Mark Baker was born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He moved from “The Volunteer State” to Southern California at an early age, but his legendary career in bowling could only be described as a lifetime of volunteer work for the game.
Baker has been involved in the sport for more than 50 years, starting as a youth kegler while living in Garden Grove, where he was also a standout basketball player. He was one of the original 43 bowlers elected to the Southern California Junior Bowling Hall of Fame. Continue reading 2026 HOF PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCE RECIPIENT – BAKER→
Robert Smith is a native of Simi Valley and he currently lives in Ventura. But in between, the 52 year old has lived in some diverse locations, including Captain Cook, an area near the Kona Coffee Fields of Hawaii, and in Hong Kong.
Through all the moves his love for bowling has remained steadfast. Smith’s first big moment came in 1989, when he rolled his first 300 game at the tender age of 15, during the West Coast Junior Elims at Canoga Park Bowl. Continue reading 2026 HOF PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCE RECIPIENT – SMITH→
Stacy Rider was born in Anaheim and now lives in La Habra. She first became involved in bowling at La Mirada Bowl at the tender age of 6. Her parents, Darryl and Sherry, bowled in leagues at La Mirada, so it was only natural for Stacy to join the American Junior Bowling Congress at an early age.
Over the course of the past 50-plus years, Stacy has carved a niche for herself as both a professional competitor, and also as the sales manager and league coordinator at Linbrook Bowling Center in Anaheim. Continue reading 2026 HOF PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCE RECIPIENT – RIDER→
Larry Laub was a standout bowler in youth leagues, dominating action at the famous L & L Castle Lanes, San Francisco, as well as in the Bay Area Travel League, at an early age. He became one of the top professional bowlers in the 1970’s, collecting 12 national titles, including the 1974 US Open.Continue reading 2025 HOF PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCE RECIPIENT – LAUB→
Wayne Garber was born and raised in Modesto and began bowling at the age of four. His parents were responsible for introducing him to bowling at such an early age and encouraged his development by sending him to many Dick Ritger Bowling Camps.
Garber’s greatest achievement in his illustrious career came at the age of 42, when he made his first televised appearance in the Red, White and Blue Championship at Northrock Lanes in Wichita, Kansas. This came after falling down some stairs a few years earlier, tearing his patellar tendons on both legs. Continue reading 2025 HOF PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCE RECIPIENT – W. GARBER→
Glenn Allison was born in Whittier, Calif., in 1930. He bowled his first USBC Open Championship as a 16 year old, when the traveling event came to Los Angeles in 1947. This year Glenn participated in his 72nd national tournament, a record.
Allison is a four time champion at the USBC event, winning the Classic Doubles (with partner Dick Hoover) in 1962, the Classic Team Event (Falstaff Beer) in 1964, the Classic Team Event (Ace Mitchell Shur-Hooks) in 1966, and the Classic Singles in 1970. Glenn has five PBA Tour titles to his credit, as well as one title on the PBA50 circuit.Continue reading 2024 HOF PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCE RECIPIENT – ALLISON→
Donna Adamek lived just a couple of minutes from Columbia Bowl in Duarte and would practice there for hours after her coaching sessions with J.J. Kanakai, Tosh Kinjo and Bobbe North. All that practice led to the Alberta E. Crowe Star of Tomorrow Award in 1975, and she soon embarked on a professional career that included 19 career titles in 16 years.
Among those 19 professional titles were five majors — two USBC Queens titles, two U.S. Open titles, and the Sam’s Town Invitational in Las Vegas. Donna also won four titles in the USBC National Championships — the Doubles in 1981 and 1982, and Team titles in 1981 and 1987. She was honored nationally as Bowler of the Year for 4 consecutive years (1978-1981). Continue reading 2024 HOF PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCE RECIPIENT – ADAMEK→
Mike McGrath from Petaluma was nominated for this induction by his good friend, Barry Asher. Mike grew up at Golden Gate Lanes in El Cerrito (East Bay) and started his professional bowling career at age 19 winning his first event in 1965.
Mike won back-to-back PBA National Championships in 1969 and 1970 when he was the tour’s leading money winner. McGrath finished his career with 10 tour titles, $238,305 in career earnings and the legacy of being one of the top left-handers in the PBA. McGrath is a member of the PBA Hall of Fame (1988), the USBC Hall of Fame (1993) and this year, a member of the California USBC Hall of Fame posthumously. We sadly lost Mike in 2017 at the age of 71. He will be honored posthumously by his good friend Barry Asher, who is also being inducted this year.
Barry Asher is bowling lifer. He has been inducted into 8 Halls of Fame, has 10 National PBA titles, 4 USBC Open Championship titles and owns a pro shop inside Fountain Bowl in Fountain Valley.
What some of you may not know are the cool things that Barry has done because he IS a bowling lifer. His father was a prop man on the set of Lassie that ran back in the 50’s to 70’s so Barry visited the set often. Barry also bowled league with the infamous Roy Rogers at Reseda Bowl and the coolest thing is that Barry was the technical adviser for the movie, the “Big Lebowski”. For 10 days he was on set making sure that the bowling scenes were authentic. Barry was also was invited to Ken Griffey Jr.’s Hall of Fame induction. I’m sure they all celebrated later in Barry’s bowling pin shaped swimming pool. Congratulations Barry! California is so proud to honor you.
Growing the sport of bowling for youth and adults in CA!
