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The Portland Community Bowling League
In the beginning…The Portland Gay & Lesbian Community Bowling Association (PCBA) was begun in 1979. It sprung forth from the annual Terrific Tournaments that were begun in 1976 by Tom “Terrific” as Imperial Rose Court Events. (In the 70’s to 80’s the primary organization in the Portland Gay community was the Imperial Sovereign Rose Court (Emperors & Empresses), a non-profit community fund raising activity and entertainment.) The PCBA was the original name given the League, until the PCBA name became the moniker for the entire group of events that Tom Giel oversaw for 20 years. In 1979, the newly formed league held once a month Sunday bowling events at Grand Central Bowl on 8th & SE Morrison. Few local bars and organizations entered teams in the beginning. In the 70’s, Sundays in Portland were one of the biggest party days. The creation of an event that took away bar patrons was not looked upon favorably. The first season culminated with a picnic/pool party at a private residence. The goal of the PCBA was to create an environment of fun entertainment for the women and men of the Gay community. Previously there had been limited interaction between the two sexes due to what at the time, appeared to be obvious lines of preferred interplay. The 80’s… By the early 80’s, bowling had caught on. It was the in thing to do on Sunday mornings. In fact it brought in so many new participants, that most bars and organizations jumped on the bandwagon to have representation at the now every-other-week Sunday party on the lanes. After each Sunday of bowling, a Bar Appreciation was held at a different watering hole to allow the bars an opportunity to show their good stuff, and in return, allow the bowlers to show their appreciation. During this time, the participating bars (for those who might want to remember back then) were Sissies on Burnside, Dahl & Penne’s, The Other Inn, Half Moon Tavern, Family Zoo, Hunt Pub, Embers Avenue, Somebody’s (currently Scandals), Grand Oasis, JOQ’s, JR’s & The Cell. Organizations ranged from The Gay Men’s Chorus (3-4 teams), The Rose Court, Los Conquistadors, Knights of Malta, Cascade AIDS Project and Just Out Newspaper.
Money Honeys, Hunks and Jackpots…From the beginning and up until 1990, the league bowled “Monte Carlo” style with color headpins in order to pay out quarters to bowlers striking on various combinations of color. Money Honeys and/or Money Hunks would wander the lanes watching for those occasional rewards. Money Honeys were often local female impersonator entertainers who loved working the lanes on a Sunday morning. And the bowlers loved them for the sense of fun and laughter they presented. Some of those Money Honeys/Hunks were a virtual who’s who list of gay community title holders of the 70’s and 80’s (Honeys -Alison Grey, Solitaire, Dora Jar, Patti O’Dora, Monica Rey, Misty Waters, Crystal, Ursula, Lisa Day; Hunks - Frank L., Gary B. & Dave S..) Monte Carlo bowling was eliminated in order for bowlers averages to be acceptable in tournament play. (Color headpins were not acceptable for establishing league averages.) The League also held weekly “Strike It Rich” jackpots. Ticket sellers would collect funds and during each game tickets would be drawn for bowlers to win the jackpots with a strike when their tickets was randomly drawn. The highest jackpot was $331, with many others in the high $200 to low $300 range. At times, it appeared there was more competition for these jackpots than for league championships. Records of payouts were kept with some bowlers actually pulling in over a thousand dollars during these events. The highest on record were Robert Huffman (of The Embers All Nighters fame) and Grover Wells. Rewards and positive reinforcements… By the mid 80’s, the association had become one of our community’s main entertainment events. From January to May, nearly 300 Portlanders bowled in leagues on Thursday evenings, and two shifts on Sundays. The goal of the League was to create a sense of belonging and reward for members of the gay and lesbian community. It was felt that there weren’t enough positive reinforcements for our community due to constant political pressures from the conservative-right-extremists popular in the state of Oregon during that time. (So what else is still new?) During this time frame, local counseling centers – Phoenix Rising and the Counseling Center for Sexual Minorities were recommending the League to people who were just coming out, or who were new to the community and were looking for a somewhat less intense way than a darkened bar, to become acquainted with other gay individuals. The League created its own annual league membership pin, and 200 pins. Each participant received a certificate of participation. And to award more individuals more often, the League expanded to five divisions chosen at random, with each team comprised of five member teams. Trophies were awarded to the top three teams in each division which amounted to 75 trophies (Top three teams x 5 members x 5 divisions), plus even more additional trophies for individual special awards. At the time, a committee determined that weekly-collected league funds should be used to encourage all bowlers. It was felt that paying out league funds like most other leagues (based on win-loss point system) might encourage a competitive atmosphere that could damage the fragile road to recovery between our two community factions of gays and lesbians. Additionally the theory was that funds disbursement might inhibit the entertainment value for all community members by discouraging participation by the broad spectrum of individuals who were there purely for companionship. All net collected funds were reserved into a general fund to meet the projected costs of all the awards, pins, league picnic at Oaks Park, plus an Awards Banquet. Due to the numerous awards and season finale parties, collected funds were not disbursed to bowlers as in other leagues. The desire was to share the pool of net funds across the entire league membership wherever possible. The League kept its weekly dues low at only $7.00, much lower than most other leagues, and to ensure that everyone who wanted to bowl could afford to do so. IGBO membership… In 1982, Portland joined the International Gay Bowling Organization (IGBO) to become a part of a growing family of bowling leagues across the United States and Canada. By joining IGBO, the league learned about leagues and tournament play in other cities. Rosebowl Classic founding… League founder, Tom Giel met with community leaders and business owners to discuss the concept for an invitational tournament in Portland to be held during the annual Rose Festival celebration. This event was entitled Portland’s Rosebowl Invitational Classic. The original intent was to be a celebration of our growing community event of bowling. Out of town bowlers would be welcomed, but intense competition would be down-played so as not to deter the sense of community celebration. (Please see www.rosebowlclassic.com for further information on this event.) The first Rosebowl Classic was held in May of 1983.
The 1990’s – a time for change… By the 90’s, the League began adapting to the new world. With the deaths of upwards of 80 of its previous membership due to AIDS, the makeup of the league was changing the way the league conducted its business. Court membership in the League had dwindled and the new broad cross section of community participants were looking for new approaches. The League began a Sunday evening 5 PM league. Continuing the 17 year old 11 AM Bowling For Dollars league, along with the new 5 PM Run for the Roses League, plus a growing sanctioned league on another weekday began thinning the ranks of normal participation. The league moved from PRO 300 Lanes where it had rolled for nearly 17 years, to Cascade Lanes on 82nd Avenue, to Twentieth Century Lanes on 92nd and Powell. And eventually to keep the league centrally located, it moved to Hollywood Lanes, right off the I-84 and 39th Avenue interchange. With fewer participants, the league could not justify renting Oaks Park. The annual picnic was dropped and the annual banquet was reduced to smaller on-the-lane event in order to begin award funds distributions that were being requested by league membership to remain competitive with other community leagues. Trophies were eliminated and 1 oz pure silver medallions were created. The league dropped its 11 am league to concentrate on its 5 PM league slot. The League and the new millenium…Eventually (by 1998) the league landed into a more
centrally located location at Hollywood Lanes, 40th & Halsey.
What was formally known as the PCBA League, now became the Run For the Roses
League (RFR). This distinguished it from the original PCBA League and
time slot. After moving to Hollywood Lanes, the RFR grew back with a Fall-Spring 2004 level of 28-32 teams of 4 members. 32% of the league membership were women bowlers. At that level of participation the league maintains 4 random divisions of bowlers in order to continue its time-honored tradition of rewarding many. It’s payouts rival most other leagues even though the weekly fees still remain at one of the lowest levels in the Portland market. League membership continues to favor keeping this community activity a casual non-USBC sanctioned league eliminating the need for members to pay a $16 annual fee to USBC. The league, while following most USBC rules of play, plus a set of personalized rules developed over the years specifically for the League, strives to maintain a casual environment where bowlers can bring friends to bowl without having to pay extra fees. (USBC leagues require USBC membership of $16, even if a bowler is simply a one time “come and play” type of bowler.) An Operations Board has been formed to oversee what was formally the Run for the Roses League. The Operations Board was officially accepted by a 91% to 9% vote of the 2005 Spring Membership on May 8, 2005. Board members are Mike Nelson as the League Administrator, Laura Walls as Vice-Chair, Tom Lutes, Jr. as On-Site Treasurer, and Tom Giel as Secretary & Advisor. Officer titles are valid for two year terms, and can be re-confirmed by a vote of the bowlers present by the third session of the season. On Saturday May 21, 2005, eight of the ten current PCBA/Rosebowl Board of Trustee members, appointed by Tom in 2003, voted to release the Sunday League from any governance by the Portland Community Bowling Association (dba Rosebowl Classic) Board of Trustees. The ongoing League adopted the name of the Portland Community Bowling League (PCBL) to provide some consistency to the transition. |
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Our email addresses:
PDXbowl@Yahoo.com (Mike) |
Mailing Address: Portland Community Bowling League P.O. Box 42034 Portland, OR 97242 Phone number (503) 693-6261 |
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