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The Strike Machine!
PBA Tours only Black
Touring Bowler Rolls On, Despite Lack of Sponsors
By Arana
Lynch
Staff
Reporter
This
story ran in the Cleveland Call & Post on Thursday, June 29, 2006
CLEVELAND |
Billy Oatman is trying
to strike it rich. Literally. How? If he spends $42,000 in 21 weeks, he
can easily make over $100,000 on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA)
Tour. The Chicago native recently placed 11th during the PBA
Tour Trials last week.
Oatman finished 11th in the
qualifying round. He needed to finish in the top 10 so that the PBA could
give him $2,000 a tournament to cover the cost of gas, lodging, food and
other amenities he would have to pay for while traveling.
Not being a top 10
qualifier leaves Oatman with only two options. He has to either find a
sponsor to pay for his travels or he has to pay to get to all 21 stops on
the PBA tour himself.
The 40-year-old
bowling veteran has been bowling for over three decades. He has won
thousands of dollars bowling in tournaments across America. Being faced
with the reality that he is the only National Touring African American on
the tour and may have to hustle his way across American in a 10-year-old
mini-van does not scare Oatman one bit, though – it inspires him.
“I am going to make it
happen. They are not stopping Billy Oatman,” Oatman said while practicing
at Freeway Lanes of Wickliffe. “I am going to compete on all 21 stops on
the tour. I don’t care if it’s hook or crook.”
Oatman is not a crook. But he’s got a hook,
as do most very good bowlers. Some would say he’s a great bowler.
Because he is the only African American on the national tour, some may
even consider him the Tiger Woods of bowling since turning pro this past
May.
In the 2006 National
PBA Qualifying Trials, Oatman finished one place away from qualifying for
exemption on the PBA tour. He needed just one more strike to qualify
which would have make him the first African American to be a PBA National
exempt finalist.
Some say he was
cheated him out of his chance to make history, but Oatman said he dropped
the ball. He puts some of the blame on himself, but he is not letting
that deter him from winning a tournament on the professional circuit.
It’s just helping him get better.
“I’m honing my skills
and sharpening my mental ability.” He said
Oatman is currently participating in bowling
tournaments to help him raise enough money to compete on the tour, which
begins in October. Last weekend Oatman competed in three bowling
tournaments. He placed first in a tournament in Pittsburgh with a high
game of 299 and won a tournament in Detroit, where he bowled that elusive
perfect game, the 300.
Many bowlers dream of
bowling the perfect game; Oatman makes a living from it. Living on the
South side of Chicago, Oatman found himself in the bowling center almost
every weekend since he was 6.
“Nobody in my family
bowled. They sent me there every Saturday,” he recalled. “I guess it was
their way of getting me out of the house so they could be together.”
Mom and dad’s version
of quality time paid off. By the time Oatman was 10 he had bowled his
first 200 game. Seven years later, when he was 17, he bowled his first
300 game. “I can remember that.” He said. “I was nervous, excited, I was
on cloud nine.”
Since then, Oatman has
bowled so many perfect games that he can’t begin to count. He attended
Vincennes
University,
in Indiana, and was a member of
the NJCAA National Championship Team. He also attended Wichita
State
University and was a member of the NCAA Bowling Championship Team.
After leaving college
he has bowled in at least 20 sanctioned tournaments each year, cashing in
on 85% of them compiling over 60 – 300 games and 25 – 800 series. He has
placed first in National tournaments and has won money from just playing
different people in different bowling centers.
Oatman is not an obscure face in the bowling
profession, either. He is quite popular. When he enters many bowling
centers around the nation cries of “Billy “O” rise from the lanes.
His smooth style on
the floor is what most people notice when he rolls strike after strike.
What many people don’t
know about bowling is that there is a small underworld of bowlers who
regularly travel and compete against one another. Oatman is one of those
bowlers. Because he is Black and wins many of his sanctioned and
unsanctioned matches, he gets mixed reactions from other bowlers.
“You have to see the
expression on their face when they see someone my color excel in a sport
they are good at, “he said. “it humbles them, and those who don’t get
humbled are in a rage. I remember jackpotting in Tennessee and I had my
buddy start the car while I was collecting the money. They were coming
after me. But I don’t have to worry about that stuff anymore because I’m
a professional now.”
Now “Billy “O” wants
to win the big money the professional bowlers make on the tour. Oatman
can win $40,000 for winning a tournament. If he wins a major tournament,
he can win as much as $100,000.
“If I can win just one
tournament on the tour this year I will be happy,” he said. “It will be
like a dream come true.”
In order to see his
dream fulfilled, Oatman has to start where so many fledging PBA careers
took off – finding sponsors. He is already endorsed by Hammer. He does
not receive any financial compensation, but they give him all his bowling
equipment.
Oatman is working on earning the money
himself. Still, he is the only African American on the touring circuit
and he is competing against people who have rich families and other
connections to help them.
Oatman said it would be nice to have at
least one sponsor, too, since he is currently traveling around the country
in a 1996 Ford Windstar. During the tour he has to travel as far away as
California.
And, no, he does not
have the luxury of flying. The bowling balls he carries – as many at 20 –
cost too much to check in at the airport ticket counter.
Until October comes,
Oatman will be bowling in tournaments and trying to find a sponsor so he
can make the money the pros make. He said he is not going to let money be
his obstacle. He’s confident that he’s good enough to do it.
“Like the rap group
Boogie Down Productions said, “By any means necessary,” he said.
Those interested in sponsoring Oatman can contact him via email at
billyoatman@aol.com or visit his website at
www.BillyOatman.com |
