History of Bowling Balls | Wood, Rubber, & Plastic

Fantastic video! While your collection was amazing, I have to admit, the coolest part of the video was the footage of your Dad bowling. Thank you for including it. I still have my grandfathers Brunswick Black Diamond with his old bag, shoes, towel, etc. Like you, it’s one of my prized possessions that’ll stay with me forever.

This was a very well done video lots of good history and info to be learned I especially loves the tribute at the end to your father.

Love the tribute to your dad at the end

What a wonderful gift from your Dad and a beautiful tribute.

Wow! This is the best video I’ve ever seen on the history of balls during that era! Thank you. Sorry to hear of the passing of your dad.

That was really enjoyable. Thank you. I remember so many of those balls and threw a few of them. The ending was so cool. Can't wait for the rest.

35 in a row! I doubt it was because of the ball. That takes a lot of skill. Congratulations to your family on that record!

I watched all 3 of the segments and enjoyed them all, but the 1st 2 fell during my most active bowling time. I owned a number of Columbia balls, some of which I still throw today when conditions allow. I took about a 30 year hiatus until 2021 when I started back using my old equipment. I have a 1977 Crimson Columbia White Dot, 1986 Black and Wine Columbia u-dots, and an early Black Angle urethane. I also had a Blue Columbia P2 Pathfinder rubber ball circa 1962, but seem to have misplaced it. I do have a picture of it though. Looking forward to seeing more videos from you guys and my condolences on your father passing.

Great video and glad I stuck around to watch the footage of Ray Orf. I sold my yellow dot almost 30 years ago for $10. The idea of collecting wasn't even a thought. Threw an old Manhatten Rubber as a kid. Back then, whenever I outgrew balls, I'd just donate them to the general houseball inventory wherever I was bowling at the time.

Terrific walk down memory lane. Thanks for the work gathering all the balls.

Wow very informative thank you for taking the time to make this and share your cool collection with us. I watched all three videos and enjoyed them thoroughly.

I never thought LT-48 is a rubber ball, cause my dad had one for over 30 years and I'm using it as a spare ball right now. It's with Johnny Petraglia's name on it with yellow words.

What a great collection...thanks for taking the time to post the vids about it! I have an LT-48 I throw occasionally but thought the shell had ground up cherry pits, not walnut shells. Very much looking forward to the next vid on urethane...I only throw vintage urethane so it should contain most of my arsenal, lol!

Don't forget about the Gem Tek line of balls, they might pre-date the Fabs as the first 2 piece balls or balls with non-pancake blocks

Great video guys thank you for sharing. I have a couple of old balls that I kept around just so my kids and my grandkids could see the kind of balls that we used to bowl with growing up and how things change so drastically.

Loved the video at the end ☺️

I love the look of the AMF 3 Dot. That's the ball I owned as a kid in the early 70s.

Back in the early 80's, I had an Earl Anthony "Radar" ball. What a great ball. Carried a 200 avg. wish I had that one back.

Thanks for sharing this slice of bowling history. So great that you had the foresight to keep some of the old stock around back then to build this collection. Makes me weep a little to think of the old stuff I eventually left on ball racks at local bowling centers to get rid of as equipment evolved. Then again, there was this original light blue Crown Jewel that made the rounds via this method. Someone would pick it up, thinking they had scored a treasure. After throwing the thing and realizing it was impossible to keep it from rolling over the thumb hole, it would then get left on yet another house ball rack. I discovered it this way and experienced the same thing. It became somewhat legendary and guys would just laugh when they saw you in possession of it. Sure wish I still had my Columbia Titeline.

Thank you for recalling my memory of those days.