While I was sitting here pondering why they put expiration dates on sour cream, I suddenly realized a column was due. But pondering is a wonderful thing. It makes for some interesting conversation, keeps your mind active, and brings an occasional grin to your face. And, next to pondering, I like grinnin’ best.
I found that a good grin and a belly laugh can be had by simply reading a great little book entitled A Funny Approach by Walt Steinsiek. The book is about 105 pages of bowling humor and cartoons aptly subtitled "The Art of Bowling." To quote from the forward by award-winning writer Jerry Levine, "Walt Steinsiek has chronicled the game of bowling in a manner that’s never before been approached."
With Walt’s permission, I have extracted a few facts from the book in hopes of introducing this wonderful man to those who read my columns.
Walt was born in Passaic, New Jersey in 1926. His love and devotion for the sport of bowling began when he was 12 and a pinboy at a local bowling alley. Walt reminds us that long before we became so sophisticated, our centers were "alleys."
While sailing in convoys to Europe with the U.S. Merchant Marines during World War II, Walt was drawing cartoons. He was an active member of the Artists and Writers Club of the Seaman’s Church Institute in New York City and received a scholarship to New York University’s School of Art in 1946.
In 1973, he penned an all-bowling book of cartoons titled "Balls—Bowling of Course!" Although it was rather risqué at the time, it was very well received.
Walt is a doer, having organized many leagues in the Baltimore-Washington area. In 1980, he conceived, edited and published the Baltimore (and later, Baltimore-Washington) Bowling News.
Walt is a past president of the Bowling Writers Association of America (1988), a life member of the Southern Bowling Writers Association, and he received the Joe Richards Meritorious Service Award from the Metropolitan Bowling Writers Association. He was inducted into the Greater Baltimore Bowling Association Hall of Fame in 1984.
A dedicated league bowler, he won the Kegler Bowling Club championship in 1971. In 1984, he was awarded the American Bowling Congress’ Sponsor’s Award for sponsoring the year’s highest-scoring five man team (3,704).
Married to Jane for more than 40 years, they have a daughter, Denise.
That’s the formal edition of Walt Steinsiek. The informal edition is that he is a really nice man with a great sense of humor. I first met Walt at the Bowling Writers Association of America convention in Huntsville, Ala. Since it was my first convention, I knew very few folks, but it wasn’t long until I found myself in a conversation with Walt. He made things easy for me during the convention, and I found his wit to be sharp and to the point. I also found a man very knowledgeable of our sport and very outspoken about the integrity of the game. He was quick to ask questions of the integers and quicker yet to sketch his feelings.
I was fortunate enough to get an autographed copy of A Funny Approach. Not only have I enjoyed the cartoons, I have enjoyed sharing them with my grandchildren.
Walt provides cartoons for the Dallas-based Stars and Strikes and the Houston-based GulfCoast Bowling News. In addition, he is a contributor to BOWL Magazine and BOWL Magazine Online. He is in the process of completing A Funnier Approach, his third book of cartoons, and currently is working with a publisher.
Walt Steinsiek: A wonderful man with a great sense of humor and a love for the sport that will live on in his cartoons and books.
So as I sit here and ponder if he’ll do a cartoon about how cruel it is for the word lisp to have an "s" in it, I think how lucky I am to have met this man at the convention and how lucky we all are to have his humor.
Every bowling publication should have Walt’s wit.