AC Butch on Action Bowling...

[Zoo Master]

The PBA, My Worst Nightmare

My name is AC Butch, I'm from Brooklyn NY and I started bowling action in 1957 at the age of 13. These were the great days of bowling before the PBA came along and corrupted it. This site is dedicated to the truly greats of the game, the action bowlers.

The PBA screwed up right from day one; many of the bowlers that signed with them in the early years were great characters loaded with color and personality. The PBA, being the idiots that they are, not only didn't take advantage of the greatest show on earth, but chose to penalize and strip these people of their natural gamesmanship and emotion. Tennis became so popular because of the bad boys of the game; bowlings bad boys could have made everyone else look like wanna bees. Instead of highlighting what people love to see the most, it was wrongfully taken away from all of us.

The greatness of any head to head competition is the unmonitored emotion that goes with it; the PBA turned potential super stars into robots. Bowling always received good ratings, If I were producing the show the ratings would have been spectacular. The guy who initiated the dress code for TV should of been put in jail for robbing the great personalities of the game of their identity, not to mention the huge amounts of additional income they could of earned along with the notoriety they would have received. Because of my love of the game, I watched bowling every Saturday for years, these were the same guys I bowled with and against in my early days, when I would see the Joe College make over the PBA did on them, I wanted to puke, and many times did.

While I'm at it, I might as well also blast this organization for being piss poor contract negotiators, how in the world are golf and tennis pros making fortunes, when the most popular game of all is still in the dark ages of prize funds, they should be at the very least, ten times what they are. This site is not for the average bowling fan. It's for all the people that were involved with the great action bowling of the past, to my knowledge; it doesn't exist any more, at least not to the extent of what it was. I would like everyone that was, or is, part of the action scene, to share their memories, good or bad, with all the visitors to this site. At present I am working on a motion picture deal with Fine Line Cinema about my life story, the working title is ACTION. It's about the hay days of action bowling from the fifties through the seventies….

This is my opinion of the PBA organization, not the bowlers, who I think are the greatest.

AC butch

[VNL 1]

AC Butch

Best of luck with the movie deal - I am sure if it is told correctly, it would make one heck of a film - many stories and characters from your "Action era"

[Harry the Horse]

AC Butch - You are right on the money when you say that great action bowling just doesn't exist any more - it was only as you say: from the fifties to the seventies, especially in the sixties, when I bowled with and against all the great ones, the kind that just aren't around any more - Lemon, Ralph, Medici, Palefski, Dewey... Nobody like that any more. I said the exact same thing on a different thread that I started: "Only The Sixties."

[Zoo Master]

harrythehorse said:

AC Butch - You are right on the money when you say that great action bowling just doesn't exist any more - it was only as you say: from the fifties to the seventies, especially in the sixties, when I bowled with and against all the great ones, the kind that just aren't around any more - Lemon, Ralph, Medici, Palefski, Dewey... Nobody like that any more. I said the exact same thing on a different thread that I started: "Only The Sixties."

I was their with Butch, the sixties for sure were the heydays of action, the only thing that brought the seventies in it were the likes of Jeff and the whole Bill daly crew, Joe Breardi, etc, plus Max the backer of course, but it still doesn't come near the 60s, not even close, the Horn was in there but had already seen his better days go by him...

Nothing can compare to Central lanes and Ave M Bowl plus many other great action houses from the 60s, almost to many to remember...

[OLD TIMER]

There are not enough sponsors out there to support the tour in order to increase the prize fund each week by thousands.. At least these new millionaire owners for a few years now are keeping it alive. FYI, Disney dumped the PBA when they bought out ABC. They were looking for a younger audience. They had a stop last year or the year before where the finals were held in a major league baseball stadium. Only 5,000 showed up.

[numnuts]

JUST READ IN OTHER SECTION harry the hump's comments on the tour referring to the stop last week. WHAT A FREAKEN DOUCEBAG. YOU KNOW/KNEW SQUAT ABOUT THE GAME. COMPARING THE TOUR TO MOST OF THE HUMPS THAT BOWLED ACTION. DUKE MADE A BALSY MOVE AND WON. NOT IMPRESSED. THE WEEK BEFORE, WEBER STOOD IN THE LEFT DITCH PLAYING 30 AND MADE THIS DIFFICULT SHOT LOOK EASY. YOU KNOW SHIT ABOUT THESE GREAT BOWLERS. GOOD RIDDANCE HUMP WHO WAS PROBABLY A DOG HIMSELF BACK IN THE DAY. jaros by the way may not be outstanding but he has won 6 stops and won one major. so good riddance asshole. you are the turd that knows shit about the game.

[numnuts]

HARRY THE HUMP BOWLED WITH THE GREATS. YEAH MY GRANDMA WOULD HAVE KICKED YOUR ASS FROM THE GRAVE. GO BACK TO YOUR DREAM WORLD AND WHEEL CHAIR YOU OLD MAN. WHAT A FREAKEN HUMP AND LOSER.

[Lefty Mike]

I don't know who this numnuts character is, but I bowled action in the Bronx in the sixties, and Harry the Horse was one of the best action bowlers I ever saw. He always put up big numbers, and I saw him beat Ralph Engan, Lemon, and other top shooters. He also knew a lot about bowling, and even the big guns would come to him for help with their game when they were in a slump. I just read his last post, and he's right, any of the top action bowlers from the sixties would kill these PBA rags.

[Teddy]

The Horse was for real, a great action bowler.

[NUMNUTS]

ANOTHER JACKASS. dUKE WAS A FORMER ACTION BOWLER. THESE GREATS OF ACTION EXCEPT FOR LEMON AND THE HORN HAD no SHOT AGAINST duke a 23 winner on the tour.I never saw hairy the hump but knew everybody else. get a fraken life. you're not giving the pros enuf credit. alot are really good and would have been so with rubber. pete weber shot his first 300 at 12 with rubber. duke won his first stop at 18. you jackasses should do your homework before you talk.\\\\rALPH ONLY WOM THREE STOPS. ERNIE WAS SHIT O.IN THE TOUR UNTIL URETHANE AND RESIN CAME ALONG. sO NOW HAIRY THE HUMP AND CO. GO BACK TO DREAM LAND AND KEEP THINKING ABOUT THE GOOD OLD DAYS.

[From The Day]

Why type in caps?

In the 60s there were many times the amount of really good action bowlers with class as there are now, why?

When it came to 190 to 200 shotters there was more than you could count that bowled real good action, these same bowlers would be about 215-220 on todays conditions...

[on the money]

NUMNUTS said:

ANOTHER JACKASS. dUKE WAS A FORMER ACTION BOWLER. THESE GREATS OF ACTION EXCEPT FOR LEMON AND THE HORN HAD no SHOT AGAINST duke a 23 winner on the tour.I never saw hairy the hump but knew everybody else. get a fraken life. you're not giving the pros enuf credit. alot are really good and would have been so with rubber. pete weber shot his first 300 at 12 with rubber. duke won his first stop at 18. you jackasses should do your homework before you talk.\\\\rALPH ONLY WOM THREE STOPS. ERNIE WAS SHIT O.IN THE TOUR UNTIL URETHANE AND RESIN CAME ALONG. sO NOW HAIRY THE HUMP AND CO. GO BACK TO DREAM LAND AND KEEP THINKING ABOUT THE GOOD OLD DAYS.[/quote

What about Kidder?