Professional Bowlers Association

The third annual National Championship of the Professional Bowlers Association was a big one for handsome, dark-haired Carmen Salvino of Chicago.

Salvino first caught the attention of the bowling world when he was only 20 years of age and teamed up with veteran Joe Wilman to capture the National Doubles title. He had previously won two PBA titles before the Championship test at Leo Malek's Boulevard Lanes in the City of Brotherly Love, and he demon strated in the early qualifying rounds that the lanes were to his liking.

He compiled a 211 average in the 24-game qualifier while knocking over 5061 pins, and in the next two eliminationrounds he came up with six-game counts of 1284 and 1344 that gave him a total of 7659 pins for 36 games. In thefinal head-to-head rounds, there was, of course, Don Carter to contend with. Carter was at or near the topthroughout the tournament, and it wasn't until the final game that Salvino caught Carter and won the title by 19 pins.

During one stretch of the finals, Salvino lost four straight matches, but rallied to defeat Johnny King 222-178; Don Ellis 267-235; and Ellis again 239-179. His $6,500 check ran his winnings to more than $16,000 for the year.

Defending champion Dave Soutar gave it a good go and wound up fifth, 121 pins behind. Dave's downfall came in the 25-game finals when he lost 10 of his 25 matches.

Joe Joseph, the veteran from Detroit who won the $50,000 Tournament of Champions earlier in the year, was a strong fourth, 115 pins behind Salvino.

Other 1962 champions who cashed were: George Howard, who finished third, Glenn Allison (8), Billy Welu (11), Dick Weber (12), Ray Orf (13), Andy Marzich (14), Dick Hoover (16), Dick Downey (30), Harry Smith (33), Dick Agee (47) and Glen Blakesley (48).

SEMI-FINALISTS

*Weber received a $600.00 bonus leading qualifier.