Professional Bowlers Association

The long-running National Championship reached new heights in 1971, largely through the participation of the Bellows-Valvair Corporation. The event, valued at $85,000, was played at Paramus Bowling in Paramus, N.J., and the enrichment of this prestige tournament made for a $12,500 first play payoff for Mike Limongello, the North Babylon, N.Y., pro who seems always to capture the big ones.

The windup was a heart-breaker for Dave Davis and continued a string of second-place finishes in recent competitions for the lefthander who went into the fray seeking his third Nationals title and his 13th victory in a long career. But, all he came away with was his ninth runnerup placing in less than two seasons of play.

The final score of the championship game-viewed by millions on ABC-TV's Wide World of Sports, was 207-202 and, if the final score indicates a spine-tingler, that's just what it was.

Davis was virtually untouchable in the 56 games leading up to the finals at the place from which the first live PBA event was shown over a decade ago. In the match game portion, Davis took 19 of 24 games and averaged nearly 217. But, when the TV lights went on, Lemongello began his all-winning effort, dumping three foes on his way to the crown.

First to go down to defeat was Gus Lampo, by a 225-165 count. Then, Dave Soutar, himself a former winner of the National Championship, bit the dust as Lemongello uncorked a 267 game. Teata Semiz was next to fall before Lemongello and then it was the big number.

Lemongello opened with a strike against Davis, then nursed a one-pin lead over his opponent with half the game gone. Davis rung up three strikes, giving him an eight-pin margin and when Lemongello finished first, with his 207, all Dave had to do was get a mark in the last frame. Instead, Dayis left the 4-7-10 split and when he failed to pick it up, he had to be content with second place money of $7,000. Semiz received $5,000, while Soutar and Lampo earned $4,000 and $3,000 respectively.

TELEVISED FINALS

PLAYOFF RESULTS-Lemongello defeated Lampo, 225-165; Lemongello defeated Soutar, 267-223; Lemongello defeated Semiz, 212-203; and in the championship game Lemongello defeated Davis, 207-202.

56-GAME TOTALS

		Name, City/State		Pins		WLT		+		Tot		Amt
1		Dave Davis, Miami, Fla.		12130		19-6-0		570		12700
2		Teata Semiz, River Edge, N.J.		11842		19-5-0		570		12412
3		Dave Soutar, Gilroy, Calif.		12003		13-11-0		390		12393
4		Mike Limongello, N. Babylon, N.Y.		11892		15-9-0		450		12342
5		Gus Lampo, Endicott, N.Y.		11928		13-11-0		390		12318
*6		Earl Anthony, Tacoma, Wash.		11835		16-9-0		450		12285		$2,560
7		Bobby Cooper, Houston, Texas		11843		14-10-0		420		12263		2,200
8		Butch Gearhart, Houston, Texas		11887		12-12-0		360		12247		2,000
9		Norm Meyers, St. Louis, Mo.		11768		13-11-0		390		12158		1,800
10		Billy Hardwick, Louisville, Ky.		11809		11-21-1		345		12154		1,600
11		Bob Strampe, Detroit, Mich.		11715		13-10-1		405		12120		1,500
12		Ralph Engan, Brookfield, Conn.		11696		12-11-1		375		12071		1,400
13		Barry Asher, Costa Mesa, Calif.		11755		10-14-0		300		12055		1,360
14		Jim Maxey, Atlanta, Ga.		11620		14-10-0		420		12040		1,300
15		Terry Booth, Mountain View, Calif.		11678		11-12-1		345		12023		1,250
16		Les Zikes, Palatine, Ill.		11643		10-14-0		300		11943		1,200
17		Timmy Harahan, Canoga Park, Calif.		11643		9-15-0		270		11913		1,150
18		Tommy Tuttle, King, N.C.		11564		11-12-1		345		11909		1,100
19		Mickey Higham, Kansas City, Mo.		11538		11-13-0		330		11868		1,050
20		Palmer Fallgren, Sacramento, Calif.		11459		10-14-0		300		11759		1,000
21		Ernie Schlegel, Newburgh, N.Y.		11481		9-15-0		270		11751		950
22		Curt Schmidt, Ft. Wayne, Ind.		11503		8-16-0		240		11743		900
23		Jimmy McHugh, Newark, N.J.		11345		8-16-0		240		11585		850
24		George Pappas, Charlotte, N.C.		11314		5-18-1		165		11479		800

Pos.		Name, City/State	Total	Amount
#*25		Dave Paulin, Indianapolis, Ind.	6577	$775
26		Skee Foremsky, Houston, Texas	6576	650
27		Wayne Zahn, Tempe, Ariz.	6574	600
28		Ray Bluth, St. Louis, Mo.	6572	565
29		Jack Getzen, Lansing, Mich.	6562	535
30		Nelson Burton Jr., St. Louis, Mo.	6556	510
31		Carmen Salvino, Chicago, Ill.	6555	490
32		Larry Laub, San Francisco, Calif.	6652	485
33		Bill Beach, Sharon, Pa.	6550	477.50
		Larry Lichstein, Windsor Locks, Conn.	6550	477.50
35		Don Helling, St. Louis, Mo.	6545	470
36		Johnny Petraglia, Brooklyn, N.Y.	6644	465
37		Bob Collatos, Santa Monica, Calif.	6636	460
38		Dick Ritger, Hartford, Wis.	6534	455
39		Mike McGrath, El Cerrito, Calif.	6522	450
40		Rod Rodriguez, EI Paso, Texas	6509	446
41		Mike Brady, E. Paterson, N.J.	6496	440
42		Jimmy Carman, Houston, Texas	6495	435
43		Lou Scalia, Hollywood, Fla.	6488	430
44		Dick Battista, Astoria, N.Y.	6487	425
45		Alex Seymore, Kannapolis, N.C.	6481	420
46		Rich Bennett, Owego, N.Y.	6479	415
47		Max Jensen, Lincoln, Neb.	6475	410
48		Tye Critchlow, Los Angeles, Calif.	6471	405
49		Earl Ratliff, St. Petersburg, Fla.	6459	400
50		Steve Hobelmann, St. Petersburg, Fla.	6454	395
51		Don Johnson, Akron, Ohio	6450	390
52		Mike Orlovsky, Endicott, N.Y.	6448	385
53		Larry Montgomery, Akron, Ohio	6447	380
54		Bill Wallets, N. Olmsted, Ohio	6445	375
55		Don Glover, South Bend, Ind.	6441	370
56		Jim Stefanich, Joliet, Ill.	6428	365
57		Ed Bourdase, Fresno, Calif.	6426	360
58		Wayne Sheridan, Richmond, Va.	6421	355
59		Al Thompson, Cleveland, Ohio	6420	350
60		Allie Clarke, Akron, Ohio	6417	345
61		Danny Sheranko, Houston, Texas	6412	340
62		Bob Shank, Lorain, Ohio	6396	335
63		Bill Tucker, Detroit, Mich.	6378	330
64		Ken Uban, Dallas, Texas	6330	325