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Hall of Fame to enshrine ZellerThere conies a time in each man’s life when the ultimate goal or honor is reached.But, is that honor an individual gain? Or. is it a result of a combined team effort?Roger Zeller, president of Columbia Industries, will become the 22nd inductee into the San Antonio Bowling Council’s Hall of Fame during ceremonies this Sunday at 7:30 p.m. in the Plaza Dinner Club at the Frost Bank Tower.The bowling czar, however, sees his honor as one for the company, the team — not for himself.It’s a great day for Columbia Industries,” the 60-year old Illinois native said. This honor recognizes the company and the work we’ve done for the bowling community.There are among 10 to 12 others who have been with Columbia since the start, and have helpted it to the success it is today. The council is not only honoring me, it’s honoring the rest of the team.”Sam Weinstein of Chicago. III., a member of the American Bowling Congress Hall of Fame, will act asMaster of Ceremonies. Weinstein, a former associate editor of Bowlers Journal Magazine, opera»ed the first retail bowling shop. Presently, he has three retail outlets as well as interests in billiard and golf supplies. He is alsoa popular commentator for both radioand television.It would take more space than this column could allow to examine Zeller’s illustrious life. The retired Air Force Brig. General graduated from the University of Illinois where he was an outstanding baseball pitcher and a teammate of the famed Lou Boudreau.The former B-26 pilot moved to San Antonio 35 years ago.We had 15 employees and making 4ii balls a day back in I960 — now we have 325 employees and we're making TillKl bowling balls a day,” Zeller said.• * •*.x::v:C•M$.v.•T *I-:'*f:;*y.•.•a .*V.V.V.V.V -V.*. a . . . • • I . • 1 I • • . • • *mm9 * • • *.1 * - —. ^ m * * * ,v. .V.V.V.V.V.V-'.V-w *.*•lt;v. v.%*w,y. .w.yv.y.;.*, /-VV.v.w/.;,wmixm+m®The beginningFinancial troubles of the Columbia Industry plant in Ephrata. Wash., proved to be a blessing in disguise lor Zeller. The name Columbia was coined as a result of the Washington-based industry being located in the Columbia River Basin inthe eastern part of the state.1 used to own Southsidc Lanes,” Zeller said. My manager (Pepper Martin, currently Columbia's vice president) at the time went to Toledo (Ohio) and saw one of their balls. He liked it, and asked me to check into the industry. Well, one thing let to another.Eventually, 1 bought some stock in the company. It has some financialtroubles, so I gave the company a loan. Well. I thought about the entire situation, and ultimately took the entire company over.We moved the industry to San Antonio in a shop on N. Cherry St..” Zeller added. I eventually sold my other interests to concentrate on the Columbia interest.The (dd building was called Columbia Plastics Corporation of Texas before it was changed to Columbia Industries when the company moved to is present site on West Avenue. Columbia was the first to revolutionize plastic 1mw ling balls.It was .just an investment,” Zeller said. It was my first experience in bowling. Now. it has turned out that where we're number on in the world for distributing bowling balls., We had a lot of growing pains, but i* was worth it. The professionals have been very instrumental in promoting our product. In fact, our balls won nine of the Hi major PBA tournaments this past season. Fifty per cent of the pros use Columbia products.”Currently, Columbia has pros Don Johnson. Mark Roth, Betty Morris, Donna Adamek and Paul Colwell on its Advisory Staff.ROGER ZELLER ...Columbia bossAs mentioned, it’s truly great to be recognized in the community.” Zeller added. “This honor wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for an entire team effort at Columbia.”Zeller joins Violet E. (Billy) Simon, Charlie Truoter, Harold Scherwitz, Helen Baetz, Bob Harris, Wiilie Gran ieri, Grace Baskin, Gus Pfeifler. Myrt DeFily. Lil Canfield, Norby Penshorn, Et na Haufler, Jo Novak, Clara Grasso. ILL. Buckner. Bert Weltens, Alice litis. Gayle Hayes, Lew Levinson. Betty Wise, and Jerry Merck Sr. in the Hall, which was created in 1970.It's too bad that all of Columbia’s crew couldn't be honored together, collectively — Zeller would have wanted it that way. However, just honoring Zeller will get the message across that team work is the key tosuccess.And finally...*Pat Dickey and Mary Falconereach got their point across in a big way-last weekend.Dickey, a senior accounting student at St. Mary's had too 300 games in waltzing awav with the Alamo Tournament Association event at Astro Bowl.But, that's not all.The cool southpaw averaged a blistering 260 to break the existing American Bowling Congress record for 10games of match play of 250. set by Bob Freehauf at Bowlerama several years ago.Dickey had games of 300, 268, 246 (for an 814 series), 245, 247, 244, 300, 237, 247, and 266. ABC must sanction the set before it's officially a record. Oh yes, the win was worth $300.Mario DeLeon finished second, Harry Fletcher third, Rene Cantu fourth, and Dan Strey of Austin fifth. Lefthanders dominated the finals as six placed in the top 10.Falconer, who had finished fourth in the Southwest Masters Bowling Association meet in Houston two weeks ago, averaged 185.6 to capture the $125 first-place price in the Ladies Amateur Tournament Association meet at Thunder Bow l. Falconer also had a 249game.Debbie Lauzon finished second, Kathy Kirst third, Mary Denmanfourth, and Nancy Huber fifth.On Oct. 23-24, the ATA will hold its monthly tournament at San Pedro, and the LATA w ill be in action at Goliad.
Newspaper Details
San Antonio Express News
San Antonio, Texas, US
Sun, Oct 02, 1977
Page 121
Full Page
Clipped by
Patricia J.
OH, USA 28 Feb 2018
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