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The honorees – Sharon Brooks, Melvin (Uncle Mel) Hayes,
Frank (Scoop) Langston, and Patricia McFarland received
plaques commemorating their service in the cause of
promoting bowling in general and being the trend setters for
area African-American bowlers..
Toledo
has quite a bit of black bowling history, says George W.
Hayes, Jr., president of The Chosen Few. Part of that
history includes the formation of The National Bowling
Association in 1939 of which the
Toledo
chapter was one of the founding five.
And the
history continued even though white-owned bowling lanes were
pretty much off-limits for black bowlers until 1959. In fact
the United States Bowling Congress had a whites-only clause
in its by-laws until the late 1950’s.
Brooks,
a Toledo native, has been bowling since the early 1960’s.
She started bowling at the Belmont Enterprise on Nebraska
Avenue and was a member of the Charlie Mae McIntosh Women’s
League and the Three and Two Mixed Bowling League – both now
defunct – for many years. She currently bowls in a women’s
league at Bowlero.
Her
career high game is 280, her high series is 657. Brooks is
secretary of the Toledo Bowling Senate.
Hayes, a
Libbey High School graduate, has bowled on the Medical
College of Ohio’s Mixed League for 29 years, with the Mon
Nite All Stars for eight years and with the Jeff Schaaf
t-Town Boys for six years. He has been secretary of the
Belmont Sportsmen Bowling Club for the past 30 years and has
been the treasurer of the Toledo Bowling Senate for the past
five, among his many bowling activities.
Hayes
has bowled three 300 games, two 299 games, two 298 games and
many 700 series.
Langston, a native of
Mississippi,
moved to Toledo in 1951 and has been bowling ever since. His
team won the TNBA, Jr. Tournament in 1954 and in 1955 he
bowled with the “Ray Robinson All Stars Traveling Team.”
In the
1960’s Langston bowled in such tournaments as the Peterson
Classic, the Hamtramck Citizen’s Classic and the Toledo
Aubendale Classic. He is currently bowling in the Vet Ames
Bowling League and the Men’s Progressive (George Hackney
League). He has bowled a 300 game and several 700 series.
McFarland also began bowling over 50 years ago at the former
Belmont Enterprise Bowling Lanes. She holds a certificate as
a Junior Bowler Instructor and is a director for the U.S.
Bowling Congress. She is a TNBA Life Member and is a member
of the TNBA Chorale and Souvenir Yearbook Committee.
McFarland was a member of the first ladies team admitted to
a men’s league, the first lady secretary to hold that office
in a men’s league, a member of the first ladies team to bowl
1000 (single game) at Varsity Lanes and the first black
female to carry a 180 average in Toledo. She still bowls in
two leagues.
The
names of all of those who have been honored by The Chosen
Few Bowling Club will be on display at Mott Branch Library
during Black History Month. |
