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Voting delay means trouble for the WIBC

Delegates to the Women's International Bowling Congress annual meeting last month in Milwaukee may have harmed their own interests regarding the proposed United States Bowling Association, formerly known as the Single Membership Organization.

The USBA would be a new organization governing the sport, lumping the ABC, WIBC, YABA and USA Bowling under one roof.

The delegates voted to delay a vote on the proposal until the 2004 convention. Delegates said there was not enough new information for an intelligent discussion with their membership. The vote was not supported by the WIBC Board of Directors because it places in jeopardy the WIBC and women's leadership roles in the industry.

"Our local and state leaders have made countless statements at WIBC annual meetings of their fear of being taken over by the ABC and they didn't want that to happen," WIBC executive director Roseann Kuhn said. "The vote taken by the delegates to delay the WIBC vote on USBA just dealt ABC the hand it needed to do just that."

The ABC, YABA and USA Bowling are not bound by delegates' vote and can present the Plan of Merger to their boards and ABC delegates for action next year. Under the current proposal, if approved by at least two organizations, those organizations can move forward to form USBA without any involvement by WIBC.

If this is accomplished, the USBA could be the national governing body, offering membership, programs and services to men, women and youth. As the national governing body, USBA would gain control over the sport.

The WIBC could continue to operate as a separate entity serving only women. However, WIBC would be in direct competition with USBA for female members without the authority to vote on general and league playing rules and rules governing sanctioned tournament competition.

"The WIBC Board of Directors is very disappointed with the action taken by the delegates because it believes the majority of the delegates did not fully understand the vulnerability, exposure and negative impact it has on WIBC's bargaining power with this initiative," Kuhn said.

The WIBC is the world's oldest and largest women's sports membership organization with nearly 1.4-million members.

Sylvia Broyles was elected president of the WIBC last month, replacing retiring president Joyce Deitch. Broyles was second vice president for nine years and secretary-treasurer of the Texas Women's Bowling Association. Deitch served as president since 1993.

The WIBC Hall of Fame inducted professional stars Cheryl Daniels and Tish Johnson and former WIBC vice president Nancy Chapman.

FSU FOURTH: The Florida State women's squad finished fourth in the Intercollegiate Bowling Championships April 20 at Buffalo, N.Y., and the Central Florida men finished 16th.

Morehead State defeated Wichita State for the women's title, and defending champion Western Illinois stopped Purdue for the men's title. There were 32 teams in the finals. FSU's Allison Cale was named to the all-tournament women's team.

FSU defeated Northern Illinois and Nebraska before losing to Morehead State in Round 3 of double-elimination play. The Seminoles stopped Pikeville in a losers bracket match before losing again to Morehead State in the quarterfinals.

Central Florida was beaten by Nebraska in the first double-elimination round and ousted by St. Peter's College in Round 2.

-- Phil Gulick can be reached at xerxes8@msn.com.

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