Sandy Curtis, former tournament director of the PBA Senior Tour, recently organized the Senior Legends Tour. Sandy plays a major role in keeping senior players actively engrossed in the game and is highly respected for her efforts.
Initially, Ian Hamilton and Steve Miller, the management team for the newly purchased PBA, placed their top priorities on solidifying the regular PBA Tour. It was their paramount goal. Meanwhile, the Senior Tour was in the planning stage; it would be secondary to the task at hand, which was putting together a firm schedule for the regular tour (including a solid TV contract with ESPN), soliciting new sponsors, and adding greatly increased prize funds.
Although PBA plans were being formulated for senior events, a number of veteran players were concerned about being ignored or bypassed, feeling their time was fleeting. Inasmuch as many of these seniors expressed their displeasure about the future of the Senior Tour, Mrs. Curtis resigned her position as tournament director.
Nonetheless, in their tireless efforts to promote the regular PBA Tour, Miller and Hamilton managed to develop a Senior Tour, scheduled during the summer season—a period of inactivity for the regular tour. The slate included a minimum of 12 stops, six of which were to be televised. However, economics of televising senior tournaments became prohibitive. Therefore, the PBA officials gave up television rights for the Senior Tour, paving the way for the Professional Women's Bowling Association to fill that gap using the television coverage.
Feeling rejected, senior players were disappointed and, aching for an opportunity to bowl, a number of them called Sandy Curtis, urging her to develop some form of competitive activity.
Sandy's close relationship with the Castaways Hotel, Casino, and Bowling Lanes (formerly the Showboat) and Jack Cook, who recently returned as manager of the lanes, seemed like a slam dunk for a senior project. Within a short period, Cook and Curtis developed an enticing tournament plan that would include three complimentary days at the hotel for the participants. The new tour was named the Senior Legends Tour, the initial tournament drew 160 players.
From a personal standpoint, one of the highlights the week was a birthday party hosted by Chick Romano, a former PBA player and a longtime friend of Teata Semiz. Romano, who turned 80, invited 18 of his closest friends, including myself and my wife, to a sumptuous Italian feast at Anna Bella's, my favorite Las Vegas Italian cuisine.
The tournament drew a number of non-card carrying professional bowlers, including two of the most celebrated stars of High Roller competition, Dennis Psaropolis and Vinnie Atria. Incidentally, both bowled their way into the final eight step-ladder finals.
Dick Baker, one of the most popular players on the Senior Tour, outgunned Bill Spigner in the championship game, 279-268. After several second-place finishes, this was Baker's first senior championship.
In view of the rousing success of the tournament, Jack Cook and Sandy Curtis promised two forthcoming Senior Legends Tour stops at the Castaways, one in December, another possibly in January.ABC and PBA Hall of Famer John Jowdy is a past president of the Bowling Writers Association of America.