Bowling For Boobs Fundraiser Donation

The "Bowling for Boobs" fundraiser, held each October during Breast Cancer Awareness month at Illinois Valley Super Bowl resulted in a $1,413 donation to the Illinois Valley Community Hospital (IVCH) Foundation.  The IVCH Foundation will use the contribution to help pay for mammograms for women not covered by insurance or eligible for other assistance, making breast cancer screening available for local woman of any income.  Photos of the event held the weekend before Halloween 2012 (costumes optional) may be seen here.

Super Bowl co-owner Jim Stubler is pictured giving the check to Cindy Herrmann, IVCH diagnostic imaging director, in the digital mammography room at the hospital.

Jim Stubler Honored with Louis P. Petersen Award

The Illinois State Bowling Proprietors Association (ISBPA) at the 2012 Annual Meeting in Normal, Illnois awarded Jim Stubler with the Louis P. Petersen Award.  The award is the most prestigious ISBPA award that is presented in honor of an individual who is a legend in the bowling industry.  Louis Petersen was an industry leader who was instrumental in the formation of the Bowling Proprietors Association and many other innovative ideas and programs including the “Petersen Classic”.

The award is presented to an individual who has dedicated a career of service in bowling or the industry in general.  The recipient must have been a resident of Illinois and/or had a direct impact on the sport of bowling  and/or the industry in the state of Illinois. In the last 20 years only three proprietors have received this award.

Jim Stubler began his bowing career in 1971.  While working with his father and brother Jim learned all aspects of the business from conditioning lanes, to pinsetter repair, marking and promotions, bartending and any thing else that needed to be done at the center.  Through the years Jim has also fared well as a bowler (Bowler of the Year 1988 and the Hall of Fame in 1991). In 1988 he was elected to the secretary/treasurer of the Illinois Valley Bowling Proprietors Association.  In 1990 Jim was elected to serve on the ISBPA Board of Directors and continues as a member of that board.  Through the years Jim has served on all of the committees of the ISBPA and has been chairman of most of them.  On August 1, 2000 Jim was elected to be President of the ISBPA and served two, two-year terms, making him the longest sitting President in the ISBPA history. 

In June of 2008 Jim was elected to serve as a Director at Large of the Bowling Proprietors Association of America (BPAA) Board of Directors.  He served two, two-year terms.  He has been on both the Marketing and the League Development committees for more than 10 years for BPAA.  Jim also writes the monthly column "Ask Stubler" in Bowling Center Management magazine.

Jim Stubler

300 Across the House

Sam Lawrence bowled his 24th 300 game, February 1, 2013 to make him the only person to bowl a 300 game on every pair of lanes at I.V. Super Bowl.  Lawrence, 29 started bowling at age 5 and had his first 300 game October 12, 2001.  His current average is 234.  He resides in Arlington with his wife and has 3 sons.

Sam Lawrence

37th Annual Spring Classic 9 Pin No Tap Tournament

Get your team(s) together for the 37th Spring Classic 9 Pin No Tap Tournament.  The tournament begins Saturday, April 13th and runs through Sunday, May 26th.  Squad times are at 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday during the tournament period.  For complete details and for a viewable/printable entry blank, click here.

Rare Feat - 2 Consecutive 300 Games

According to mathematicians, the odds of any adult male bowling a 300 game are 11,500 to 1. The odds of a professional PBA bowler rolling a perfect game are 460 to 1. Upping the ante to two straight perfect games makes the odds that much greater.

According to Todd Surovell, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Wyoming, “To roll two straight perfect games, you need to bowl 24 strikes in a row. The chance of doing this is approximately 0.00032, or 1 in 30,909. If you strike on average 50 percent of your frames, something I wish I could do, the number goes up to around 1 in 16.8 million.”

Jaime Serna, 38 beat the odds Sunday, January 13, 2013 in the I.V. Super Bowl's Sunday Funday Mixed Bowling League with two consecutive 300 games, his first (and second) ever.  A fun day it was for Jaime and his teammates, including his wife Angela!  A bowler in the league for 4 years, Serna began the evening with a 191 average and started the series with a 167 game.  His previous high game was 280, also bowled at the Super Bowl. 

Serna began bowling at age 8 in Dwight, Illinois and credits Mary Bennett, then manager at 1747 Bowl for talking him out of the game room and on to the lanes.  A childhood accomplishment was winning the state Community Twosome Championship.  As an adult he has bowled in Indiana, Wisconsin and Minnesota as well as at the Super Bowl.  His high series to date is 781, accomplished 13 years ago.

Serna resides in Rutland with his wife and three children - Tatiana, 7, Angel, 5 and Sergio, 2.

Jaime Serna