make it—I didn’t make it because of one tournament. I was fortu- nate enough to have a great last tournament, but I made it because I bowled well throughout the year. And I guess like I bowled out 12 QUESTIONS: there on tour, I just kept grinding, and I was fortunate enough to make it. So it has changed my perspective of it. I was so down with bowling that I thought it was over. I had made up my mind that I Richard Wolfe was going to bowl till March, and if I didn’t make it, I most likely wasn’t going to bowl for a career or an attempted career. I’d bowl in leagues and local tournaments and possibly some regionals. As a result of a 12th-place finish—exactly what he needed to accom- There’s a lot more riding on it now, and I like the fact that it is plish—at the PBA World Championship near Detroit last March, Richard somewhat of a do-or-die situation. You can’t just hold on and keep Wolfe today has a status unlike any other NCABA member: He’s a PBA grinding away—you have to perform well now. There’s no way Tour exempt player. Thus, the 37-year-old Vienna left-hander gets the around it. chance to compete with an exclusive field of 63 other bowlers on the 2004-2005 PBA Tour. What did you originally think about the all-exempt tour? There have been many changes made under the new PBA ownership, There’d been rumors of this happening for a number of years. I and Wolfe, who has been a PBA member since 1986, offers his perspec- had mixed emotions about it because obviously I wanted to con- tive on some of these changes, his current situation, and other issues. He tinue to bowl, but after listening to Steve Miller and his opinion on recently spoke outside of his pro shop at AMF Annandale with editor Bob an all-exempt tour and to some of the other players whether I like it Cosgrove. or not, right now it’s their money, their rules—live with it or move on. So I guess somewhat you feel like it was shoved down your throat. How has your life changed since becoming an exempt player? However, if I look at myself and the way I bowled and over my As of right now, there hasn’t been a great deal of change; I think career, I said, Well, why do I have the right to continue to bowl if I’m not I’m still in shock. However, I am looking forward to the changes. necessarily making a living at it? I’m somewhat up in the air, like a lot of the other players. We really They backed me into a corner because of my mediocre bowling don’t know what’s going to go on, how the format’s gonna neces- over the years and basically said, Well, if you’re good enough, every- sarily work. body has the same opportunity starting as of this date, and if you can I have a few more opportunities, I will tell you this, that have prove yourself, you can make more money than you ever thought about in come along with maybe a few ball companies. So in that regard, bowling. This is not necessarily the best for individual players, but the fact that I’m going to have a guaranteed income next year is the as a group, this is what we feel is the best thing to do. biggest change. I felt like the number [of exemptions] was too small. I still ques- You’re guaranteed $2,000 a week by showing up, along with tion that number; however, I questioned it before I was in, and I hopefully the potential that I’ll have some sort of job while I’m on question it now that I was fortunate enough to get in. When I was the road. I’m currently speaking with Columbia about a potential 68th, 69th—whatever—floundering around in those positions, I did job. I’ve spoken to AMF, and there’s a few other options. [At press think that number was small because I felt like there was going to time, Wolfe awaits a contract from Columbia — Editor] be a lot of good bowlers who potentially weren’t going to be able In that regard, I think the players are going to be much more to compete next year. And I felt like I was one of those players. visible this year. The players I’ve spoken to seem to be somewhat I still feel the same way because I think there is a group of guys skeptical; they don’t know what the companies are going to do— that are excellent bowlers that may not get to play. However, I whether they’re going to pull back or be more involved. guess you can look at it as survival of the fittest. I think the reason For me specifically, more than anything, it’s of kind of a rush right for cutting this field down is to potentially make your 64th bowler now to know that it’s going to be my best year no matter what. I’m making a living—some form of a living. going to show up, and I’m going to have a good year. Obviously, things aren’t getting any easier, though: They’re going What has been like as a player under the new PBA regime? to cut to the top 40 [after next season]. You hear a lot of rumors. You hear about players who complain a lot, who call the office about whatever the case may be, whether Do you now truly see yourself as a professional bowler? it’s lane conditions or the format or how to make the PBA better. I doubted that [I was] most of the time that I’ve been bowling. I’ve never been involved that that type of situation because I’ve I doubted it on the way to Detroit. There’s no doubt about it that always realized that I’m a bowler, and I can’t cure all of these prob- in this year coming up, if I’m fortunate enough to make it—and lems because one, I don’t have the money, and I’ve entrusted these that’s the plan—the atmosphere on the tour will change: We will people. That’s their job, so I know they’re going to do a good job. be treated as professionals through this organization. It’s been different because I don’t think the players have as much Obviously, everybody’s skeptical about the format, understand- say so. But I think it’s a very difficult change when somebody comes ably so, but in that regard, we will be professionals. in, and Steve Miller has to be that way because if you start listening I felt like all along I belong on tour. I haven’t necessarily by my to the bowlers, it’s a self-serving situation. It’s human nature: What performance shown that, but this is a great opportunity, so in that can I do to benefit myself here? regard it has changed my thought process and the fact that I did He is very stern. He’s a hard-ass, excuse me, and he is. He tells it like it is, like it or not. Basically, in his conversation, it was, Hey, Which female pro bowlers would most likely have success on the PBA you can either bowl here or you can go bowl on the other tour. It’s your Tour? Visit ncaba.org to see Richard Wolfe’s response to this question choice. and other topics that space did not permit on these pages. We were dying. We were under—dead, gone. PBA wouldn’t exist. 10 BOWL Magazine • Summer 2004 www.ncaba.org They came in, and they gave us life. So I respect them for that. I try 64th was $1,000. It didn’t matter; you were fighting to get those not to get into the political stuff as much; I just try to follow the points, and sometimes it was disheartening the way the structure rules and understand them and don’t necessarily always like all of was set up. I think it just got past them before they realized it. them. But trying to look at the big picture, they’re doing the best I don’t know what the solution to this was, but when you have thing for the tour currently. 500 entries and you’re chasing points and the person in front of you happens to have a bad tournament and finishes 500th and you What’s the best thing the new PBA has done? bowl well and get a check and you finish 142nd and you accumulate It’s such a trivial thing that most people think is so ridiculous, the same amount of points, I think that was some of the players’ but it’s the clerical changes at the main office. The way we used to biggest complaint. enter tournaments was kind of a fiasco. We used to get ridiculous I think it got by—that one slipped by. amounts of mail that I can imagine was very costly to the PBA over time. What’s been your view on ESPN’s coverage of pro bowling? Today, they send out a monthly newsletter that will give you any It’s going to become more of a show. I like the old “four bowls information that you need as far as entering regionals to updates, three” and so forth down the line. The bracket thing, I think, is regional roundups, who won tournaments, upcoming events. You something that once it’s explained, it’s a possibility. Obviously, going to four people on the show is what they’re going to go to now; there will be no wild card, so I think it will be somewhat self- explanatory. That sometimes confuses some of the older viewers, and they don’t necessarily like that. My view is that I like the fact that they’re trying to do more per- sonal things with the players, trying to get name recognition, being more involved in the players’ lives, and giving more information about each individual player. Other than that, I think it’s very difficult to make the show excit- ing, but they’re trying. The stadium effect was obviously to create a different atmosphere, which some people like that fact, some don’t. I particularly like it. The show … it’s all about the show. Scores, I think, are important on TV. Unfortunately, right or wrong, I don’t necessarily think people want to see 182 to 179 under any environment. It’s going to happen, but I think it’s the responsibility of the players to give them a show, however that may be. So I think that ESPN is doing a good job. I like the commentators; I like everything about it. I don’t have a problem with it.

How are you different as a person/bowler compared to when you first went out on tour? I think it’s age. I’ve always had some people I really idolized on tour. Since I started, [Mike] Aulby was one of them. I always looked at him and thought he obviously was a great bowler, but as I be- came older, I realized that he’s more than a great bowler. His attitude, the way he deals with not just the bowling but with people outside the industry ... I look at that and I really try, I try very hard, to go down that road and obviously sometimes I slip. You know, I have my anger problems, and I get angry when I’m bowling, and I may get agitated and probably do things I shouldn’t. But I think by getting older, I’m learning that after all these years I finally accepted the fact that—and when I say this I’m going to have to be very careful because this will open a can of worms—physical talent in bowling, to me, really doesn’t mean much at all. can enter tournaments online; you can just simply write your credit You have potential, and you have an opportunity. However, it’s card number down on an entry blank and send it in. Your confirma- the way you really can control your emotions and the way you tion comes back via E-mail and so forth. adapt to controversy and the way you can accept things—why It’s pretty amazing. We were such in the dark ages. I think the you’re on the lanes and/or off and not let them affect you to where PBA was under such a tight … I say, budget—I don’t know if there you start making one bad week into 10. I obviously didn’t do a was a budget. I think they were run by the skin of their teeth; they good job of that because I’d let one week ruin 10 weeks or I would were just trying to get by. consider making a show a failure because I didn’t win when I was fortunate enough to make it. And the worse thing they’ve done? Winning is obviously my goal, but I don’t think about it as much. The points. I think that in all their things, with all the stuff going I think about trying to keep my attitude in check and realize that on, the importance that the points was the most important thing. it’s just bowling, and I’m just a guy trying to bowl, and my poten- The money meant nothing. tial means nothing. I have a responsibility to show that I can bowl I remember bowling tournaments where, obviously, from 33rd to because, to me, talking about it means nothing. www.ncaba.org BOWL Magazine • Summer 2004 11 A lot of people have said kind words over all the years about my I’m going to get out on a good start, a good charge, but my pri- game, and that’s obviously very nice, and I appreciate it. But real- mary goal is to be involved next year on tour again. istically, it’s talk. At some point, you have to get it done. You gotta show that all these people that believe in you are being nice, but, How much is practicing a lot? bottom line, is if you can’t get up there and control your emotions When I’m not competing, every day. And because of the format and not get angry and act like a jerk and accept things, and if you now, unfortunately, if you bowl nine games and you’re done, you’ve just think in a certain manner and you concentrate on the things got five or six days to practice. that do matter, you will be successful. But at some point, it doesn’t really matter. You can practice all I do have that potential, but you can pull yourself right down and you want, you cannot create the environment of bowling in a com- never bowl well by the way you perceive yourself and if you feel petitive situation, in a match, under that environment against that sorry for yourself. calibur of player. So it really is a very difficult situation; it’s how you So after a while, you finally realize that some people are just mentally perceive it, and you have to be a stronger mental player great. Not everybody on tour is going to be great. They’re not all than you do physically. And obviously, I have not done that. going to be superstars; they’re not all going to the Hall of Fame. But I always wonder what a lot of players actually say about me. And that doesn’t mean you can’t make a living. And it doesn’t mean you I think some of them have been truthful enough to actually tell me can’t want that and don’t want that, and I certainly hope that that that they don’t understand me. They see me either throw it slow, still happens to me. But I see the way that Walter Ray [Williams Jr.] hook it, spin it, roll it up the back, and they’ll go, “I don’t under- and other bowlers … the way they handle themselves is different stand why you don’t do well.” from the players who don’t make it. And I’ll say, I don’t either! By watching Walter Ray, as great as he is, I don’t look at him and But I just think over time that confusion in any regard creates go, Wow! He’s just a great physical bowler; look at all the things he does. an issue, and I had a lot of confusion when I bowled. I did not I think it’s the capacity to get it done in the ninth and tenth. make decisions and stick firm to them and commit to anything. I did, in that last segment, commit to doing to what I thought was I have a responsibility to show right—right or wrong, I did it. that I can bowl because, to me, Titles aside, what is the difference between you and Jason talking about it means nothing. Couch? I don’t know what tournament Jason Couch won this year— Grand Rapids, I believe he won—but I told him after he won that He just grinds on you; he will not go away. He will just not go tournament, and I’ve told him before, You deserve to bowl well. And away, and you know in your heart if you don’t put him away when I’m going to deny ... if you ever tell anybody that I told you these things, you have an opportunity, he will put you away. And in the back of I’m going to deny it. your mind, when you haven’t done it, and he has, 40 or 30-what- But, since you asked: He practices harder. He goes to that Kegel ever times, that’s it. facility, and he puts in sometimes four to five hours a day during So whether I’m bowling in league against a league bowler or the off-season. So he’s better practiced, he’s sharper, he does all whether I’m bowling against him, it’s still a perception, and once the things that a professional athlete should do to bowl well. That’s you can get past all those things that don’t matter and just take why he beats me. care of the situation at hand, I think good things will happen. I was too complacent and didn’t put the time and effort in to be I’ve bowled so many years out there that I’ve finally gotten use competitive against bowlers who are not only equal, but some have to the situations somewhat. I’ve gotten accustomed to the travel. more talent than I do. And when they harnish that talent and that I don’t necessarily like it all the time. A lot of it is that I’ve gotten skill, I can stay close to them, but I cannot necessarily beat them. older, and I perceive things differently. But like I said, that’s easy to That’s what has to change because there isn’t a big difference say; it’s about what you get done. between he and I. Physically, I think I am every bit as good—I am as good as he is. I can do whatever he can do to a certain point, just What will make for you a successful 2004-2005 season? as I think he has strengths and weaknesses, I have the same thing. My goal for all these years has been to say that I actually could But there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be competitive with him and make money bowling and make a living, and I haven’t done that. stay close. My goal is to stay on tour. I’m gonna have to bowl well at this point But he is one of the few bowlers that, in my opinion, absolutely because you can’t have a bad year and stay on tour. deserves to bowl well because of the time and effort and energy he Obviously, winning is something that I desparately want to hap- puts into the off-season. pen, but I don’t necessarily think I can think about it in that regard as much as I just need to go bowl and do the things I need to do You can’t go home like Joe Bowler and boast about rolling a 278 and stay focused on what is actually going to help me bowl well. game and 702 series that night. Besides winning, what do you And that’s just the way I mentally approach bowling and start to actually find fun about bowling on tour today? like bowling again because I had some issues where I didn’t neces- Bowling against the best bowlers in the world and, on occasion, sarily like it that much because I wasn’t doing well. It’s like anything beating them. And, on occasion, making and doing things that only else; it’s a job. I really shouldn’t look at it that way, but sometimes probably you as the bowler and/or people who understand what’s when it starts feeling that way, it’s hard to have fun at it. going on—doing things that only they’ll understand and you’ll un- I’m going to go out, and I’m going to practice. I am going to be derstand, and it gives you a feeling of an accomplishment that you prepared to bowl this year like I’ve never been before. I’ve procras- know that what you just did was pretty difficult. tinated, I’ve waited around, I didn’t practice when I was at home, and then I would go out on tour and I’d practice as much as any- body, once I was on tour. Well, you can’t do that; it’s too late.

12 BOWL Magazine • Summer 2004 www.ncaba.org