Found these pics in the March 1962 issue of BOWLING magazine. They’re from the ABC Convention of that year in Des Moines, Iowa. While he wears a crown, the title of “Joe Bowler” was bestowed upon Oscar Butts, seen in these pictures regally attired and in the company of what appears to be bowling Princesses. And or course, theres a picture of Iowa’s Governor Norman Erbe welcoming the Bowlers to the convention. Gov. Erbe was a pinboy in his younger days… he must’ve known plenty about setting ’em up only to watch ’em get knocked down again.
I don’t know for sure why I’m so fascinated with Fred Rogers. I was 11 and living in Pittsburgh when his show started to become popular. My Mother worked at WQED as a volunteer and sometimes helped out with the show, but not in any major way that I can brag about. My Uncle worked in television advertising at CBS (he was a drinking buddy of Bob Keeshan’s, but that is a different story).
No, I think I started to *really* appreciate Fred Rogers in high school probably after hearing the National Lampoon Radio Hour bit (feat. Christopher Guest and Brian Doyle Murray). And now that I’m collecting kids records, I note that it’s hard to find a Mr. Rogers record that isn’t *totally* whipped. Kids played the crap out of his records.
