Foundation Games XVI

March 2003  PBA National  Menards, New York  ( At Olympic Lanes )

1.  Brian LeClair, Chatham, New York
2.  Rudy Kasimakis, Gouldsboro, Pennsylvania
3.  Joe Mazuryk, Albany, New York

Menands, New York:  Tournament Promoter Chuck McNally brought together some of the top talent in the northeast to compete in the final event of the Foundation Games 16-tournament series. Even though the bowler turnout was relatively small due to conflicting events in the area, the overall quality of the competitors was not disappointing, as PBA star; Brian LeClair outdistanced another PBA star, Rudy Kasimakis, at beautiful Olympic Lanes this past weekend.

McNally, a Foundation Member with a rare and true passion for the Sport of Bowling , contacted Kegel several months ago with the hopes of learning more about the sometimes mysterious aspects of lane conditioning. His main interest was to put out more challenging lane conditions for the bowlers in his area to compete on. After learning more about the Foundation Games,  his heart soon was set on hosting one of these treasured tournaments. Details were ironed out and the event became a reality as McNally did all he could (and more) to make the event a success.

Day One:  Friday, March 28, 2003:  Kegel Lane Maintenance Technician, John Janawicz arrived and met with McNally and Olympic Bowl owners John Oureilidis and George Vafiadis. They went over the entire tournament schedule. Janawicz also met with Steve Smith (from neighboring Hometown Lanes), who was gracious enough to loan their Sanction lane machine to this tournament as a back-up. That night, McNally ran a "Sweeper",  as a prelude to the main event which was to start the next morning. The Sweeper would give some of the competitors the opportunity to bowl on the "Short" pattern which would be the one that they would see on the opening squad. The "short" was to a distance of: 31-feet, using a total volume of: 19.81 mL, per-lane. This pattern is not frequently seen in this day and age of high-powered bowling balls.

Day Two:  Saturday, March 29, 2003:  After a late night tending to the sweeper, JJ arrived at the bowl at 4:30am to start this day's lane-man activities. He mixed the Fizzion lane cleaner and cleaned off all the lanes to be used with the back-up machine. The "short" pattern was programmed into the other Sanction lane machine and the all-important Process Verification was checked by the ever-present McNally. All went according to schedule, and then the entire field bowled the first 5-games of the 10-game qualifying round. Even though less than a third of the field failed to average over 200 on this challenging "short" pattern, Tour veteran Kasimakis found the lanes to his liking by leading the squad with a total of: 1127, a 222.5 average. John Walther III, was in second at 1072, and the very talented Kenny Wokobosky was in third with: 1054. Overall scoring was low, which was expected on this pattern. The players then took a short break, as JJ cleaned the lanes and set-up the "Long Pattern" in this unique, multiple pattern Foundation Games event. This pattern was to a distance of: 43-feet, using 19.53 mL, per-lane.

The athletes then returned to the lanes to test their skills on this "new" pattern, and immediately saw something more familiar. Joe Mazuryk, who was lost on the short pattern in the morning, quickly got lined-up and rolled the only 300-game of the tournament in the very first game of this second round. Many other players also saw their scores escalate as they were all able to use more aggressive equipment. Rudy "revs" continued his assault on the pins and ended up as the qualifying leader at: +336, with Walther qualifying 2nd , and eventual winner LeClair, in 3rd place.

Day Three:  Sunday, March 30, 2003 : Prior to the start of the Finals, another squad would be had with bowlers having another opportunity to advance to Match-Play. On this day, half of the lanes were dressed with the "long", and the other half were dressed with the "short". This extra qualifier would feature a 4-game block with bowlers rolling 2-games, on each pattern. Tim Banks and Ron Gardner would advance and join the 6-players who had previously earned their way. Now the stage was set for the Finalists to bowl an 8-game "round-robin" segment, with the highest qualifier earning the right to pick the pair that the match would be on.

Needless to say, most all games were bowled on the "long" pattern and the leader's scores remained outstanding. Rudy started strong by winning his first 4-games and earning 30-pins for each victory. However, LeClair was unstoppable by winning seven of his eight matches while reeling off scores, of: 248-234-278-267-269-244-234 and 234. His only loss was with a score of: 244 in game #6. LeClair picked up the first-place check of $3000.00. Always a crowd favorite Kasimakis, was second and earned $1500.00, and Mazuryk finished third, earning $750.00.

Presentations of the checks and the revered Foundation Games Medals for the top-3 were made by McNally. LeClair received the Gold Medal and an expense paid trip to the International Foundation Games "Invitational" Championships to be held in Lake Wales, Florida this coming July. Rudy won the Silver and Mazuryk got the Bronze, along with the Earl Anthony Award of Excellence for his perfect game. All 3-players are expected to compete in the Finals in July.

Some Tournament "Quotes" that were overheard from Chuck McNally:

* (Prior to the start of the tournament, Chuck was talking to one of the area's top bowlers, Allen Teal): "I'm more nervous than these guys. Look at how relaxed they are. This is great."

* (While talking to a group of the Competitors): "These Foundation Games could be our last, best hope of bringing back integrity to bowling."

* (Again, while talking to a group of the Players): "I have to believe that these Foundation Games are the next "BIG THING", in bowling."

* (This time Chuck was talking to the Fans): "Half of the fun in a tournament is having Rudy "Revs" and Kenny Hall in the House - bowl with them sometime and you will see why."

* (Chuck was being thanked by several of the Players for bringing in the tournament for them to bowl in.) He said, "I love it. Whatever I can do to promote the Game and its Players, I will. But, keep in mind that I really couldn't do it without all of the help that I get from the Sponsors. Track and Del Warren have been great. Also, I want to thank Coor's for their involvement as well as all of the other sponsors. I certainly hope that we can do this tournament again next year. I am already looking forward to it."

The tournament was a huge success and hopefully there will be another "series" of these events.