Jim McKenzie captured the handicapped all events with a 2,045 that included scratch scores of 642 in the team event, 725 in doubles, and 678 in singles.

Bill Barry and Kelly Sullivan won the handicapped doubles with scratch scores of 653 and 631 respectively, and a handicapped total of 1,579.

A tremendous effort was displayed by Scott Mulcahy to win the handicapped singles title by rolling his personal best scratch score of 649 with a handicap of 189 for and 838 series total.

The handicapped team event was won by the Fun Bunch #2 team with a score of 3,812. The total might be the highest team score ever bowled in the city championship tournament, but verification has not yet been found, spokesman Galen Rich said in a press release. Team members and their scratch scores were Jim McKenzie, 791; Eddie Zimpel, 639; Walt Parrett, 546; Keith Meagor, 690; and Dave W Martinich, 616.

The 69th Butte Women's Bowling Tournament saw Ruth McGinnis win the handicapped singles event with a scratch score of 427, plus a 206 handicap for a total of 633.

Raylene Shaffer and Brenda Rathbun won the handicapped doubles event with Shaffer's scratch score of 631 and Rathbun's scratch score of 645 for a total of 1,276. Since their averages did not allow for a handicap, they won this event with only their scratch scores.

The handicapped team event was won by The Man-Eaters team with a score of 2,506. Team members were Carolyn Parrow, 547; Debbie Martinich, 546; Raylene Shaffer, 588; and Brenda Rathbun, 657.

The two tournaments together had 54 teams (seven more than last year), 106 doubles, 212 singles, and 149 all-events entrants. Rich said association president Walt Parrett had much to do with the entry boosts.

Collapse

Martinich's victory overshadowed a fine performance by the tournament leader going into the stepladder, Todd Edelen. Edelen averaged 230 and won 10 of 12 games. He also rolled the tournament high game of 289, and a sizzling 760 for the high series.

Edelen, who won the tournament in 2007, lost the title match to Martinich 236-186, to claim runner-up status for the second consecutive year.

Also in the stepladder were Barry Butori, who soldiered through back problems and still managed to finish 3rd, losing to Martinich 258-205. Finishing next was Dave's son, Denton Martinich, who lost to his father 257-192. 18 year old Denton shot his first ever 700 series during the tournament, rolling a 705, and his 4th place was the highest finish in the history of the tournament by someone 18 or younger. Finishing in 5th place was the truly remarkable Bill Meagor, the man that the tournament is named after. Competing at the age of 72, he became the oldest bowler ever to make the top 5. Meagor lost to Denton Martinich 174-172, in the final's closest match.

Thirty-six of Butte's top bowlers participated in this years tournament, with the top eighteen finishing in the money.

The remaining Sunday-morning tourney qualifiers and their Peterson point totals follow:

6.   Patrick O'Rourke Jr,   55.43;
7.   Ryley Bosch,   55.33;
8.   Jim McKenzie,   55.22;
9.   Austin Brug,   55.05;
10. Brenda Rathbun,   54.44;
11. Mike Krankowski,   54.38;
12. Mark Hodges,   54.22;
13. Laurie Tripp,   53.41;
14. Dan Grundhauser,   53.10;
15. Debbie Martinich,   52.23;
16. Bob Shaw,   51.03;
17. Bill Kingston,   50.25;
18. Walt Parrett,   48.21;

Tourney Sidelights - This years Domino's Pizza skins game was very competitive as all 4 participants picked up skins. Jack Hocking ended up the winner of this years competition, with Brenda Rathbun finishing in 2nd, Dan Newton 3rd, and Jesse Tracy finishing 4th.

This years edition of the Countdown-Countup challenge sponsored by Butori Collision was also a cliff-hanger as Denton Martinich edged Patrick O'Rourke Jr, 11-9, to capture the title. The consolation was shared by Frank Butori Jr., Kim Fortune, Leo Levengood and Joe Martinich. Butori, this years only junior bowler entered in the tournament, received his prize in the form of a scholarship.

- Submitted by Walt Parrett - Tournament Manager

Collapse

"We are closing down," said Murphy, who owns the lanes with his mother Elsie. "It wasn't an easy decision, and it is pretty heartbreaking right now."

The lanes were home to three major leagues, the Monday Night 535 Classified, the Wednesday Night Mixed and the Friday Night Mixed leagues.

With the season coming up in the fall, bowlers in those leagues likely will try to find openings at the city's other four establishments, Little's Lanes, the Elks, Black Eagle Lanes and Aces High on Malmstrom Air Force Base.

"I have not heard where any of those leagues may go," Murphy said.

He did not elaborate on why the lanes closed, other than to say finances were a part of it, along with other factors.

"When my father (Jack) died, it crippled us," Murphy said. "We were hoping to sell the lanes to someone who would keep the bowling operation going."

Rumors surfaced earlier in the summer that the lanes had been sold and would be open in the fall under new management.

"We've had some ongoing sales talk to keep it in operation as a bowling center," Murphy said. "But, nothing has come through.

"We are also selling the liquor license," he added.

The bowling center closed its doors on June 3. Employees were let go at that time, with the understanding the lanes may reopen in the fall.

"It was a business decision which I think was very unfair by not letting the secretariesknow at the end of last year that they where closing," said Floyd Bruner, who was a league secretary and bowled in a number of leagues at Pin & Cue. "I hope that all the bowlers will find a way to keep on bowling."

Earlier this year, Murph's Party Bowl, located on the East Side of Great Falls, ended its bowling operation at the completion of the league season. Skyway Bowl, another Murphy property, closed in the 1990s.

The latest closings leave Great Falls, which once had more than seven bowling centers totaling more than 100 lanes, with just 48 lanes.

"This news was kind of expected," said Don Jordan, president of the local sanctioning organization, the Great Falls USBC. "This is going to kill us from getting any state tournaments in the future.

"Right now, all that we would qualify for are the seniors and the state mixed, if they still have that tourney."

The state association stipulates that a city must have two centers that total at least 32 lanes.

In Great Falls, Little's Lanes has 16 lanes, the Elks has 12 lanes, Black Eagle has eight lanes and the base has a 12-lane house.

State tournaments are a boon to the local economy, with six to eight straight weekends of bowlers filling hotels and frequenting local restaurants.

Jordan said he has received daily phone calls from displaced bowlers. He noted that all of the leagues at Little's have filled up and a new Wednesday late mixed league has formed.

"I have tried to get into contact with the person who ran the youth and high school leagues over at Pin & Cue to see if we can set something up," Jordan said.

In addition to the leagues at Little's, Black Eagle Lanes and the Elks each picked up new leagues.

"We picked up a new league on Saturday nights and our women's league on Thursday has expanded from three-person teams to four," said Rod Hackett, who manages the Elks Lanes.

"I said I would do anything to accommodate all the bowlers, if I can and it works into our ongoing schedule, but I'm afraid we are going to lose a lot of bowlers out of the association because of this," Hackett added.

Collapse

Induction ceremonies will be held Friday as the state women's bowling tournament gets under way in Anaconda at both Cedar Park Lanes and the Copper Bowl. Atchison is one of two area women who will go into the Hall of Fame this spring. The other is Anaconda resident Sandi Beaudette.

"I'm tickled with being recognized," Atchison said recently at Star Lanes. "I got an application, filled it out and was hopeful. When they told me I got it, it made me feel pretty special." Also pretty special is that her husband, Bud, is also a state and local bowling Hall of Famer. They are believed to be the first Butte couple to both go into the state Hall. Fittingly, they met bowling.

Dolores Atchison said she first rolled a bowling ball down an alley almost 55 years ago, at age 20. She joined a league for the 1964-65 season at the YMCA lanes, which no longer exist. Bowling buzzed in Butte in the '60s. Bowling centers dotted the landscape and Dolores Atchison went on to compete at Winter Garden Lanes, which is now the King Pin Lanes center, before going on to Star Lanes where she now participates.

She will turn 75 in July and continues to work at the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT), where she has been employed for 20 years.

"It gives me something to do," she said of her continuing on the bowling scene. "I look forward to it. I work tournaments and I have for years. It is something I enjoy doing. I don't plan on quitting." The counting, pencil pushing, administering seemed, indeed, to be the pride and joy for Atchison. She admittedly relishes it. But the bowling hasn't been bad, either.

"When I first started at the YMCA, I was not very good at it," she said. "I got interested and joined a league. Once I joined a league, I never quit.

There was the 705 three-game series, the first 700 series by a woman in Butte, in 1985 at Star Lanes — on Feb. 15 in the Strike & Spare Mixed League. Her highest average for a season was 165 and it occurred before the big score years of more recent decades. She rolled a 258 game once. Her 705 set was accomplished with games of 204, 246 and 250.

"It came so easy," Atchison remembered. "I used a Columbia White Dot (ball). It was so easy to shoot that. I'd like to do it one more time. I haven't shot one (a 700) since, haven't actually bowled good since." Her highest tournament game was a 222, was on the third-place team in the 1985 city tournament and was half of the state doubles championship team in 1977. Atchison also placed third in the 1985 Jeanette Martinich 160-and-Over tournament.

"It was a very good year," Atchison smiled about 1985.

Bowling took her on the road, too. Though she wasn't on a pro tour of any kind, Atchison still saw plenty of places and highway pursuing her hobby, her game, her sport.

"I attended 43 state tournaments and was in charge of scorekeepers in 1977 before the automatics (automated scorekeepers)," she remembered. "I've gone to Great Falls, Missoula and Billings for state tournament — went to Reno twice for Nationals. " Atchison has competed in 45 open Montana tournaments, three state senior tourneys and three state mixed tournaments, as well as five national ones.

The persistence is notable. But the service has been extraordinary.

Atchison served as the women's bowling state director for nine years, has worked every state tournament held in Butte as either director or co-director and is currently a director on the USBC board. At the league level, Atchison has 38 years in as a mixed league secretary and 25 doing if for a women's league.

She has put in six years as the Butte association president, four as vice president and 24 years as a director.

"I've been a coordinator of the game just because I enjoy it," Atchison said. "I like the behind-the-scenes part, the administration.

Some hip and leg problems have hampered Atchison's bowling of late. Yet, her average of 145 to 150 is only a mark off the 165 she once maintained in younger years. They were golden years, at least for the sport and for it in Butte.

"I've seen a lot changes," she said. "The automatics have been upgrades for it. There's a lot of differences." She and Bud went through them together. They met shortly after Bud moved to Butte from Great Falls and joined a bowling league. They married, but had no children.

"I raised Bud," Dolores joked. "We've both been involved with the bowling organizations and we've stayed involved." They're still fixtures at Star Lanes. Bud works behind the counter, coaches junior bowlers and competes himself, having earned induction to state, local and the Young American Bowling Alliance Halls of Fame. Dolores can be found with her bound notebook of league ledgers and, of course, her bowling ball. Both bowled several times a week, though Dolores is now in one women's league that competes once a week and no longer is in a mixed league.

"I bowl now because I enjoy it," she said and smiled as she greeted other women's leaguers showing up to bowl.

Collapse