A. B. C. in Columbus

"Palooka!" "Spaghetti bender!" "Wop Barber!" Bowling cries like these have resounded since March 9 in the Fair Grounds Auditorium in Columbus, Ohio. There after a month of bowling by more than 8,000 expert bowlers, each with his own $17 composition rubber ball, the annual A. B. C. (American Bowling Congress) Tournament ended last week. Titles:

Doubles ($500)--Gil Zunker & Frank Benkovic (Milwaukee).

Singles ($300)--Earl Hewitt (Erie, Pa.).

All-events ($130)--Zunker, with 228.8 average for nine games.

Five-Man Teams ($1,000)--Flaig's Opticians (Covington, Ky.).

The A. B. C. tournament, No. 1 event of the year for U. S. bowlers, is held every year in a city selected by the Congress, which pays Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co. $10,000 for building 30 new alleys which are later sold for what they will bring. To the tournament at Columbus went 1,597 teams. About 56 teams bowled each day, starting in the evening with five-man competition, playing off singles and doubles from 9 to 6 the next day. Only one alley employe or exhibitionist (professional) was allowed on any team; each ball was carefully weighed before its owner used it, to make sure that it did not vary from the standard weight of 16 lb.

The bowling balls, many of them engraved with their owners' names in small colored letters, had either two or three finger holes; bowlers carried them home at night in little canvas or leather cases, tailored to the proper shape. Wise contestants wore specially constructed bowling shoes with soft-leather uppers and elkskin soles. This year's tournament was smaller than the one a year ago at Buffalo, no less handsomely conducted. Reams of red, blue and gold banners made the Fair Grounds Auditorium satisfactorily impressive.

After registering its scores, any team could go home. Most preferred to stay. Before the month was over there had been recorded the third perfect game (300 points for 12 strikes in a row) bowled in the 33-year history of A. B. C. tournaments. Jack Karstens, a private in the U. S. infantry stationed at Fort Sheridan, Ill., bowled his perfect game playing with J. Bruno in the doubles. Their total score of 1,193 left them far down the list.

The rule against professionals helps to equalize scores in the A. B. C. tournaments. Competition is so close that no bowler had ever had his name put up among the title holders twice until Frank Matthew Benkovic, who won the doubles last year with Charles Daw, won again last week. Actually, Zunker & Benkovic won the title a fortnight ago; the crowded gallery that watched them rolling up the record total of 1.415 knew that no two-man team was likely to approach it in the remaining days of the tournament. Shouts of "Attaboy!" made a deafening uproar as Bowler Zunker moved to another set of alleys, proceeded to roll 712 in three games for his singles score and a record high of 2,060 pins in the all-events (total score made by an individual in five-man team, doubles, singles). Said Bowler Zunker after making his record: "Just a strike streak; one of those crazy things we all hope for."

Gilbert August Zunker learned to bowl at the age of five. His father. Gustave, pioneer Milwaukee alley proprietor, had a special little ball made for him. He bowled constantly till he was 16, then stopped for eight years, started again when he was 24. At 32. bowling is now Gil Zunkers only pastime. He allows his four-year-old daughter to play with his favorite bowling ball in the sitting room of his Milwaukee home. Frank Matthew Benkovic, four years younger than his partner, manages the Antler Bowling Alley in Milwaukee. Short, stocky, incipiently bald, he started to bowl seven years ago, spent a year working in a filling station to put bowling muscles in his arms. Least fortunate of last week's champions was Bowler Earl Hewitt. After posting the 724 which won the singles against 4,687 comers, he went to bed with appendicitis. He inhaled three cans of ether, woke up three days after the operation, ordered all flowers removed from his room, paid his surgeon with his $300 prize.

The American Bowling Congress, founded in 1895 to standardize the game, now has 405 member associations, 25,000 registered teams. Each team pays $1 a year dues; each 50 teams elects one representative to the Congress which meets to do its work while the tournament is being held. The Congress last week:

Adopted an amendment to the constitution providing that all member association treasurers be bonded, because of Depression's temptations.

Voted to provide every member club with a subscription, to be paid for by the A. B. C., to the Bowlers Journal, largest bowling publication in the U. S.

Awarded 106 gold medals to bowlers who made 300 in sanctioned tournaments in the past fiscal year.

Elected Charles Koch of Cleveland president to succeed Elmer Baumgarten of Chicago. Last November, ex-President Baumgarten became acting secretary of the A. B. C. when A. L. Langtry. secretary since 1905, had to be removed to an insane asylum.

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