The Bowling News

WRITERS
	TONY FRANKLIN Owner/Publisher tony@TheBowlingNews.net Tony bowled for the University of Texas-Arlington collegiate bowling team in 1989. Franklin was a member of Professional Bowlers Association from 1991 – 2003 and the owner of 8 PBA Regional titles in the Southwest Region. He won his first PBA Regional event at the age of 19 as an amateur. In 1993, Franklin won $50,000 first prize in US National Scratch Tournament in San Antonio, TX. Franklin is currently an IT Recovery Manager for PepsiCo and has worked there for 10 years, but in August 2009, he and his wife Genie became proud owners of The Bowling News. He married his wife, Genie in 1999, and 4 months later added their dog, Reese to the family. It only took another 7 years for his beautiful daughter Tori to come along. Sometimes the best things in life are worth waiting for. His fondest bowling memories include working for Bruce Rowe at his Pro Shop at Showplace-Euless. He started working there as a Junior in High School and learned about the bowling business, life lessons, and most importantly how NOT to be the fish in a card game. Tony is a Member of the BWAA.

	TYSON BRANAGAN tyson@TheBowlingNews.net Originally from Phoenix, AZ, Tyson moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 2006 to become Manager of The Bowling Shops owned by Dino Castillo. Since his tenure, The Bowling Shops has expanded to three locations. Branagan bowled collegiately at Arizona State University and was named All-American 1999-2000. In July 2004, he won the True Amateur Tournament Champion in Las Vegas, NV. Branagan has one of the few 800's bowled at the USBC Open Championship tournament. He logged an 823 in the team event and helped his team to a 3rd place finish in Corpus Christi in 2006. Tyson is also a member of the Hammer Bowling Staff. Branagan resides in Irving, TX with Jennifer and his beautiful one year old daughter, Makenly.

	BREANNE EOFF breanne@TheBowlingNews.net Breanne is originally from suburban Milwaukee, WI and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Communication Arts. She moved to Arlington, TX in December of 2008 with the relocation of the United States Bowling Congress. She currently works in the International Bowling Campus Youth Department as the High School and Collegiate Coordinator. She's married to Derek Eoff and has one daughter, Alayna, 1 year old. She loves college football, especially the Wisconsin Badgers, bowling and playing softball.

	EMIL WILLIAMS JR emil@TheBowlingNews.net Emil was born and raised in Chicago, and continues to call the "The Windy City" home. He started bowling at the age of five, and hasn't stopped since. Emil attended Lindenwood University where he obtained a bachelor's degree in mass communication, and a master's degree in communication. While attending school, he was a member of the men's bowling team which won the 2005 Intercollegiate Team Championship. Emil was also involved in sports broadcasting while in school, and provided play-by-play for several sports broadcasts at Lindenwood and for various area high schools. Most recently, Emil was a staff member at the 2010 USBC Open Championships. He was involved in the day-to-day operations of the Open Championships as a media relations assistant and tournament services representative. I love the Chicago Bears, Bulls, White Sox, Blackhawks and "The U" football.

	JIM WOODRUFF bigdjim@aol.com Born and raised in Ennis, TX, Woodruff moved to Dallas in 1942. After high school, he went into the Navy in 1944 as an 18-year-old, serving as a gunner and was discharged after two years. He attended SMU from 1946-1950, was sports editor of SMU Campus, the school paper. That was during SMU's glory days in football with Doak Walker and Kyle Rote. After graduating in 1950, Woodruff worked for 11 months at Texas City Sun as the sports editor and a general reporter. He then went to Galveston as a sports editor for four years and spent 35 years with the Dallas Times Herald. Fifteen of those years were spent as sports editor, running the department under executive sports editor Blackie Sherrod, whom he would call the greatest newspaper man ever. Woodruff retired from Dallas Times Herald at 65 one year before it folded. Woodruff didn't do anything for a year, so Joe talked him into becoming feature editor for the Bowling News in 1991 and that is what he has been doing ever since.

COLUMNISTS
	CLINT DACY Off the Sheet with the Daceman clint@TheBowlingNews.net Clint was born in Fort Worth and currently lives in Keller with his newlywed wife Nikki, his 12 year old daughter Haley, and two dogs Lexi and Jasmine. Clint graduated from Trinity High School in Euless, TX in 1992 and was a fixture on the HEB School district’s Channel 28 Update. His sophomore year of high school he entered a broadcast journalism class where he delivered newscasts and announced sporting events for Cable 28. Although he did not choose a career in journalism he still finds himself in the media with his “Off the Sheet” column in The Bowling News. Clint currently works for Hospital Corporation of America as a Physician Support Coordinator where he spends his days working with physicians to make sure they have the technology they need to perform their jobs. Bowling wise Clint is currently competing in the Southwest Region PBA, and has been a member of the PBA since 1996. He dropped his card for several years as a lack of success drove him into temporary retirement. However, in 2007 he became the first non-member in PBA history to capture back to back regional titles. In 2008 he rejoined the PBA and is still competing today. Clint also recently joined Brunswick bowling and is a member of their Pro Shop Staff.

	CAROLYN DORIN-BALLARD Can, Do, Believe Born in Linden, New Jersey is one of the top female ten-pin bowlers in the World. She was a member of the PWBA (when it existed) and has bowled in PBA Tournaments as well. She is the official spokesperson of High School Bowling USA, a member of the Brunswick Professional Teaching Staff, and endorses Dexter bowling equipment. She is an exempt competitor in the 2009-10 PBA Women's Series, which is sponsored by the United States Bowling Congress (USBC). Carolyn was a 2007 inductee into the USBC Hall of Fame.

	SUSIE MINSHEW Up Your Average strikeability@gmail.com Susie started bowling when she was 38 (because someone asked her) and when she saw she wasn't going to get any better without some help, found a coach, his name was Bill Harris. Minshew was having a great time learning and started helping him with his classes. Understanding that she was hooked and wanting to teach others about this wonderful sport, she attended the first open Bronze Coaching class offered by USA Bowling in Hartford, Connecticut in March 1992, the first Silver Coaching Class in April 1994, and received Gold Coach status in 2000. Minshew has been a coach with our national team, Team USA, as well as the coach for the Republic of Panama for the 1995 World Championships. She served two terms on the IBPSIA Board of Directors, one as the first coach and first woman to be elected President. She has been a presenter at the International Coaching Summit 10 times and was fortunate to be on the Selection Committee for Team USA four times. Minshew was the first two-time USOC Bowling Coach of the Year. Susie won the Joyce Deitch Trailblazer Award and won 'Best Coach in the Nation' in a poll on bowl.com.

	LEISHA MURR Last Call with Leisha leisha@thebowlingnews.net Leisha is an original “Okie” from Muskogee, OK where she was born. She moved to Fort Worth in 1990 and feels she was raised a Texan. Leisha graduated from the University of Texas-Arlington in 1999 where she earned a Bachelors of Science degree in Biology along with a minor in Business. Shortly before graduating, Leisha and her mother, Debbie, started an embroidery business, Artistic Expressions Embroidery, so she never worked in the field of her degree. She currently works for Artistic Expressions Embroidery, is an Independent Consultant for Scentsy Wickless Candles and you can catch her working the Mini Eliminator tournaments in Las Vegas. In 2002, Leisha started on the best bowling season of her career. Her team won the TCBA national playoff tournament at Astro bowl in San Antonio. She also logged her first 300 game, soon to be followed by a 299 and another 300, getting all of her honor scores to date in the same season. Her highest series, a 772, was bowled during Bluebonnet Queens tournament the same year. Leisha was named the 2002-2003 Ft. Worth Women’s Bowling Association Bowler of the Year. She also won a couple of EBT handicap singles tournaments in the DFW area. Her team, Lusha’a Ladies, has won several team titles over the last 7 years or so including Dallas city, Oil Capital, The Southwest Tournament and the Greater Tulsa Open tournament to name a few. Leisha and her team mates currently hold the Texas state record for the highest 5-woman team series at 3574.

	AARON WALSH Loving Left-Handedness aaron@thebowlingnews.net Aaron was born, raised and first learned to bowl in Austin, TX. He moved to Windy West Texas to enlist with the WTA&MU Bowling Buffalos, where he was twice named All-American, Collegiate MVP Runner-Up and won the 1997 ACU-IIs (now USBC Intercollegiate Singles Championships). He graduated from WTA&MU with a BBA in Marketing in 1999 and earned an MBA there in 2001. Aaron has a PBA regional title, several top-ten finishes in the USBC Open Championships, and still enjoys "casual" competition where he can be seen dipping in and out of bowling tournaments (and leagues) across the country. His favorite bowling memories are of late night - sometimes all night pot games, peeling brackets off the wall at Astro Bowl, and time with friends traveling to tournaments. In addition to bowling Aaron enjoys watching the Longhorns, Dallas Cowboys, and his Fantasy Football Team compete. Aaron works in Oil and Gas Technology, and calls Amarillo, TX home with his wife Lauren and son Aiden. If you see him competing in a tournament, take a picture and send it in (especially if he is throwing a ball manufactured in the 21st Century), he is known as the Bowling Yeti of the Southwest and we're still looking for evidence of his true existence.

	DON WRIGHT Wright in the Heart of Texas wrightdk@hot.rr.com Don Wright retired from the military service after 46 years as a special agent for the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command. He has written a weekly bowling column for the Killeen (TX) Daily Herald for the past 25 years as well as contributed to Bowl Magazine, Army Times, Ten Pin Alley, Across Texas Lanes. Don has appeared in Bowlers Journal International, YABA Xpress and has written for The Bowling News since 1995. Mr. Wright has written for the web sites Treasure Software and Bo-Fish Bowling News. Don is a past President of the Southern Bowling Writers Association as well as a member of the Bowling Writers Association of America (BWAA). In 1999, he was recognized for excellence in bowling journalism when awarded the prestigious Millie C. Wood Award by the Texas Women’s Bowling Association. In 2005 awarded first place in the American Bowler writing contest for an article on the late Dick Weber. Also was awarded the Brunswick Award for feature story and the Kathryn Hotzel Award for a YABA story, and in 2007 awarded the Mary Jannetto award by the National Women Bowling Writers Association. Don was inducted into the Greater Killeen-Fort Hood Hall of Fame in 2004. Don is married to wife, G.G. for 49 years and has three grown children, nine grandchildren and one great grand-child.

	JOHN JOWDY John Jowdy has been associated with bowling since 1940 and has been a Columbia 300 representative in sales and public relations since he joined the company in 1962. His coaching career began as he coached and trained youth in San Antonio during the 40’s and 50’s. He has coached over 100 professionals, both men and women since the late 60’s until now. John has been a member of the BWAA since the mid-50’s and is a past president of the BWAA. He has served on the Board of Directors, chaired and served as a committee member, and has won every BWAA award possible. Jowdy’s columns appear in 17 local bowling publications. He wrote instructional columns for Bowling Digest for 10 years before they discontinued publication. He has written columns for Bowling This Month magazine for over 10 years and has written two books Bowling Execution and Bowling Execution, Second Edition. Both books received exceptional reviews. Jowdy developed a plan to revamp the ABC Masters that was adopted and has remained as the present day format. Once the new format was adopted, Jowdy volunteered his time to extol the value of the ABC Masters to the PBA tour members, soliciting their entries, thereby increasing their participation. He also is credited with the development of Team Columbia. The Columbia team was the first group of outstanding pro players to represent a ball company on the pro tour. Subsequently, all ball companies have created their own teams. In 1988, Jowdy was elected to the PBA Hall of Fame, due principally due to his coaching contributions and undying support for professional bowling. He is the ONLY coach ever elected to the PBA Hall of Fame. Jowdy is also a member of the Texas Bowling Hall of Fame, the San Antonio Bowling Hall of Fame, and the Bowling Writers Hall of Fame. He was inducted to the USBC Hall of Fame on March 15, 2001. In 2006, John was chosen as the International Bowling Coach of the Year.

	CHUCK PEZZANO Pin Points to Ponder Chuck Pezzano of Clifton, N.J. is a member of the BWAA, American Bowling Congress (USBC) and Professional Bowlers Association Halls of Fame. Has served seven years as a PBA Regional Director and five years as a PBA Regional Representative. Served the PBA as Secretary for four years and for nine years as a member of the Executive Board. Along with fellow Hall of Famer Frank Esposito, he started the PBA's first regional tournaments.