2024 Hall of Fame Inductee
DAVE WILLIAMS

Meritorious service? Are you aware that in 1975, Williams rolled six 300 games in an eight-month span — something that had never been done in sanctioned competition? Or that the next year he set a California full-season average record of 230 for 75 games (as a member of a five-bowler team)? Or that he won the All-America Youth Bowling Championship in 1970? The list of on-the-lanes accomplishments in the Marin County B.A., Central Sonoma County B.A. and Petaluma B.A. goes on… and on.

Williams grew up in a junior program in which “Peanuts” comic strip creator Charles M. Schulz was a coach and contributed cartoons to the weekly “Ten Pin Tales” newsletter. Perhaps some of that creativity rubbed off, as Williams would go on to create or co-create 30 adult league, 55 youth league, 16 senior league, 38 tournament, 13 learn-to-bowl and many other programs for AMF Bowling Centers… and even more for American Recreation Centers that put California residents on the lanes and helped transform untold numbers of them into lifelong bowlers.

The number of league bowlers alone amounted to more than 100,000, and Williams also developed youth scholarship programs for both AMF and ARC, as well as an intramural bowling program that was adapted by the California State University system. A prolific writer, Williams is a regular contributor to Bowling Center Management magazine, the California Bowling News and other bowling newspapers. Since 2017, he has been a weekly contributor to the California USBC Association’s website via his “Dave’s Corner” column. Meritorious service? You bet.

— Bob Johnson