Whether you are from one of the Bay Area’s many fine lawn bowling clubs, one of Berkeley’s many temporary residents, or a footloose world traveler you are most welcome to bowl with us. Our fees are quite modest. Just check in with someone at the club.
The club holds draw games every Wednesday and Friday afternoon. We ask that you arrive by 10:45 AM for 11:00 AM start times. On weekends, there are frequently club members on the green during lessons so please drop by and join us.
In this space, we hope to provide information to keep club members informed about upcoming events, parties, and tournaments plus information about the condition of the green or new member photos. Members are encouraged to check in here to get the latest news.
Rossmoor LBC was the host for this year’s Opening Day. All three greens were busy as 120 bowlers from PIMD participated in two 12-end triples matches. The greens were in tip top shape and Rossmoor provided lots of tasty snacks all day long.
It was a special day as Woody Ogden was inducted into the Lawn Bowling Hall of Fame. Woody has been an important part of Berkeley’s history and has served at total of 99 years of service to lawn bowling (given one year’s credit for each position he filled).
Must have been the beautiful morning, and everyone relaxing after the holidays. We had 20 bowlers on the green this morning!! That was 14 regular full-time members, Harry the annual guest, and five who came for a free lesson. There were four rinks in use, and lots of laughing and pleasant bowling going on all morning. Never one bad moment.
Among the learners was Ben, who will turn 13 in a few days. He stopped by the club Friday afternoon, talked to some of us about how to get to play, then came this morning with his mom – who was also an enthusiastic and competent learner. Ray gave them the basic lesson, then Howard came and joined them for their first game. By the time they were done, both boy and mom were putting bowls in there, and Ben was already starting to skip – telling his partner which way to come, etc. Annie and I were watching closely, and agree that we’ve got a prodigy in hand! I hope you get to see them when they come back.
Then a young couple arrived – after 12, actually – but we did NOT turn them away! – we invited them in, they watched till our games were done, then Howard and I gave them their first, short lesson, with Susan and Annie and Millard watching. They enjoyed it very much, and we made a date for them to come again next Wednesday morning for a full lesson.
The last learner was Chris, a tall 40-ish guy who was there for his third time, so you may have met him. He and Harry played all morning. Very nice person!
Cathy
BLBC members were saddened to hear of the passing of Barbara Mackey, one of the club’s longest-serving members, on November 30, 2012.
Barbara was an accomplished bowler, who won many tournaments over the years. She joined the Club together with her husband of 62 years, Howard Mackey, our Inter-club Tournament Director, whom she often assisted in setting up tournaments and making the clubhouse a welcoming venue for visiting bowlers. Since joining in 1993, she served the Club in a number of capacities, including secretary of the Board for several years and most recently a second term as a Director at the time of her passing. Her extensive knowledge of the history of the Club made her a walking archive and an invaluable source to new members and new Board Directors. Barbara had also qualified as an official umpire for the USLBA, a task that requires a rigorous test and an in-depth knowledge of the Rules of the Sport. She was ready to provide advice to all on the more intricate aspects of the game and kept us on our toes if we strayed from the rules, especially those governing good etiquette on the green. We all appreciated the efforts she put into keeping the clubhouse well stocked and in good shape. In her spare time she pursued painting and was an active member of a community art group. She will be missed.
Berkeley LBC members Jim Corr, Ann Gardiner, and Shawn Roney took first place in the 2012 Ed Arnold Tournament held at Palo Alto LBC on November 3.
The “Ed Arnold” is a special event held annually in Palo Alto in honor of a former long-time member of that club who was active not only in lawn bowls but also in promoting youth sports in his home town of nearby Burlingame. It has some unique features in that it is not only a “mixed triples”—every team of three has to have a member of both genders—but also, over the 12 ends of each match the team members rotate their positions so that each plays as lead, vice, and skip for four ends. This places a premium on “all round” bowlers who know the requirements of the different positions.
A very popular tournament, this year saw, as usual, a strong field of 16 teams from across the Bay Area. Only two teams won all three of their matches over the course of the day: the Berkeley trio and the team of Rod and Rita Arriaga and Norm Tiernan from San Francisco. As announced at the outset by tournament director, Bud Birkenseer, the winner would be decided by a one-end “sudden death” playoff, with each player having only two bowls instead of the usual three. In a short but tense culmination, Jim, Ann, and Shawn took that final point and first place.
“I think we all bowled well as a team,” said Jim after the match, “but I would single out a couple of key moments that made a big difference. First, in our second match, Ann, playing as skip at the time, came in with her last bowl on two successive ends to take the point, in each case turning what would have been a five-point deficit into a one point gain. Then, in the critical final playoff, both Ann and Shawn laid a bowl less than a foot from the jack, with good back bowls, putting the opposing skip under tremendous pressure. The result was that I didn’t even have to use my last bowl.”
Congratulations to all and special plaudits to Ann and Shawn who have shown that they are more than ready to leave their “novice “ status behind and enter the ranks of “veteran” lawn bowlers!
Jon Burnoski, a member of the Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club, triumphed against top bowlers from across the nation at the US Lawn Bowling Association’s National Championships in San Diego on Sunday. In doing so, Jon, who is 18 years old and a freshman at Skyline College in San Bruno, became the youngest lawn bowls singles champion in US history and the first from Northern California to take the US crown in 14 years.
The four-day tournament pitted representatives from the USLBA’s eight regions against each other in a round robin format in which each bowler played one game against each of the other contenders. Jon represented the Pacific Inter-Mountain Division, which includes Northern California, and won six of his seven games. His final points differential of 39 edged out former national champion, Bob Schneider of the Central Division, by five points, a razor-thin margin in this tournament.
Jon has been bowling competitively for about 10 years, and this was his fourth time at the nationals. His brothers, Josh (15) and Matthew (12), are also successful at the sport, all of them trained by their dad, Tom. All are members of the Berkeley club. Not so coincidentally, on Sunday Tom was bowling one green away from Jon — in the National Pairs Championship, with partner Jon Yee who comes from the Palo Alto Club. (Tom and Jon came in sixth in their event.)
“This is a fantastic achievement,” said Geoff Chandler, President of the BLBC. “It’s a great boost for the club as well as a huge personal success for Jon. It illustrates what we have always said — that far from being a pastime for “old folks,” lawn bowling is truly a game for all ages.”
Jon is now being mentioned as a potential member of Team U.S.A., representing the U.S. in international lawn bowling competitions. “It is a wonderful honor, of course,” his dad says, “but the reality is that international tournaments involve considerable expense, well beyond the means of a college student. We will have to see whether there are individuals or organizations out there that would be willing to sponsor Jon’s international career.” by Jim Corr
Rita M. DeMoss, a long time member of BLBC, passed away on August 24, 2012. Rita, formerly of Sciatuate, MA enjoyed film classics, jazz, literature, and travel. Friends and family celebrated her life at a service in Scituate on October 18. She is survived by her children, David, Anitra, and Aine and by many nieces and nephews.
PIMD Closing Day—October 20 at the San Francisco Lawn Bowling Club in Golden Gate Park—turned out to be a fine day for Berkeley bowlers. The season’s closing day is an occasion to get together with old friends and new ones in a “mix and match” tournament that seeks to put bowlers from different clubs together in two separate triples draws. This year, five Berkeley members entered: veterans Jim Corr and Cathy Dinnean, and novices John Hooper, Ann Gardiner, and Shawn Roney. In the morning event, Jim, Shawn, Ann, and John were on winning teams, while in the afternoon, Cathy, Ann, Shawn, and John were once again “in the money,” playing with completely different partners.
Addressing the assembly at lunchtime, PIMD President Greg Fyvie was especially pleased at the large number of novice bowlers—who constituted a quarter of the day’s turnout of 68 bowlers from all over the Bay Area. Their participation was made easier this year by the generous contribution of an anonymous donor who covered the entry fees for novices. And, as an extra token of appreciation, all the novices were presented with one of the newly-designed PIMD membership pins. Greg also noted that he is planning to find ways to recognize those who successfully recruit new members to the sport, since that is the only way we can ensure that this ancient game continues to grow and offer enjoyment and competition to future generations of bowlers.
Congratulations to all and special kudos to our novices!
Jim Corr
VP BLBC
A cool morning led to a beautiful afternoon and a great day of bowling. We had 8 entries for the 2-Bowl Singles this year. After the first three games Ann Gardiner (3-0), Jim Corr (3-0), Lennon Hamilton (2-1), and Jason Chien (2-1) were leading and entered the semi-finals.
Jason and Ann won. Ann then went on to win the final. Congratulations to Ann Gardiner our 2012 2-Bowl Singles champion.
Thank you to all that bowled in tournaments this year.
Gary Knox
Tournament Director
