National Bowling League

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The National Bowling League (NBL) is a defunct professional bowling league that tried to challenge the upstart Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) from Oct. 12, 1961 to May 6, 1962, and ride the popularity of bowling television shows. According to Uncle John's Supremely Satisfying Bathroom Reader, the league is a famous flop.

NBL was the brainchild of Len Homel who thought of the idea in 1959, but didn't get support until an article by Don Snyder in 1960's "The Bowlers Journal". This league was divided East/West for 135 interdivision matches, 5 games a week, until the "World Series" of bowling. Unlike the individual records of the PBA, bowlers were parts of teams that competed against other cities.

The teams were the Detroit Thuderbirds, Dallas Broncos, New York Gladiators, Kansas City Stars, Twin City Skippers, Los Angeles Toros, Fort Worth Panthers, Fresno Bombers, San Antonio Cavaliers (folded Dec. 17, 1961), and Omaha Packers. Each bowler had a one-year salary of $6,000 and the first year salary of the league was $800,000. The first match was New York at Dallas.

Bowling dominated television at the time with NBC having "Championship Bowling" and other television shows like "Make that Spare", "Bowling for Dollars", and "Celebrity Bowling." However, most famous bowlers went to the PBA instead. The ABC network chose the PBA over the National Bowling League. ABC televised PBA matches on the Saturday afternoon "Pro Bowlers Tour" in 1961, which ran until 1997, and continued on CBS and now today on ESPN.

Without a television contract, the NBL did start "arena style bowling" using four to six lanes with structures for viewing (from 1,150 to 3,250), which is now used today in the PBA. Kansas City's Midland and Omaha's Paramount were famous movie theaters that were now arenas. Some had spot lighted lanes, scoreboards, semi circle pattern seats, press box, concessions stands, and dressing rooms.

Uncle John's Supremely Satisfying Bathroom Reader quotes, the "owner of Dallas Broncos poured millions into his franchise" with a 2,500 Bronco Bowl with 6 lanes and 18 rows of seats in a semi-circle including a seven piece jazz band to entertain between games." However, signs of the league failing is noted in Uncle John's by saying the franchise, "couldn't fill [the] arena in opening night."

In the book "Let's Go Bowling," the league had a scandal beforehand when "rivals claimed one of their ilk tried to bribe Don Carter with promises of a pig farm" and " most bowlers hesitated to give up their status as part of the PBA to join." Also in "Let's go Bowling," a 19th Century National Bowling League was established in 1890s featuring lanes with "singers, dancers, clowns, and chimpanzees that bowled" and a New York Gladiators bowling team projecting a "40-lane center magically suspended over the main waiting room in New York City's Grand Central Station." The book states that the league was "put to rest" when the Detroit Thurnderbirds "slaughtered" the Twin City Skippers in three straight matches.

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