Striking Up an Old Acquaintance : Cypress’ Virginia Norton Returns With Pro Bowlers Tour

It will be something of a homecoming for Virginia Norton when the Ladies Pro Bowlers Tour $30,000 L.A. Open begins today at the Brunswick Wonder Bowl in Anaheim.

Besides bowling competitively, Norton, of Cypress, is also on the Brunswick Advisory Staff of Champions, meaning that she also tours the country promoting bowling by helping form new leagues and giving exhibitions.

With the LPBT tour stopping in Anaheim this week, it will give Norton time for something that her busy schedule barely allows anymore-- bowling .

“I’ve been out (promoting) the last few weeks, so I haven’t bowled as much as I’d like, but I’ve snuck in some practice time on the road,” Norton said.

Norton, 34, and a 14-year veteran pro, said that she has bowled in some regional tournaments in Northern California in October but that this would be her first appearance in the LPBT Fall Tour. Norton finished second to Tish Johnson of Downey in 1984, the last time the LPBT had a tournament in the Los Angeles-area.

Norton and Johnson return to compete against the best women bowlers in the country as the L.A. Open gets under way today with the 9-Pin No-Tap Pro/Am tournament, which pairs local amateur men and women with professional partners competing for a special prize fund at 1 and 3 p.m.

Regular competition begins Tuesday and Wednesday with nine-game qualifying rounds at 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. each day. The top 24 qualifiers from there will advance to eight-game match-play rounds Thursday and Friday.

The top five bowlers meet Saturday at 2 p.m. to determine the winner of the $5,000 first prize. That event will be nationally televised by ESPN.

Last Saturday, Leila Wagner defeated top-seeded Lorrie Nichols, 248-226, for the $5,000 first-place prize at the LPBT tournament at Tacoma, Wash.

Wagner and Nichols--along with LPBT regulars Lisa Wagner, Jeanne Maiden, Robin Romeo, Nikki Gianulias, Anne Marie Pike and Aleta Sill--are expected to challenge for the L.A. Open title.

“With the way she’s been bowling lately, I’d say that Nikki Gianulias would be one of the top favorites (for this tournament),” Norton said. “Her performances have been very solid.”

Gianulias finished in third place at the Tacoma stop of the LPBT Fall Tour, which has had stops in Rockford, Ill.; Algonquin, Ill., and Woodbury, Minn., before this week’s visit to Anaheim.

This tour, which offers a total of $250,000 in prize money, concludes next week in Las Vegas.

Norton grew up in Whittier and bowled at Cal State Long Beach for three years in the mid-1960s before devoting her time entirely to professional bowling. She has won six major tournaments.