Fresno Bombers

National Bowling League (1961-1962)

Background

The Fresno Bombers were one of ten founding teams in the National Bowling League, a nationwide attempt to capitalize on the massive popularity of bowling at the dawn of the 1960’s.

How massive? Bowling historian J.R. Schmidt, writing for Bowlers Journal in 2015, noted that the number of bowling alleys in the U.S. grew by 25% from the mid 1950’s to 1961. One in every 17 adult Americans was part of a bowling league. Schmidt also pointed out that in January 1961, a bowler from Detroit named Therm Gibson won $75,000 on NBC’s Jackpot Bowling TV show, thus “making more money in 20 minutes than Mickey Mantle earned playing an entire season in the Yankees’ outfield.”

So perhaps it’s no surprise that a group of businessmen came together in 1960 with the aim of marketing bowling as America’s next breakout televised team sport, complete with a “World Series” to crown the national champion.

NBL investors focused on their facilities as a selling point of the league. The owners of the Fresno Bombers and Fort Worth Panthers both built brand new bowling centers to house their teams. The New York Gladiators tried – and failed – to gain permission to install their home lanes inside New York’s Grand Central Station. Dallas and Detroit erected giant new alleys for the public, with NBL arenas that seated 2,000+ spectators attached.

Fresno’s NBL Lanes featured four championship lanes, home and visitor dressing rooms, and theatre-style seating for 1,662 patrons that wrapped around the lanes on three sides.

National Bowling League play was set to begin in October 1961.

Roster

NBL rosters consisted of between seven and nine men. Match play featured five bowlers. But in one of the NBL’s more exciting innovations, teams could sub in wildcard bowlers for a single roll, allowing specialists to pick up a tough split to salvage a spare, for example.

The Bombers roster included:

• Ed Bourdase
• Bill Bunetta (Player-Manager)
• Dick Downey
• Vern Downing
• Billy Hardwick, the youngest Bomber at age 20
• Johnny King
• Don Lebold
• Norm Meyers
• Fuzzy Shimada

One and Done

Things went sideways for the NBL and the Bombers right off the bat. The league’s most critical failure was its inability to land a television contract. That made the operators dependent on gate revenue and crowds were weak across the circuit. Nowhere more so than Fresno. The Bombers were forced onto the road for most of the first month of the season because construction on NBL Lanes wasn’t complete.

Once Fresno’s new lanes were ready, things didn’t get much better. The Bombers averaged only about 350 fans per game for their first five home dates (Newport News Daily Press 12/5/1961). In December 1961 the NBL’s Kansas City and Omaha franchises dropped out of the league. The league also folded its owner-less San Antonio Cavaliers, a so-called “swing team” that played all of its games on the road.

Speculation abounded that the Bombers might be next as 1961 turned into 1962. The team managed to hang on, but one Fresno’s top names, Johnny King, quit the league in January. “I can’t afford to play for promises and at little league prices,” the cigar-chomping star told the press. (Shreveport Journal 1/27/1962).

The Bombers played their final contest in late April 1962. Fresno’s six-month old NBL Lanes went into receivership that May. The National Bowling League folded on July 9th, 1962.

National Bowling League Podcast

Bowling historian Dr. Jake Schmidt talks up the brief life of the National Bowling League on a 2019 episode Good Seats Still Available podcast.

Downloads

NBL Lanes Seating Map & 1961-62 Bombers Schedule

Links

“The (Short) History of the National Bowling League“, J.R. Schmidt, BowlersJournal.com, July 31, 2015

National Bowling League Programs

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