In 1996, The Kegel Company took
over the
Lane Maintenance Program on the PBA
Tour.
John Davis had known for a long time
(at
least 25~years) that there were problems
with
the lane conditions.
He had been studying the problems
and had
developed several high~tech machines to
rectify the inequities.
He didn't realize the magnitude of
the
problems until he began dealing with the
"Greatest Bowlers In The World".
He quickly learned that these
guys
were unbelievably talented.
The pros would magnify everything.
He found that each and every "oiling
pattern" would favor one style of player
over
another.
Late in 1996, after several
tournaments,
he scheduled a symposium at Kegel
Bowling
Center in Sebring, Florida. He summoned some of the world's
most
experienced lane conditioning experts
for a
panel discussion, in an attempt to pool
the
information that was available into a
group
of "one".
In attendence at that first meeting
were
John Davis,Len Nicholson,
former PBA Lane Maintenance Director,
Steve Cross, PBA Lane Maintenance
Director, John Forst, former
Touring
Pro and Lane Maintenance Director for
the
WIBC, Pat Mitchell,former laneman
and
resurfacer, Mr. Mike Stranney,
ABC
Tournament laneman for several years and
Mark Davis, Operations Director
of the
Kegel Company.
Along with other knowledgeable
people
there as observers, these dedicated
professionals met for four days with an
open
exchange of ideas, phisosophies,
case~history
results and data comparisons.
They all agreed that they were
concerned
where the sport was heading.
It was decided to start a "guild" of
lanemen.
Others wanted to help.
The word got around, thus the
start of what is now known as
One Game
