I am watching this video as a 48 year old man and I was just about brought to tears by Chris Schenkel asking the crowd to give Del Ballard a nice round of applause in support. Chris Schenkel was a professional journalist and a world class sportscaster, not just for his work in bowling. But far more importantly, he was a good man. He genuinely felt terrible for Ballard and stood out in front of that crowd and specifically asked them to "make him feel better". I've always respected him but today that respect is even greater.
Peoples morals were just different then as a whole. Pete was devastated as well. He knows winning like that is 🐎 💩. He even said 'Del threw 2 strikes to beat me and....". All sports have their one infamous all world choke jobs that are immortalized....unfortunately for Ballard, he's the one. But he got out in front of it like a man, laughed with everyone else, and had a HoF career. He manned up like I've never seen in the face of something like that. It has such an impact because Del WAS/IS such an great, HoF bowler. If that happened to Al Stonum, or Walt Pulchlopek, eh so what? Del kicked many an ass before and after that.
I think Del Ballard Jr, is one the most underrated PBA players. Del wasn't a bum, He has 12 or 13 PBA Titles. Del was especially tough in the majors. Two U.S. Opens, Firestone T of C, and the ABC (now USBC) Masters. The only missing major off of his resume is the PBA Championship. That is a great resume.
I bowl in the same league as Del’s wife Carolyn, who is a great bowler herself. Nice lady, and always brings out the best in my game when I bowl against her.
Robert Lawrence: 219 Walter Ray Williams Jr: 217 Del Ballard Jr: 247 Robert Lawrence: 208 Del Ballard Jr: 257 Norm Duke: 223 Pete Weber: 213 Del Ballard Jr: 207 Weber Wins!
What every one forgets is that Pete Weber won the tournament. Ballard was flirting with disaster all day long. He won many tournaments with his aggressive style. About a week or two later, Ballard really redeemed himself by winning the PBA event in Sayville, (Long island), NY. Lesson is if you need 7 or less, THROW IT DOWN THE MIDDLE HARD AND STRAIGHT.
I never realized how many times Ballard came close to throwing the ball in the gutter during the other matches! Wow, I wonder if that was something that was in the back of his mind or not.
After that second strike in the 10th, Ballard needed to re rack to gather himself. Also a big reason the pros like to finish first is to put pressure on their opponent. And Pete did that with a 5 bagger. Del could have shutout Pete but he went through the nose in the 8th. That’s always overlooked
Del's gutter on the 3-4-6-7 split in the 3rd at 1:08:13 happened for the same reason he guttered on his fill shot in the 10th at 1:20:40. He rushed both of them.
Yep, todays bowlers would have taken a re rack to gather themselves. He got too pumped up on the 11th ball. That match always reminds me how hard bowling really is. Especially on a PBA pattern, everyone thinks it’s so easy because they make it look easy.
That ending speech was the real Pete Weber. Not the asshole he acted like sometimes. Ive heard many say he was a genuinely good dude. You saw it here the end
I still cannot believe Ballard ditched it. His swing & follow through looked fine - got the good lift on the ball. I guess he missed his spot or something because it went right into the channel. Unbelievable.
A fact that goes unnoticed, I had forgotten too until I watched this entire video. I'd say he came VERY close what? 2 or 3 times and close another half dozen easily. And he threw a ball in the gutter on the spare shot in the 3rd frame in the final match! I really am wondering if that gutter was in the back of his mind on that final shot.
@@canuck_gamer3359 I remember this tournament very well. Fair Lanes (now AMF) would always alternate between Baltimore and Washington. Kings Point was a brand new center. AMF bought out Fair Lanes and Kings Point is closed.
hard to watch esp because it was a good shot one out of 10000 shots lands on the thumb hole and skips almost an arrow right. freak accident. tough one to take lol but thats bowling.
