Black Bowler's Goal

Role Model/Trendsetter

By Melissa Isaacson

This story ran in the Chicago Tribune on Wednesday, September 27, 2006

CHICAGO | It never mattered to Billy Oatman as he watched Earl Anthony, his idol Steve Cook and the other stars on the pro bowlers tour in the 1970s that no one looked like him. He'd still get up early each Saturday morning, walk the two blocks to Palisade Bowl on 116^th and Halsted and dream of being just like them.

"It was sort of an automatic assumption there were no black bowlers out there, but I still loved it," said Oatman. "Then George Branham III and Curtis Odom [who bowled in the 80s and 90s] gave me hope and I looked up to them as role models and thought if they can do it, why not me?"

At long last, Oatman, no longer has to ask that question, this week becoming the first African-American to earn a full-season tournament exemption on the PBA Tour. At long last, Oatman figures, it's his turn to be a role model.

At 40, Oatman is hardly an overnight sensation, but talk to him for a few seconds and he sounds every bit the excited kid who grew up listening to Chris Schenkel. Working in a steel mill and at his current job driving a food delivery truck while building a successful career as an amateur bowler, Oatman earned his exemption at his first tour trials in Hammond, Ind., finishing just out of the top 10 but edging in because of an injury to tour pro Ritchie Allen.

"I am more than excited," he said. "I mean, I'm actually out there. You're a kid bowling, then all of a sudden you're 40 years old and you're a part of the guys you used to watch, you're on their level."

His friends thought he was crazy, of course. "I'd bowl all day, then go play outside. My friends didn't know what I was doing," he said. "I see them now and they're like 'Oh man, he's still doing that?' "

Oatman bowled at Crane High school, leading his team to the city league championship, then went on to bowl on national championships teams for Vincennes University and Wichita State. Traveling to tournaments in order to qualify was too expensive more often than not and for a while, bowling on weekends was good enough.

"I was just thanking God I was good enough to make a living off that and my job," he said. "I'm comfortable, I have a meager lifestyle. I had money in my pocket after expenses. I was happy. Then the tour trials came to the bowling center where I was in a league and I said, 'This is my shot.' "

Oatman's parents Bill, a retired truck driver and Joyce, a retired schoolteacher, put up the $1,800 necessary for Billy to bowl for the week of the tour trials. "My parents took me to junior tournaments, they allowed me every opportunity to bowl," he said. "I could not have been blessed with two finer human beings as parents. I really want them to have their son do something to be proud of."

And bowling professionally is just a part of it. "The PBA," said Oatman, "is just a window to be able to broadcast my real agenda. Of course I want to succeed on tour, but there's a lot more to Billy Oatman than just bowling.

"I want to start up a fund for one or two African Americans because while there were a few people at points in time who sponsored me, as far as the money coming out of their pockets for me to get on the PBA, no one ever really gave me a chance."

As he spoke, the ideas bubbled forth. "That's it," he said. "I'll call it the Billy Oatman Give 'em-A-Chance Fund. There are so many good African American bowlers who need to be out there but it's hard for them. Yeah, the Give-'em-A-Chance fund. I want to build something bigger than me."

He's a talented bowler say those who know Oatman, but he is hardly expecting parades in his honor when he shows up at his first tournament, the season-opening USBC Masters Oct. 22-29 in Wauwatosa, Wis. If being a lefthander isn't odd – and in some bowling circles resented – enough, then being a rookie should assure that Oatman will be treated with not much more than casual indifference by the veterans on tour.

"There's so many different people out here," said Allen when asked if Oatman's presence was good for the tour. "I can say the same thing about Mike Edwards, who's the first American Indian or the first female (Kelly Kulick)."

Like any pro tour, only the strong survive. On the 19-tournament bowling tour, you're guaranteed $1,500 a week. Oatman is looking for more and he's capable, but he's not going to get rich. "The main reason I finally took a chance," he said, "is so I would never grow old and say I woulda, coulda, shoulda."

He knows there could be added attention because he's African-American. If he wins a tournament, he will be only the second African-American to do so after Branham, who won five in his career.

Beyond that, it's not about him.

"Because I'm the first [to be exempt], there are going to be a lot of eyes on me," said Oatman. "But I know one thing. It's only a blessing if it helps others. Only if my agenda is a success am I a success."