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!
