PRO BOWLING AT TORRANCE : Competition Close for Five Playoff Spots

Bowling is one of sport’s noisiest games, but Gable House Bowl in Torrance will be so quiet at noon today you will be able to hear a pin drop.

The silence of a televised title roll-off with only one of the four games on at a time is a dramatic change from the usual across-the-house clamor, according to Nelson Burton Jr., ABC TV bowling analyst for 17 years.

“A PBA final often builds to such pressure, the cameras catch the bowlers shaking,” said Burton, from St. Louis and a past champion and member of the PBA Hall of Fame.

The five bowlers who will feel the pressure of today’s roll-off for the $35,000 first prize in order of seeding are: David Ozio, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Marshall Holman, Marc McDowell and Harry Sullins.

Ozio, 36, of Vidor, Tex., had the bad luck of having two 300 games bowled against him in the Thursday match play. But Friday, he stormed back with a perfect game, later beating Williams in the 42nd game to nab the top seeding.

Friday was a perfect day for the capacity crowd with five more 300 games, bringing the tournament total to nine.

Unusual happenings are part of PBA TV roll-off history, Burton said. Among them:

--The 15-minute blackout caused by a power failure during the 1989 final at Pinole, Calif.

--Burton, himself at the 1984 Long Island PBA, describing as a “light hit” a shot he couldn’t really see while falling backward off his chair with microphone still in hand and his broadcasting partner, Chris Schenkel, stating afterward: “You know, Nelson, you were right. It was a light hit.”

--Bob Knipple during the TV interview after winning the 1973 Kansas City PBA. He had agreed to answer only two specific questions if he won. But Knipple, who had forgotten his hearing aid, expected them to come in order and they were reversed.

Schenkel first asked how many PBA tournaments Knipple had bowled and the answer was “30.” Then Schenkel asked, “Bob, how old are you?” Knipple answered, “one.”

--Don Genalo lackadaisically tossing a gutter ball to lose by a pin in the 1983 PBA at Gable House. Genalo needed only one of five pins standing on the spare throw, but had miscalculated the totals and thought he had already lost.

Bowling Notes

PBA TV trivia: The highest scoring match? Don Johnson’s 299-268 victory over Dick Ritger in 1970. . . . Most times in finals, 114 by Earl Anthony. . . . Most TV match victories, 91 by Anthony. Most losses, 85 by Anthony.