Don Carter, voted the greatest bowler of the 20th century by Bowlers Journal International, is convalescing at home after undergoing open heart surgery Sept. 11 at the Miami Heart Institute.
"He's my new bionic hero," wife Paula Carter said with a laugh. "He's got two artificial knees, a mechanical aorta valve, and some Dacron in him."
Don Carter, 74, ended his 10 day hospital stay Wednesday and by Friday his former Budweiser teammate in St. Louis, Dick Weber, had flown in to visit him. Ironically, Weber was voted the 20th century's greatest bowler by Bowling Magazine.
"There never has been any competition between them," said Paula. "They have been lifetime friends."
Two other lifetime friends, Chuck Rebhan and Robert Anderson, spent many hours in the hospital with Don when Paula was trying to get some much-needed rest.
"They all told me that they had some male bonding with Dr. Malcom Dorman, who performed the operation on Don," Paula added. "They said Dr. Dorman showed off his bowling style in the hospital room and made Don promise to give him lessons when he is fully recovered."
Fortunately, that should be soon. Hopefully, Don won't teach Dr. Dorman his unorthodox deep knee bend, crooked-arm delivery style.
Paula's sister, Marian Sperber, drove in from Orlando during Don's hospitalization to take care of their ailing mother, Josie. "We did some bonding of our own," Paula said. "It was a very tough time period for all of us, but it also was rewarding because we learned just how many people out there really care."
It's pay back time since Paula and Don Carter have spent thousands of hours and more than a $1 million trying to help abused children in South Florida.
As of Sept. 21, 7,630 teams had signed up for the 2001 Women's International Bowling Congress Championship Tournament, which will be contested in Broward County in Florida.
The early influx of entries has been so impressive that tournament director Ruth Williams announced from WIBC headquarters in Greendale, Wis., that she has extended the tournament's closing date from June 16 to June 24.
"We always are conservative on our original tournament dates and then extend the closing, if necessary, as the entries come in," said Williams.
Entry deadline is Jan. 26 for the April 17-June 24 tournament.
"Over the years, we have seen a lot of entries come in after leagues are underway in September, after the Christmas holidays, and right before entries close. I think they are right on target for my projected 9,000 team entries (45,000 bowlers)," Williams said.
Joyce Deitch, president of the 1.8 million member WIBC organization, sent an E-mail correction from her home in Las Vegas to an earlier story.
"Substitutes do share in the WIBC National Championship's prize fund," she wrote.
That's good news for the approximately 5,000 South Florida bowlers who are expected to fill gaps on either teams or doubles combinations.
Dick Evans is a member of the ABC and PBA Halls of Fame.