LANE LINES: In Tuesday’s RTS we started a walk down memory
“lane” – the bowling lane, that is – as we recounted a Jan. 2,
1956, story by sports editor Joe Guido.

The occasion was the transfer of the Public Square bowling
alleys from Arthur M. (“Mr. Bowling”) Dort to Oscar Benton.

The story contains some gems of bowling history in Bradford:

“A peek down through the years reveals the names of the
world-famous bowlers who visited the city annually to take part in
the Interstate Bowling Tournament, the oldest tournament of its
kind in the East, including Jimmy Smith, a Bradford native who
later gained kegling fame in Buffalo and New York.”

Guido goes on to name other famous bowlers of the 1920s and
1930s from Jamestown, Erie, Buffalo, Rochester and Cleveland.

“Yes, the Squares had them all, including the women’s bowling
champion of the early days, Florence McCutcheon. She still holds
the three-game record for the fair sex – 682.

“The only record to be held by a Bradford bowler is the
Interstate singles mark and that is Jimmy Shortell’s 734 set in
1934. The season before was perhaps the top as far as records were
concerned. In this meet, a rarity occurred that was never repeated.
In fact, it hasn’t come up in tournaments of the sort since.

“This was the hitting of two perfect games. John Roth, who that
year, 1933, won the singles championship with 730, hit a 300 game
in the individual event, and later Joe Bodis hit the second 300
game. The high doubles mark of 1,358 also was registered in that
year as was the all-time high all-events mark of 2,089 by Allie
Brandt, the Lockport midget.

“The year 1954 marked the end of the Interstate Bowling
tournament after a successful operation of 32 years. (The
Interstate did not function during World War II.)”

The new owner, Oscar Benton, as some residents may remember,
later became mayor of Bradford. Back then, he was known as “one of
the area’s best bowlers.” He was one of the city’s few 300 keglers
and was also ranked as city champion, receiving all-event victories
in city association tournaments. At the time of the sale, Benton
was also secretary of the Classic Bowling League and vice president
of the Bradford Bowling Association.

We have a third part of this story coming soon.