The Omaha Sunday
Bee
PAST TITHES
EDITORIAL
PAGES ONE TO EIGHT
PART THREE
MAGAZINE
PAGES ONE TO EIGHT
c
VOL. XLV NO. 23.
OMAHA, SltNDAY MOKXLNO, NOVEMHEK 21, 101H.
SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS.
Omaha's Crack Women Bowlers
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It's a
Great Game
for Healthy
and
Enjoyable
Exercise
By A. R. GROH.
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-umbl clattertj atter-
UMBL.E umble-
ty boom.
' That la the music of the bowling alley.
"Music! " sniffs the musician. "I
don't call that music."
Well, very likely not, Beethoven. There is prob
ably no symphony In It to you. But If you were a
bowler ah, that would be another thing again.
For to the bowler there is no music like the
rumble-unable of the big balls as they roll masjeo
tically down the alley toward those ten innocent
and helpless pins, waiting like sheep for the slaugh
ter, and then the clatterty-atterty as the projectile
('res its terrible work among the plns and then
lit) boom as the ball hits the cushion and settles
in the shavings only to be picked up by the perspir
li tc plnboy and sent back.
The rise of the bowling alley to respectability
is a pleasing narrative of reformation. Only a few
years ago a bowling alley wasn't considered any
better than a pool hall. Fathers said to their sons,
Now, don't let me catch you hanging around that
bowling alley."
Today fathers don't say that. Instead father
may take mother and go to the bowling alley for
an evening's diversion at the game. Son belongs to
a bowling club and boasts of his prowess. Mother
herself may belong to a woman's bowling club meet
ing Tuesday or Thursday or some other afternoon.
Oh, Indeed, the bowling alley has reformed and
lias become a most respectable institution.
Abraham Lincoln's reputed aphorism concern
lug honesty is here proved. Respectability is the
bst policy. Bowling proves it. Since it became
t spec table and since bowling alleys have become
rs respectable aa churches, there has been a tre
t endous Increase in the number of followers of
'.be sport.
Here In Omaha there are at the present time
twenty-seven bowling leagues. Each league is
made up of from six to eight teams. Borne leagues
have as many as eighty members. The average i
?Lout fifty. Here are 1,850 Omahans members of
fowling leagues.
Outside of the leagues there are about twenty
'ive bowling teams representing various firms and
; ude up of their employes.
Outside of all there is a great army of bowlers,
men and women who do not belong to teams or
leagaes. These probably number close to 2.000 .
right here in Omaha, so that there are about S.BeO
i ;en and women who follow this sport regularly in
this city.
Once each week each of the bowling leagues has
a bowling match and at these matches the crowd
I great and the Interest intense.
At the present time a ten-day tournament is on
ii Omaha. It is the ninth annual tournament of
the Middle West Bowling association. One hun
dred and twenty-four teams are entered, the largest
r umber ever entered in one of these tournaments.
It is the second largest bowling" event in the world,
exceeded only by the annual American Bowling con
trees. The Mid-West association is made up of the
"crack" bowlers of Nebraska, Colorado, South Da
Vota, Missouri, Minnesota, Iowa, Oklahoma, Illinois,
. isconsin and Kansas.
Prizes will be awarded aggregating $7,600. It
will cost 12,600 to entertain the delegates. Nine
gold medals and a loving cup will also be presented.
And the women, ah, the women!
Yes, they've been quick to see a gooa thing, as
they always are. They are bowling with vigor,
Tim and enthusiasm. They are gaining pleasure
&4 diversion. And they are gaining health. Man.
have substituted for the little pllla that tney took
internally the big, twenty-seven-pound "pills" that
cake the rumblety-umble noise. And the big
rills" are bringing the health that the little pills
always promised but didn't bring.
There are many women's bowling teams in
Omaha and four out of the twenty-seven bowling
leagues in this city are made up of women's teams.
Miss Lois Nesbit is considered the best woman
bowler in Omaha. She Is on the M. E. Smith & Co.
nam.
"Women, however, don't make as good bowlers
as men. They haven't enough speed and their
wrists are not strong enough to put the proper
'snap' on the ball."
This was what one Omaha bowling expert said.
Of course. It was a man who said it and he may
bave been prejudiced. "Women are more graceful
In other things," he said, trying to square himself
with the fair sex.
What are the requisites for a good bowler?
- "No two bowlers bowl alike," said C. J. Cain,
secretary of the Middle West Bowling Tournament
company. "Perfect footwork is very important. So
la a curved bail with, a 'lot of stuff on U. In bowl
ing, as in base ball, the experts roll curve balls.
Here Is the backup ball, which is a ba'l curving to
the left In Its course and the equivalent of tbe base
tall in shoot. And there is the hook ball, which
curves to the right and is like the outsnoot. The
lest players take three strides forward and shoot
the ball from the right corner of the alley.
"Bowling Is great for the health, not because.
s many think. It exercises the leg and arm muscles,
lut because It exercises the abdominal muscles. 1
knew a fellow that had taken doctors' treatment for
two years for stomach trouble without getting bet-
Johnson
t(-r. He took up bowling and Is now well."
Many there are today, as staled above, who are
tiking "gond old doctor" Cain's prescription.
"The increased interest in bowling," said Mr.
.aln, "is largely due to making the bowling alleys
respectable and clean. It Is also largely due to the
increase in Interest taken by buuiness men and
firms and to the Increased space Stven tbe sport In
the newspapers. It can ba played regardlera of tho
weather and the year round."
There are many varieties of the game, such an
'cocked hat," -cocked hat and feather," "colleco
r&me," "Newport game," "bead pin game," "ua
nine pins," "T game." "pin
tool," "nine up and nine down," "five back,"
"hlte elephant." "four back," "open game" and
"eeven down," but practically all the playing in
Cmaha la confined to the one standard game.
Bowling has come to be so important that it la
itdged. about with the strictest rules and regula
tions. There are thirty-three playing rules of the
rtsoclation to which the Omaha teams belong.
The balls were formerly made of lignum vitae,
the heaviest wood known. Now they are made of
a composition of rubber and cement and they cost
from $13.60 to $16 each.
In some of the alleys there are weird bulletins
w hich make tbe observer rub his eyes and Imagine
he is "seein things." For example, this, "Ideal
Mackinaws against Ideal Overalls." Or this, "Ideal
fchirts against Classic Coats." Imagine a team ot
t'.iackinaws bowling against a team of overalls or
a team of shirts against a team of coats! This Is
rnerely an evidence of the effect of firms interest
ing themselves in the sport and naming their teams
after their product