Bowling before the days of reactive ball technology

[NewToBowling]

I guess reactive ball technology came in during 80s or 90s?

So before we had all these balls with new technology and cores did bowlers back in the day just bowl with one urethane ball?

Or were there still differences between certain balls and certain manufacturers or were they made to USBC spec and pretty much all the same?

[bowl1820]

I guess reactive ball technology came in during 80s or 90s?

So before we had all these balls with new technology and cores did bowlers back in the day just bowl with one urethane ball?

Or were there still differences between certain balls and certain manufacturers or were they made to USBC spec and pretty much all the same?


Back in the day, Urethane was the new technology and they had different cores and balls like they do today.

Plus they were made to the ABC/USBC spec's used back then.

Before that the new technology was polyester (Plastic) balls. According to Don Johnson They looked at plastic balls back then , like we look resin balls today.

Don Johnson talked about how they snapped into the pocket (which shows how much lane conditions have changed today) and Glenn Allison made the comment back then that plastic carried more garbage hits than rubber. Which is just what was said today about resin balls.

[NewToBowling]

So was it common back in the day to have an "arsenal" like bowlers have today. A 6 roller bag with a ball for each condition they may encounter.

These days it seems like if you don't have at least 3 balls you aren't trying

[bowl1820]

So was it common back in the day to have an "arsenal" like bowlers have today. A 6 roller bag with a ball for each condition they may encounter.

These days it seems like if you don't have at least 3 balls you aren't trying

A arsenal sure Not quite as common as today, but depending on how much you bowled. number of leagues, tournaments etc. I had a 4 ball setup 3 urethanes and plastic ball.

Going back you had guys with a plastic and a rubber ball for a arsenal (and maybe a soaker). Because they acted different.

[RobLV1]

Back in the late 80's, I remember taking two or three balls to league: a couple of urethanes and a plastic. It's interesting to me that all of the focus on the change in bowling technology has to do with the development of reactive resin. Little is said about the introduction of the dynamic cores that are used in balls today. If you ever get the chance to roll an old urethane ball from the eighties next to a modern urethane ball, I think you'll be amazed at what a difference the core makes.

[Amyers]

Back in the late 80's, I remember taking two or three balls to league: a couple of urethanes and a plastic. It's interesting to me that all of the focus on the change in bowling technology has to do with the development of reactive resin. Little is said about the introduction of the dynamic cores that are used in balls today. If you ever get the chance to roll an old urethane ball from the eighties next to a modern urethane ball, I think you'll be amazed at what a difference the core makes.

When I bowled back then I was an oddity at my house I carried both a Faball Blue Pearl Hammer and the Red sanded finish Hammer most people at my home alley only had one ball. I did see some of the bigger tournament guys carrying 3 to 4 balls but not your average league bowler

[RobLV1]

I was lucky to have been taught to bowl by a 70's Tour bowler. Back then, in the eighties, with no cores, everything was about surface preparation, and ball differences were a result of a combination of surface material characteristics and finish. I remember one night where the oil machine had malfunctioned and oiled all the way to the pins. I happened to have an Ebonite Thunderbolt with me that I rarely used, but using it that night, I was high in the house! This is not something that has happened to me a whole lot. LOL

[SRB57]

Back then I would use plastic and rubber. Does anyone remember Manhattan Rubber/Dick Weber 5 star/3 dot? Then I believe in 81 AMF came out with the Black Angle urethane and that started the modern era (At least in my mind). I would carry three balls back then and still got most of them. I used my 1979 Columbia 300 blue dot for a spare ball until just recently when I got the Roto Grip own it. Steve

[got_a_300]

Does anyone remember Manhattan Rubber/Dick Weber 5 star/3 dot? Then I believe in 81 AMF came out with the Black Angle urethane and that started the modern era (At least in my mind).

Oh yes I remember the Manhattan Rubber ball as I had one of them and
I used to shoot a bunch of high scores with it. Back in those days some
of us would rub down the cover with some acetone and talk about hooking
it until we found out it was illegal to do it.

I used to have a AMF Black Angle bought it from a friend he bought it and
then sanded the cover down to 320 grit and bowled about a half game with
it during league and sold it to me for $30.00 and it was still brand new. I took
it and polished it back up and bowled some of my better scores with it never
did get a 300 with it but had a bunch of 279's and 289's with it though.

[fortheloveofbowling]

Before urethane came out in the early 80's usually even pba tour guys would have only 1-2 balls at a tournament. I was listening to an interview with marshall holman one day and he said something that just blew me away. He said there was about a 2 1/2 year stretch in the mid to late 70's when for that entire time is used primarily 1 ball!! Not a certain model and drilled the same type a few different times. It was the SAME BALL!!! What really got me is he recited the serial number of that ball of the top of his head like he was telling you his phone number!! This is 40 years later!! I'm sure in the 50's and 60's guys used the same ball for very long periods of time. Another time i heard Barry Asher talking about bowling at the showboat invitational and his equipment got lost. So instead of getting a ball drilled he BORROWED one from another player and made match play that week! After urethane came out guys started carrying a little more equipment but nothing like all the options today.

Back in the 80's when i started getting serious i would take 3 balls with me to tournaments and no dedicated spare ball. For instance, for a few years my arsenal consisted of a columbia yellow dot, columbia u-dot sanded, and a polished u-dot. Scoring is a lot easier now but managing equipment is much much tougher. That is why the pba allows ball reps to confer with players now. That was a no no years ago but many guys will tell you they have to have that help.

[fortheloveofbowling]

Back then I would use plastic and rubber. Does anyone remember Manhattan Rubber/Dick Weber 5 star/3 dot? Then I believe in 81 AMF came out with the Black Angle urethane and that started the modern era (At least in my mind). I would carry three balls back then and still got most of them. I used my 1979 Columbia 300 blue dot for a spare ball until just recently when I got the Roto Grip own it. Steve

Things really changed with urethane but if you could find the right serial numbers on a yellow dot you had the coveted bleeder that really hooked. Another ball that some people don't remember is the columbia sur-d. Just before the abc and pba started taking durometer readings for hardness and the standard was 72 for abc and 75 for pba some of the sur-d balls would read in the low 50's. Let it set in your car in the heat for a while and you really had a sponge! That was right around the time i started bowling so i really never got a chance to take advantage of those but i've heard all the stories. Later on i had yellow dots but never a bleeder. Former pba west region director mike fredericks who lives up in phoenix still has one of the sur-d balls and i've heard it reads really low.

[foreverincamo]

I had the choice between the original Black Hammer and the AMF Black Angle, and I bought the Angle. Faball was a fledgling company and AMF had been around forever and had much better marketing. Their commercials won me over, and it was a very good ball. I carried that and the Ebonite Thunderbolt, then added the Blue Pearl Hammer and that was my earliest arsenal.

[fortheloveofbowling]

I had the choice between the original Black Hammer and the AMF Black Angle, and I bought the Angle. Faball was a fledgling company and AMF had been around forever and had much better marketing. Their commercials won me over, and it was a very good ball. I carried that and the Ebonite Thunderbolt, then added the Blue Pearl Hammer and that was my earliest arsenal.

When that black angle came out it was THE BALL. I read a interview with Larry Lichstein (was basically the pba ball driller for years that traveled with the pba) and he was talking about when that ball came out and the massive amount of those he sold and drilled. I think he did very very well during that time.

[SRB57]

Things really changed with urethane but if you could find the right serial numbers on a yellow dot you had the coveted bleeder that really hooked. Another ball that some people don't remember is the columbia sur-d. Just before the abc and pba started taking durometer readings for hardness and the standard was 72 for abc and 75 for pba some of the sur-d balls would read in the low 50's. Let it set in your car in the heat for a while and you really had a sponge! That was right around the time i started bowling so i really never got a chance to take advantage of those but i've heard all the stories. Later on i had yellow dots but never a bleeder. Former pba west region director mike fredericks who lives up in phoenix still has one of the sur-d balls and i've heard it reads really low.

I believe the serial number of some of the bleeders started with 9R and believe I have one of the later bleeders 1R or 1Y. I remember the sur d but never owned one. I even have one of the cherry red yellow dots. I liked Columbia 300 stuff until I came back and have switched to roto grip. Steve

[Fenix]

The LT48 Petraglia.. or "Piggy" as we called it here, was probably the first "super ball".. late 70s or early 80s?
I remember I kept using mine til the mid 90s :P

[RobLV1]

The LT48 Petraglia.. or "Piggy" as we called it here, was probably the first "super ball".. late 70s or early 80s?
I remember I kept using mine til the mid 90s :P

A few weeks ago in a scratch league in Vegas, John Jr. shot a very high series (over eight, I think) using the LT 48 - the ORIGINAL LT 48!

[Aslan]

I never saw more than a 2-ball bag back in the 80s. The more serious guys might have a 1-ball bag in each hand or a 2-ball shoulder bag. But I'd say 90% (or more) just had 1 ball.

[Tony]

The first ball I ever had was a Brunswick Black Beauty then about 1990 I got some sort of Johnny Petraglia labeled ball ( not sure if it was an LT-48) from a guy for 5.00 when he got the hot new ball a Burgundy Hammer, his hand and mine were pretty close to the same so I never even had it re-drilled!
None of the guys I knew had more than one bowling ball at that time.

[SRB57]

The LT48 Petraglia.. or "Piggy" as we called it here, was probably the first "super ball".. late 70s or early 80s?
I remember I kept using mine til the mid 90s :P

I have one of the original LT-48 and had to have the thumb drilled oversize then plugged for a smooth finish. The inner core was a rough cork type material and could not get out of it otherwise. Steve

[Hammer]

I bowled on a Friday night mixed league starting in 1978 using a Columbia yellow dot that was a dark metallic red. It was my first fingertip ball. I bowled in that league until
1981 with that one ball. When I started bowling league again in the 1987 I went into the big time with a Fabal Blue Hammer that I still have. It was a 16# ball. I use to set up on the approach so I could throw it between the one and five board. When folks on our league would see me do this they would ask me aren't you afraid of throwing it in the
gutter doing that? I would answer that I was used to throwing it like that and it didn't bother me. Every once in a while it would go into the gutter but on my second ball I would knock down all of the pins for a spare. The Fabal Blue Hammer was a great ball with a controlled arc and very good carry. I had a lot of 200+ games and 600+ series with that ball.

[rv driver]

Back in the day when I was first serious about bowling, an "arsenal" usually consisted of a rubber ball for drier lanes, and a urethane for oilier lanes. Most guys were just beginning to get interested in the Columbia Yellow Dot, but most guys still bowled with rubber.

[Jessiewoodard57]

I hear you about the only one ball in the 1980s and mine was the Black Hammer . I loved that ball guess that is why of the 4 balls I have 2 are hammers.

[JoeInPI]

My late 80's/early 90's rotating arsenal for the Sunday Youth Classic travel league was:

Red pearl Fab Hammer
Cobalt Rhino
LT-48 (my 300 ball)
White dot for spares

When I was a sophomore bowling in college at MSU we were also bowling in a men's league at Royal Scot. I never rolled a bleeder, but a few of us also did some work in the pro shop off and on, and we drilled some of these new balls called the Nu-Line X-Calibur.

http://123bowl.com/images/balls/103-1.jpg

The original Reactive Resin ball. The rest is history.

[got_a_300]

My late 80's/early 90's rotating arsenal for the Sunday Youth Classic travel league was:

Red pearl Fab Hammer
Cobalt Rhino
LT-48 (my 300 ball)
White dot for spares

When I was a sophomore bowling in college at MSU we were also bowling in a men's league at Royal Scot. I never rolled a bleeder, but a few of us also did some work in the pro shop off and on, and we drilled some of these new balls called the Nu-Line X-Calibur.

http://123bowl.com/images/balls/103-1.jpg

The original Reactive Resin ball. The rest is history.

I was the first person around here to get one of the Nu-Line X-Calibur
balls and man did that ball hook a ton back then. A bunch of the guys
around here and one of the Pros on the Regional Tour started calling
me Amleto Monacelli Jr. because I hooked the ball so much.

[DRomano]

I hear you about the only one ball in the 1980s and mine was the Black Hammer . I loved that ball guess that is why of the 4 balls I have 2 are hammers.

I had a Black Hammer in the early 90s, loved it... Just got a new Blue Hammer.

[Lt Tom]

Where I bowled in the early '80s, on league night there might be 2 or 3 people that brought 2 balls. My wife was one. She used her new Black Hammer almost exclusively, but there were a couple of houses where she brought her old cheap plastic ball along for picking up a 10 pin.