By Walt Steinsiek
There were two 2001 Women's International Bowling Senior Queens ... almost.
Rema "Fran" Minton, 63, of Iowa Park, Texas defeated Jean Williford, 65, of Carthage, N.C., 523-516 in a three-game series to win the 2001 WIBC Senior Queens championship May 12 at Sawgrass Lanes in Sunrise, Fla.
Minton received a jeweled tiara, $2,500 prize money, and a specially designed crystal trophy.
"This was a very difficult tournament to win," Minton said. "I bowled several games each day for five consecutive days. I didn't know if I would make it, but I'm very pleased to receive the title."
The "difficulty" was that another WIBC Senior Queen was crowned earlier in the same day, only to be dethroned by an error in choosing the finals format.
The WIBC Senior Queens double-elimination qualifying finished Thursday (May 10), with Minton (winners' bracket) to compete against Williford (contenders' bracket) for the title. They both were told to report early on Friday for practice and would start a three-game series competition at 11 a.m.
On Friday, a colossal mistake was made by the tournament officials when Marilyn Kreg of Kalamazoo, Mich.—loser of the final round of the winners' bracket—walked in to pick up her ball and watch the championship finals befire heading home. Kreg was told to get ready to bowl and that she was in the finals of a TV coverage format (three-player stepladder competition).
Both the stunned Minton and much surprised Williford were told that Kreg would also be in the finals.
In the first game, Kreg defeated Williford 212-172 and beat Minton in the championship game 213-197—or so she and her fans thought.
Kreg's dream of winning the Senior Queens quickly turned into a huge nightmare when an announcement was made over the center's loudspeaker that there would be a meeting of the three contestants and tournament officials immediately. A short time later, it was decided that the finals just bowled were null and void and no contest because it was bowled as a TV coverage finals format. The finals were then bowled over as a no-TV finals without Kreg, who was visibly shaken and in tears.
In the first match of the "second" final round, Williford beat Minton 641-605 in a three-game series. Because Williford emerged from the contenders' bracket, she would have to win another three-game set to win the championship.
Both bowlers were tired and emotionally drained. Minton won in a low-scoring series 523-516.
Ironically, Kreg's short time as almost-Queen was really not complete because according to the TV coverage format rules, she would have had to defeat Minton one more game.
Minton, who became the official WIBC 2001 Senior Queen, was crowned during ceremonies on the ESPN2 coverage of the WIBC Queens Tournament-taped show. This writer's question: Does the televised presentation ceremony on ESPN2 constitute TV coverage?
Walt Steinsiek, a past president of the Bowling Writers Association of America, is the bowling columnist for the Vero Beach (Fla.) Press Journal, in which the preceding originally appeared May 16, 2001.