  • At the 2006 event in Corpus Christi, Texas, Wendy Macpherson of Henderson, Nev., became the first woman to win a Regular Division title when she shot 812 on the second-to-last day of the tournament to win Regular Singles.
  • Also in 2006, Kristal Scott of Wichita, Kan., became the first woman ever to roll an 800 series at the Open Championships when she posted an 816 during her team event.
  • The 2007 Open Championships in Reno marks the 104th running of the event, and the record eighth time Reno has hosted the event, breaking a tie with Buffalo, N.Y., and Toledo, Ohio.
  • In 2007, the tournament prize fund will reach $7 million for the first time.
  • If you put all the lanes used since the first tournament end to end, the distance would stretch more than 50 miles.
  • The Open Championships has been held in 48 different cities in 26 states.
  • The state of Ohio has hosted the Open Championships 17 times - the most of any state.
  • More than $90 million in total Open Championships prize money has been awarded.
  • More than 2 million singles entries have competed in the history of the Tournament.
  • ABC's oldest member at the time, 103-year-old Art Shaver, and Atlanta friend William Hargove, 100, are the tournament's oldest doubles team at the combined age of 203 years.