Bay alumni bowling event raises funds for scholarships

Best Dressed Individual: Terry Kavelac '77 (The Dude from "The Big Lebowski").
Photo by Eve Ershek Uhland

View Image Gallery

The third annual alumni fundraising bowling tournament was held at Bay Lanes on Saturday, March 24, and was a near sell-out. There were 94 alumni at the event, 67 bowlers and 27 socials. Tim McGraw '77 from Michigan and Mike Gatsos '77 from Virginia came in from out of town to participate. Bay Lanes was hopping that night and brought back many memories for the attendees.

The event raised over $1,600 that will go toward funding two academic achievement scholarships to Bay High seniors in the coming year. 

The contest pitted each class year against each other for two prizes. Winning class years will be displayed on hand-crafted bowling pins created by Randall Oldrieve '75; and will be on display in the high school sports hall until the next Alumni Madness. We had 26 classes ranging from the Class of 1955 to 2006 participating.

The Class of 1975 defended their title and won the Rocket Pin for the most pins (2,486), followed by the class of 1977 (2,312) and class of 1974 (1,083). The Class of 1977 won the King Pin for the most money raised, with the class of 1975 second and the class of 1966 third.

On the individual level the following were the best averages 

• Men, 1st place: Bobby St. Vincent '98 – 233
• Men, 2nd place: Bill Nally '72 – 181
• Women, 1st place: Deb Nagel '74 – 130
• Women, 2nd place: Amy Ross '94 – 126
• Average for all bowlers: 106

Hopefully Bobby St. Vincent was on the Bay High bowling team in his day. Bobby also had the high game of 244.

The highest average score on each lane also won a shoe bag displaying the Bay Alumni Madness/Bay Lanes logo. The following were the winners:

• Bob Schopp '66 – 109
• Bill Nally '72 – 181
• Debbie Nagel '74 – 130
• Jim Prusha '76 – 139
• Phil Nye '82 – 121
• Carl Tippit '75 – 119
• Bill Hill '77 – 123
• Curt Snyder '77 – 146
• TJ Zingalis '94 – 148
• Jessica Parsson '91 – 119
• Bobby St Vincent '98 – 233

Other prizes included:

• Best shoes: John Noell '74, wearing a classic vintage pair.
• Best dressed individual was in quite an outfit: Terry Kavelec '77 dressed as “The Dude” from "The Big Lebowski"
• Best dressed team: Class of 1977 (including Jesus from "The Big Lebowski" and stylish Hawaiian and bowling shirts)
• Best looking bowling ball: Deb Nagel '74 
• Door Prize: Jeff Koehler '70
• 50/50 raffle winner: Brian Burger '77, who donated most of his winnings to the Bay Alumni Foundation. 

A good time was had by all and hopefully we can keep building on this event in the future to raise even more scholarship money. As you can see from 106 average of all bowlers you do not have to be a good bowler to participate. Plus, the socials all had a good time enjoying the food and beverages, rooting the bowlers on and catching up with friends from other classes they don’t see at reunions.

Thank you to the committee and volunteers, Judy Kelly Krueger '66; Bill Smith '71; Karen Obester Adams '75; Cristine Marco Hoffmann '75; Eve Ursek Uhland '76; Mark Nazario, Bay Lanes and everyone who participated or donated to this event. Hope more alumni can spare the time to attend next year!