Noel Dysart’s bowling career began in 1956 at age 13 when he started spending Sunday afternoons with his dad at the bowling center in a small Minnesota town.
When the Navy moved him to the Washington area in 1982, he started to bowl in local leagues, became a life member in USBC, and spent every couple of weekends bowling in ABT tournaments. For the next 27 years, except for the 4½ years he was stationed outside the area, he continued to participate in Nation’s Capital Area Bowling Association and other bowling events, both locally and nationally. Noel has bowled in the Falls Church Commercial league for more than 15 years, including the year their team, which included two Hall of Fame members, won the championship.
His high average is 209, and he has accomplished several 300s and a 787 high series. Noel and his doubles partner, John Holtzclaw, have bowled in the World Wide Military Bowling Tournaments and in the ABC/USBC Open Championships for more than 15 years.
Starting in 1997, Noel began to regularly volunteer at the association, entering membership and average information and processing awards. In addition, he volunteered to assist with the association lane inspections.
Around the same time, he pursued his interest in teaching the sport of bowling by attending numerous Dick Ritger Bowling Camps and became certified as a Level III Ritger Instructor. His attendance at USBC training courses resulted in his certification as a Bronze and Silver Level Coach.
Upon his retirement from the Navy in 2002, Noel increased his participation with the sport of bowling. He accepted an appointment as a member of the association’s board of directors and served in that capacity until the 2006 merger of ABC/USBC, which markedly reduced the number of directors. In 2003, Noel returned to Navy employment, taking a job at the Bethesda Naval Bowling Center, which he later managed from 2008 to its closure in July 2019. At that center, he took over the coaching and management of the youth league.
Always active in collecting funds for BVL, he identified the organization as a resource for support of our Wounded Warriors, who were being treated at the hospital. BVL provided funding for the recovering patients to bowl, and Noel worked with them to increase their ability to participate in the sport.
In 2013 and 2015, he was instrumental in working with Storm to offer a one-day program for the Wounded Warriors, where they received a bowling ball, shoes, and bag, along with two hours of instruction from the Storm staff. This provided many of these injured veterans not only equipment but also skills that they could take to their homes in small town America. Patients included many amputees as well as those veterans who had been affected by brain injuries during our Middle East wars.
In 2012, the association was challenged by a situation where some of its members were averaging scores in leagues that did not correlate with their performance in various tournament competitions. After deliberating, they decided to create the Rerate Committee to further evaluate the problem and suggest corrective actions if necessary. Noel was chosen to lead the effort, and he served as chairman of the committee from 2012 to 2019.
In 2013, after the death of the head of the Lane Inspection Team, Noel was asked to take over the responsibility for scheduling, inspecting, and recording results with USBC. He served in that capacity from 2013 to 2018. It required the assignment of three teams, including one led by him, to conduct the lane inspections required by USBC.
Noel Dysart is an accomplished bowler who has served his country and our association. An honored position has been reserved for him in the Nation’s Capital Area United States Bowling Congress Association Hall of Fame.
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