I remember the contest .. shoot 300, get $100 or something like that.

What was the name of the ball?

I believe it was called "The Bank" or something....

Close -- that was the "300 gets you a World Series of Poker entry" promotion

I believe if you follow the history of the company, the first ball was a navy colored orb distributed by the company called DYNOTHANE.   

The way I remember it, Columbia 300, Track, AMF and Dyno-Thane were being produced in San Antonio. Lane #1 was also being poured there on a contract basis.

Feel free to correct me on this, but Ebonite was already aligned with Hammer through an earlier purchase, and then bought out Columbia 300 and Track and moved them to Hopkinsville, Ky., leaving the San Antonio plant without an owner.

900 Global then forms from ... somewhere? not sure who ... and took over the plant. They received the rights to make balls under the AMF name in the deal, and retired the Dyno-Thane label outright, although they probably kept the patents/copyrights/etc. They also were still pouring Lane #1 on a contract basis. But the main thrust of the company was to make balls under the AMF and 900 Global nameplates. The original coverstocks had "S" on the 900 Global balls followed by a number, and "F" on the AMF balls.

I believe The Break was 900 Global's very first ball. I can't remember whether AMF got a Nighthawk remake, or whether the Code was the first one, but if the Code wasn't first it was certainly one of the first. Not long afterward, Lane #1 went belly up.

Then, Storm aligns with 900 Global and eventually moves everything to Utah after a period of time making balls in both locations. I was told by a Storm staffer last month that Storm technically owns the AMF license now, too, but nothing is being made with that label. I have no idea what the fate of the San Antonio plant was.

The way I remember it, Columbia 300, Track, AMF and Dyno-Thane were being produced in San Antonio. Lane #1 was also being poured there on a contract basis.

Feel free to correct me on this, but Ebonite was already aligned with Hammer through an earlier purchase, and then bought out Columbia 300 and Track and moved them to Hopkinsville, Ky., leaving the San Antonio plant without an owner.

900 Global then forms from ... somewhere? not sure who ... and took over the plant. They received the rights to make balls under the AMF name in the deal, and retired the Dyno-Thane label outright, although they probably kept the patents/copyrights/etc. They also were still pouring Lane #1 on a contract basis. But the main thrust of the company was to make balls under the AMF and 900 Global nameplates. The original coverstocks had "S" on the 900 Global balls followed by a number, and "F" on the AMF balls.

I believe The Break was 900 Global's very first ball. I can't remember whether AMF got a Nighthawk remake, or whether the Code was the first one, but if the Code wasn't first it was certainly one of the first. Not long afterward, Lane #1 went belly up.

Then, Storm aligns with 900 Global and eventually moves everything to Utah after a period of time making balls in both locations. I was told by a Storm staffer last month that Storm technically owns the AMF license now, too, but nothing is being made with that label. I have no idea what the fate of the San Antonio plant was.

Sounds like you have all the history reasonably correct! Just to add another little tidbit to this story.......my PSO is Gary Parsons.

Gary has always been a main force in the bowling industry behind the scenes and in the DMV area of the East Coast. He and Mo Pinel were close friends. So close that Mo named one of his ball creations after Gary. It was called the "GURU". It was mildly successful as it had maybe two or three iterations before they discontinued it.

When the 900 Global company was still in its infancy and the engineers were brain storming about what their first, initial ball offering would be......a group of these guys met up for lunch break at a local restaurant. Gary parsons was in the lunch group.

They talked a couple hours back and forth about marketing, and point of focus and a lot of stuff, until Gary told them to keep it simple! Design a ball that is fairly universal; easy to drill and good for a house shot. He gave them his specs which they wrote down on a napkin and whoosh.......that was the "Break" in discussions that they needed to
get things rolling for their brand new company!

And that's how the very first 900 Global ball was born! True story!

I'll go you one better on the Phil Cardinale stuff ...

One of the last balls (if not THE last ball) Columbia 300 made for Dyno-Thane was the Threshold. I still have one of them, and true to being a Cardinale design, that ball had/has crazy-long coverstock life and was strong but usable on a wide range of conditions from medium up.

Now, take a look at the link I'm posting here. It's the core of the Threshold. Recognize that core? It's the same one in the 900 Global Honey Badger asyms.

https://www.bowlingball.com/images/product/large/4597_2_.jpg

Someone just listed a NIB break point solid AND pearl on ebay. S73 with the break core.

Dang! I loved that ball!

The first 900 Global ball was "The Break". Black reactive solid. 2007