Behind the Numbers: 2012 Citizen Masters part 4
“The WrapUp”
Another great year, another great turnout for the Citizen Masters. I would like to thank all who was involved in the tournament in any way, directors, bowlers, fans, families, proprietors, sponsors, the Citizen Newspaper, ect. To the directors that run the tournament: you are a great bunch of team players. You made this tournament run as smooth as it could possibly run. You all communicated with each other and fixed possible problems before they became problems. You are the best group of directors to work with. A big thank you to all of you guys. In fact, I'm going to take you all on a tropical cruise when this is over…umm, my wife says “Maybe not”. Sorry, I tried :. It was really good to see the new faces in there this year. You are all champions in my book.
We all know that Cory Slater won the Masters this year, but what you might not know is he bowled some numbers that might not ever be matched. He averaged 239 for the tournament which is the highest average ever. He also did that by bowling in four different houses throughout the tournament. And to sweeten the pot a little bit more, he added a 300 game in the mix. It's been 5 years, 2 months and 2 days since his last one in the Auburn Bowling Association, now that's hard to believe after watching him bowl for the past month. Cory is the seventh bowler to have a Runner Up title and then later become a Champion. Congratulations Cory on your first Masters title.
A couple of messages to the finalists: Nate Breese - you win the Sportsman award. When the match with Josh was over on Saturday, you still pushed to get that final strike, you still smiled genuinely, you lost like a champion. There is no doubt you will win this tournament someday. Mike Sheehan - Iron Man award. Not only did you win six matches in a row, the last five were above 700. The one you lost to Rick Lambrecht on Saturday was the biggest losing score of the tournament (a sign that scores are too high in my opinion). Impressive and tough way to go. Nick Kilmer - Biggest Heart award. After a devastating accident early in the season, you weren't sure if you would ever bowl again. Not only did you come back in the second half of the bowling season, you did it in a big way by finishing in the top eight. That's something to be really proud of. Steve Suslik - The Entertainer Award. Steve, as I always write about you, you never let us down with the dramatic finishes. You are the most fun to watch. You are like so many football games; you only need to watch the fourth quarter to see the whole game. Syracuse, look out for this guy. Rick Lambrecht: Class Act award. Winning or losing, you are even keel. Always offer a smile to friends, strangers and encourage everyone on. We all could learn a lot from you. Josh Devlin: Lucky seat stealer award. Josh, we bowled against each other twice. Both times I had my seat and I was bowling well against you. Several times during both matches, you just took it and looked away like you didn't know what was going on. Nope, not fooling me, I caught it the first time you did it. Thanks a lot. Also, during the final awards, you told me that because you live in Waterloo, you were an outsider and didn't have anyone rooting for you. You were wrong; the guy in the Jets hat was your biggest fan. Come on, you all know who I'm talking about. And finally, Cory Slater, hmmm, how about the Messenger Strike award, no wait, how about the Head-Pin-Slapper- Around the World Award, no, the Hand Slapper award, mine would be numb right now if I did it like you do, the Gold Digger award because you took almost all the awards and missed the last one by a strike, the Cactus County Award, because that's where all the pins ended up after most of your strikes, and finally, the Champions award, you won it, you dug deep for it, you never gave up for it, you really earned it.
Here is a quick rundown of our award winners. The George Lumb Memorial award goes to the two highest qualifying bowlers which is a $50 savings bond: David Ashby 753 & Cory Slater 752. The Alfred “Gale” Stanley Memorial award which is a plaque and goes to the bowler with the highest series during any portion of the tournament and cool $100 cash: Rick Lambrecht 802. The George Vitetta Memorial Award goes to the bowler in the final 8 that has the highest average which is a very nice clock plaque: Cory Slater 239. The Joe Catalfano Memorial trophy goes to the Runner Up: Mike Ryan. The Ted “Baldy” Skowron Memorial trophy goes to the Champion: Cory Slater. Along with the Championship Eagle, Cory also receives the Stan Roche Sr. Memorial award which is an engraved Seiko wrist watch, the James Locastro Sr. Memorial award which is an embroidered polo shirt and a free entry to the 2013 Citizen Masters tournament.
I hope you all enjoyed the tournament this year as much as I did. I hope you got to catch up with some old friends or made some new ones. I hope you enjoyed the Tommy “O” style of announcing, he really keep you on your feet and chuckling. We are looking forward to next year. I'm sure we will see a few changes for the better next year, I'm not promising anything though. Most of all, I hope you enjoyed reading an insider's look into the Masters with a view from “Behind the Numbers.”