Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Bowling

Former PBA winner Milton managing just fine off tour

By PHIL GULICK
Published January 21, 2005

Tom Milton is in a groove, and he likes it.

"No, I don't dread coming to work every day," Milton said. "In fact, I'm having fun." Milton is in his 10th year as manager of AMF Kenneth City Lanes, one of 126 AMF centers worldwide. Mark Roth runs the other Pinellas County AMF house in Clearwater, and AMF University Lanes is in Tampa.

"Most days here are very enjoyable, but there are others when you really have to work to earn your keep," Milton said.

He is a former five-time PBA winner, leaving the tour in 1988 after winning the Miami Open. "I might have stayed out but for an injury," Milton said.

Milton sustained a back injury, so he turned to management.

"It's a whole different ballgame, and I have mixed feelings about the tour now," he said. "I liked the old format where you carried total pins all week to the end of the tournament and the five guys with the highest totals ended up in the stepladder finals. You could have a bad game or two and still survive. Now, if you lose a match, you're out."

Milton has had two stints at the Kenneth City center, which features AMF equipment and Brunswick scorers. It was built about 1978 and is among the county's oldest houses. Milton says the staff makes his work enjoyable. Veteran Don Levy, Guy Russo and Yvette Ledoux run the control desk, and B.J. Webb is the office manager. "They are a good team to work with," Milton said.

"We've got a very interesting in-house tournament going now, and I'd like bowlers to know about it," he said.

Eleven AMF centers in the U.S. will compete in the Lucky 13 League Doubles Tournament. The entry fee is $15 per bowler per week for the 20-week season, which starts Jan. 31.

Half of each center's duos will advance to the district finals, June 25-26 at AMF University. Winners receive $8,000. The top three duos from each of the 11 districts advance to the regional finals, July 8-10 in Orlando. The champions there earn $50,000.

For information, call 541-3539 or 461-2511.

AMATEUR TITLES: Team USA veteran and 1995 U.S. amateur champion Lynda Barnes captured her second U.S. amateur title and Team USA 2004 member Rhino Page received his first crown at the USA Bowling National Amateur Championships last week in Dallas.

Barnes, of Flower Mound, Texas, won the women's division with a 10,190 pinfall. Page, a University of Kansas junior, finished with 12,812 and a 21-11 match-play record. Jennifer Petrick, Canton, Ohio, placed second, and Shannon O'Keefe, Rochester, N.Y., was third.

Page earned his second major championship in nine months. He was the most valuable player after helping Kansas to the 2004 Intercollegiate Bowling Championships title in April. Andrew Cain, Tempe, Ariz., took second, and Erik Vermilyea, Maplewood, Minn., was third.

The top 10 men's and women's finishers in the Dallas event received automatic spots on Team USA 2005. Orlando's Stephanie Nation, the 2004 junior amateur champ, was selected for the squad. Shannon Pluhowsky, Lincoln, Neb., the 2004 AMF World Cup winner and a three-time national amateur champion, finished 13th.

Palm Harbor's Ashly Galante did not make the cut for match-play. Shawn Ryan was 22nd, and Jeffrey Mersch placed 30th. All three are products of Tampa Bay-area league play.

AROUND THE LANES: High scorers - Don MacDonald, 300-750, at Liberty; Fred Hobson, 300-737, and Tim Postlethwaite, 296-749, Dunedin; John Hollis, 300, Keith Glasgow, 300-749, Charlie Miceli, 300-781, and Ryne Podlas, 290-731, Seminole; Bob Riccio, 300 game, Tarpon; and Mario Moley, 299-760, Rainbow. ... Liberty's Almost Midnight Tournament is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. Saturday. ... The National Bowling Association Singlesdoubles Tournament is at Seminole Lanes on Saturday. Walk-in entries will be accepted.

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

[Last modified January 21, 2005, 00:30:24]