You're from Wichita?  I'm from Topeka . .  Anyhow, we have a hall of fame also, and there are pros and cons to both ways.  If you have a points system, then you have a lot of very accomplished bowlers that will make the hall, but what do you do for other people with other significant contributions off the lanes?  We have a writer that works for the Capital Journal here that's been covering city bowling for a couple decades, but he does it in his spare time, the paper doesn't pay him for it, and he has to find room in the sports pages to put the article.  He deserves to be in our Hall, and will be soon, but a points system would never allow him consideration.  Rick Benoit also lives here, and he has some success on the lanes, but off the charts success off the lanes. 

However, we do not have a points system, our city men's board gets together and discusses proposed hall of fame candidates and then takes a vote.  The problem with this is that recently, a few guys have gotten elected that have no business being in there, and people have grumbled about elections by "the buddy system."  Our board has a lot of seniors on it, and they all seem to be intent on electing long time friends.  Had a guy elected a couple years ago that has never had an 800, only has one 300, and his major contribution?  Showing up for the last 10 years to be a youth "coach," or in all actuality somebody who shows up to chat and drink coffee and occasionally tell a kid to aim at the headpin and keep their arm straight.  And at the same time, we have guys who should be in the hall already, but apparently there's some age discrimination, as these guys have 30-40 300s and 800s apiece, city tournament titles, state tournament titles, association tournament titles, but they're not 40 yet. 

What I see as important is comparing who is going in the hall to who is already in there, and are these people deserving of being mentioned in the same breath?  Of course, we have guys in our Hall like Chris Barnes (born and raised here), Bob Benoit, Rick Benoit, Ron Bahr (2003 USBC Open Singles champ, only bowler in tournament history with back to back 300s), so you can't hold everyone to their standard, but I'd say someone who either had significant success on the lanes, or heavily contributed off the lanes (longtime city or state board member, tournament director, pro shop operator, etc.).  And of course, once somebody is in, they're in, there's no going back. 

Maybe a hybrid system would work best.  A points system for bowlers being admitted for success on the lanes, and a more open criteria for bowlers being admitted for contributions off the lanes.  Where the point threshhold should be and what number of points should be given for what accomplishment would take some real thought and time, but might be the fairest, however, anyone who goes into the hall should be someone that everyone in the community would expect to go in.  Like I said, the last several bowlers elected to our hall had a lot of people scratching their heads and cracking jokes.  Maybe I didn't give you specifics, but hopefully this gave you some food for thought. 

We also have two categories. Achievement and Service. Still mostly goes by the who you know or who you bl*w.

One of the ones that was elected this year is a very accomplished bowler but is the worlds worst sport. If his team happens to lose he always has an excuse.

It's touchy all the way around.  People that are in the Hall may not even be able to make a good decision on who should be in there or not.  When you have a local association making decisions on friends or people they know well, there's always going to be bias.  A system would eliminate that bias, but it would also eliminate a chance for some truly deserving people.  There was a guy here in town that really wasn't that good, he never shot any honor scores, never averaged 200, never won any tournaments, but he was at the bowling alley CONSTANTLY.  He loved bowling, he interacted with people, everybody and I mean everybody knew who he was.  He never served on the board or worked for a bowling alley or a pro shop, but he was an obvious choice to go in. 

The one thing that's always bothered me with bowling halls of fame is that people are still activiately participating in the sport. If you look at any other major sport, there is a minimum number of years you must be out of competition in order to be inducted. I mean in my opinion it would take some of the allure of the hall of fame to see current members playing in the Superbowl, NBA Finals, etc.

I've never understood why bowling hasn't followed this path.

Because bowling is a sport that people play until they die, and professional hall of fames are different.  Can't tell me MJ doesn't still play basketball.  I think people need to have the time to enjoy being a hall of fame member.  Bowling and golf are two sports people will continue to participate in after they have met the qualifications.  Waiting until somebody quits bowling at 90 to elect them into a hall of fame for things they did 50 years ago seems a little odd to me too, they might even get forgotten or overlooked. 

It seems like some local hall of fames are only good old boys clubs and if you aren't with the in-crowd members, forget it.

For the most, I can see where a lot of you are coming from with the local association's HoF being a good 'ol boys' club. I wish I could say the same about the one in my hometown, but I can't either confirm nor deny; last I was involved with it there was the mid-90s, when Ted Melonis was elected ABC president.

A lot of the people in the HoF there (Omaha) were for achievement; Ted Baer, which he and his wife sponsored and bowled in a lot of tournaments over the years there (they brought the PWBA and PBA tours to Omaha); Tom Kelley Jr. and Sr. (both over 50 years of service and PBA earnings).. I could go on and on.

But while most you would assume are mainly for achievements, Service says a lot. There's a guy already in the HoF there named Matt Tomsu. He's my age, and I'm under 40. He and I bowled youth and collegiates together. He started up a pro shop at one of the toughest houses in the city with another local HoF'er, and has been one of the most sought after guys for coaching since.

So while I can say that there are the local guys there that have been there for a while, there is some young blood in Omaha's HoF as well, and deservedly so.

BL.

Dear Sir_rev_a_lot:

On the point system that you suggest, how many points would be required for Hall of Fame eligibility?

Also, would you consider a bowler Hall of Fame eligible if he did all of the following? (a) bowled in the association for more than 40 years; (b) once carried the highest composite average of any association bowler over a 10-year period; (c) had high average in the association six times; (d) won eight local association tournament championships; (e) served as a league officer 59 times; (f) was on 60 league championship teams in the association, many of which were scratch leagues in which he carried high average