AKRON — It had livestream before there was such a thing. Wooden lanes, with a smaller field of top players.
And, if the tournament director had anything to say about it, no left-handers in the top five.
That’s the Akron Open that Darrel Ratliff remembers.
As a 21-year-old right-hander, Ratliff became the youngest winner of the tournament, which started in 1980 at the former Colonial Village Lanes, stopping John Gregory in the finals.
“Colonial Village had a lot of history, and a lot different field,” said Ratliff, now a 42-year-old Monroe, N.C., resident who works as a medical courier said during Sunday’s fourth annual Akron Open at Stonehedge Family Fun Center. Colonial Village closed in the mid-2000s and now is a thrift store.
“The field is 1,000 times stronger now. There are a lot more bowlers … it’s just a different game.”
Organizers used to televise the stepladder finals on closed-circuit TV, with area bowlers serving as commentators.
Then, there were the lanes.
“Colonial had different lanes that had different characteristics. Some pairs, one lane would hook eight boards more that the other,” Ratliff said. “Others had like a ramp effect. And they.would be that way from Game 1.”
The late Rick Davis was the general manager and tournament director at Colonial Village during the Open’s heyday. He had his own reputation among Open players.
“Rick Davis would find ways to shut out the lefties. A lefty could not make the top five in the Akron Open … he made sure of that,” Ratliff laughed. “He hated lefties.”
Ratliff was the only former Akron Open champion from the old days in the field. After sitting 11th following qualifying, he was sixth after the first casher’s round. He shot 1,190 during the Round of 24 to finish sixth, missing the cut to the stepladder finals by just seven pins. He finished with 3,898 total pinfall through 16 games
He has returned each year for the now fourth annual event, adding, “I felt like I wanted to be here since I’ve won it before, but this is the best I’ve ever finished by far.”
Ratliff bowls just three games a week in league and occasional weekend tournaments.
“I don’t think I’ve practiced in about seven years,” he added.
There are differences in the tourneys of yesterday and today.
“The lanes were pretty consistent across the board, but the racks are really bad,” said Ratliff of Stonehedge, pointing to Lane 19 as having a pin-spotting problem for the 1-2-3. “But the power of today’s players is so much different … 100 percent different.”
FACH’S SEASON
His second-place finish just adds to a huge year for Urbana 30-year-old lefty Graham Fach, who has five Professional Bowlers Association Central Region Tour titles and earnings of more than $25,000 en route to what will undoubtedly be Player of the Year honors in the region.
So what does he do for an encore?
“I don’t necessarily need to top it. I need to repeat it,” said Fach, a native Canadian who captured the 2016 PBA Players Championship in Columbus. “I certainly can top it on the national level, but on the regional level, I have to repeat it.”
Fach already has goals as the PBA pushes toward the 2022-23 season.
“I want to make the PBA Playoffs and I want to have a more consistent year. I had lots of highs and lows last year,” added Fach, who as the No. 1 seed lost to Michael Martell 223-179 in the title match. “I want to keep those highs and bring those lows up a little higher.
“I have the support team around me that wants me to succeed. We have been working on a few different things that, hopefully, can help me get there.”
Fach was the top qualifier after 16 games with 4,087 — the only bowler to exceed 4,000.
STEPLADDER WOES
Samuel DeWitt III, who topped A Squad during Saturday’s qualifying round, left immediately following his squad to attend a wedding near his Pittsburgh home. He returned to Akron at 11:30 p.m.
“It could have been a lot worse,” the second-seeded DeWitt said after falling in the semifinals of the stepladder to Michael Martell 248-223.
DeWitt stumbled in just two frames against Martell, leaving a 2-4-8 spare in the third frame and an 9-pin in the fourth. Meanwhile, Martell ran off six strikes in a row.
“You just can’t get fast when you need a lot of strikes in a match like that,” the 34-year-old right-hander said. “On the seven-count, it was just speed. Then I overcompensated on the next shot, getting a smidge slower and 9-pinned,” said DeWitt, who finished 106 pins behind Fach following 16 games. “You can’t do that in a must-strike format like that.”
Despite the loss, DeWitt called his run “fantastic,” adding, “I was happy to stay in second.”
“I thought I threw it pretty good, but I just didn’t have as good a look as yesterday,” he added. “The fact that I didn’t get run over or caught by anybody made me very happy. To stay in second and have a chance … I just wanted to stay up that high.”
Schaub, the 38-year-old Ashland two-handed lefty, started with three strikes during his 268-256 quarterfinal loss to Martell. But a swisher 5-pin and a solid 7-pin in the fourth and fifth frames, respectively, stopped him as the champion struck on nine of his first 10 shots, leaving only a 7-pin in the fourth frame.
Anthony Kennard, a 28-year-old Wapakoneta right-hander, would like to have one shot from the opening match back. After starting with three strikes, he left a 2-4-5-8 spare in the fourth frame. Martell ran off the first nine strikes en route to a 278-275 win.
“I dropped the ball on the bucket unfortunately,” said Kennard, who was making his first Akron appearance. “I threw 12 good shots that game, but missed that one, and it was the difference.
“I usually like to bowl the hard stuff, but with $4,000 for first place, I figured I’d come give it a try.”
NOTEBOOK
OPENING CASHER’S ROUND: LeAndre Thomas, Ratliff, Eric Emerson, Daniel Bright and Kennard shot 300 games during the round. Thomas turned in the top five-game series of the set with 1,307, the only bowler to crack 1,300, while Fach and Bright had 1,290 each. Thomas made the biggest run, going from 27th after qualifying to fourth in the opening round. Andre Gonzales, Brandon Runk and 2019 champion Joshua Jones were in the top 24 after qualifying, but missed the cut during the 53-player round. Thomas, Martell and 2019 champion Kyle Mayberry jumped up from below the cut line after the round.
ROUND OF 24: Of the 24 bowlers who reached the second casher’s round, 17 were right-handers, including two two-handers, with two two-handers among the remaining seven lefties. … Martell had one of the two 300s of that round in Game 14 and shot 803 for his first three games of the set. He made the jump from 20th to the stepladder finals after shooting 1,286 for the block, 35 pins ahead of Fach. … The other 300 came from Adam Barta in Game 14. … Trent Knopp had the second-high set of 1,266 to finish seventh after sitting 19th following the opening round. … Ryan Liederbach was the lone bowler to shoot less than 1,000 during the block, finishing with 976.
MAKING IT WORK: Our thanks to tournament director Dawn Altimore-Eckenrode, Kim Ellis-Hogue and McKenna Boyd for their assistance during the event and making it run smoothly throughout. And the field of 264 competitors would not have been possible without the efforts of promoter Jody Boyd, who also finished 29th overall.
NOTEBOOK: Despite a solid field for the casher’s rounds Sunday and the stepladder finals, very few people were at Stonehedge to see Martell claim the title against Fach when the fourth annual event ended. … Boyd announced that the the 2023 Akron Open will be held Aug. 25 through 27, with the doubles on Friday again, also at Stonehedge. … Singles tournament sponsors were Poling Painting and House of LaRose. … The house oil pattern was used throughout the event. Both casher’s rounds were bowled on the same oil pattern, but Lanes 27-28 were re-oiled for the stepladder finals.
