kakcpa
PBA Forum Member
Member # 23072
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It was August 13, 1974 at the
$50,000 NEW JERSEY OPEN held at Edison Lanes, Edison, N.J. Don
McCune, father of current PBA bowler, Eugene McCune, qualified
4th. He moved up the stepladder defeating Don Johnson, Joe Berardi,
and Marshall Holman to meet Carmon Salvino in the title match.
Both players spared twice to open the title game. Then Salvino
doubled in the third and fourth frames and added three more in the
seventh, eighth and ninth frames and McCune just couldn't catch
up. Salvino ended up defeating McCune 208-192. McCune collected
$2,900 for his 2nd place finish.
This event aired on HBO Sports, and the commentators were Dick
Stockton and Skee Foremsky. It was also Berardi and Holman's first
appearance on TV. The TV production is very primitive. Stockton is
not very informative. I guess you have to start somewhere in TV
commentating. I will have future posts concerning this tournament,
as it's very interesting.
McCune, a year earlier in 1973, had an oustanding season,
capturing 6 titles greatly assisted by his discovery of soaking a
bowling ball to soften up the shell to gain an advantage. Here's a
little more info:
SOAKER/SOAKING THE BALL
In the 1970's, Don McCune, a PBA player, discovered that if you
soaked a ball with a particular solvent (Methyl Ethyl Ketone, aka
"mek") it made the surface of hard polyester balls
softer, resulting in more hook and higher scores. He won several
events that year; the PBA and ABC ultimately banned this practice
and initiated a standard for the hardness of a ball.
Also, take note a very young Joe Berardi who was interviewed by
Dick Stockton.
Larry Lichstein:
The tournament was held at Edison Lanes,owned by Tommy Swales!
Edison Lanes also hosted a PBA stop in 1967! The Suswald 5 gamer
was also held there! Holman"s hair on that show was
rediculous,what a mop! Edison had 80 lanes at the time it was
built,it was the largest center in the US! Carmen won the
tournament throwing a 78 hardness white dot! It was a 4D
series,these balls bled and because Carmen was so secretive,many
thought he was using a soaker! Soakers had been banned the year
before! The pro's wanted bleeders,and after this win it was
sugested to Columbia,to make a bleeder ball! Their next intro was
the Yellow Dot Bleeder!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgKtUJbKfm8
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