Picture somebody who has been involved with bowling for 62 of his almost 80 years and that somebody is not Sam Weinstein.
Mild-mannered almost to the point of being courtly, Weinstein revels in telling a good sports yarn but wouldn’t dream of punctuating a sentence with anything stronger than “darn.”
He invariably appends “of beloved memory” to the name of a person he mentions who has passed away; secretly wishes that sporting events were not sponsored by distillers of spirits and makers of beers; and stopped going to the movies after he saw “The Apartment” in the early ’60s because he found his moral standards were no longer in sync with those of the film industry.
On the short side of medium in height, with an inevitable twinkle behind his glasses, dressed in sport coat, tie and shirt even for mundane tasks, Weinstein looks as though his sports of choice might be a couple of hands of bridge, maybe a rip-roaring game of chess or checkers or cribbage.
But to those in the bowling world-pros and members of leagues, owners and employees of bowling centers, suppliers of the equipment involved with the sport-Sam Weinstein is “Mr. Bowling.”
He has been selling them their balls and shirts and shoes, emceeing their banquets and awarding them their trophies for as long as they-and their parents-can remember.
To really hard-core bowlers, who want to know everything about everybody who bowls, Sam Weinstein is also “The Tenpin Tattler,” the voice that brings them news of “the wonderful world of bowling” each Saturday at 5:50 p.m. on WGN radio.
His is the voice that tells them about an unprecedented string of 300 games that has just been sanctioned by bowling’s governing body, the American Bowling Congress. His is the voice that fills them in on tournaments and retirements, anniversaries and averages, birthdays and deaths; the voice that gives them, as he likes to say, “the lowdown on bowling’s higher-ups.” And at the end of his five minutes of air time, he bids his loyal listeners goodnight, encouraging them to “put some fun” in their lives by enjoying “the competition and sociability of a weekly sanctioned bowling league.”
Week in and week out, for an astonishing 59 years now, Sam Weinstein, has been reporting the minor and major milestones of bowling and bowlers. The Guinness Book of Records lists him as the host of the longest continuing sports program in radio history.
“I have every script that I wrote for every broadcast,” he said the other day over lunch at his favorite salad bar, “and I think they’d make a pretty good history of bowling.”
A gentle man-many in the business call him “the kindest man” they’ve ever met-and a genial raconteur, Weinstein seems to remember every significant date in his life and as well as everyone he has met since he first set foot in a bowling alley in 1931.
Started at WCFL
A native of Chicago, Weinstein was sports editor of Englewood High School’s student paper and had two dreams: to get a degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and to write for a daily newspaper.
Aware of those goals, his high school journalism adviser recommended him for a secretary’s job at the Bowlers Journal so he could earn tuition money. He completed a three-month secretarial skills course in six weeks, got the job and soon was not only typing, but writing, laying out ads and attending Northwestern, where he put himself through school and even found time to start a mixed bowling league.
In the summer of ’35, nine weeks after receiving his degree, he pitched the idea for a bowling program to radio station WCFL.
The station bought, with the understanding that Weinstein would also sell ads for the show. He stayed with WCFL until 1966. The station changed format, going to rock, and Weinstein changed stations, going to WGN.
Through the years, he has also hosted three TV bowling shows including, in the ’50s, “Bowling Queens,” the first nationally syndicated TV series featuring women bowlers; sponsored a league of bowling writers; covered or participated in practically every major bowling tournament in the country and, not incidentally, opened Universal Bowling and Billiards Supply in 1939, a retail/wholesale operation that is still considered one of the top distributorships in the country (and sponsors his radio show).
Still on the job
Weinstein has a small office at Universal, 619 S. Wabash Ave. Sons Larry and Sandy are president and vice president of the business “and pretty much run it, but I’m still chairman,” Sam jokes.
To get to work, he takes a bus, the rapid-transit line and another bus from his home in Skokie, where he lives with his wife of 52 years, Edythe. He works from about 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. six days a week.
It’s here that he “fields zillions of phone calls-some people call me about a death before they call the family”; types notes to friends and colleagues around the world; and keeps up with bowling news.
He bowls only occasionally now, claiming he never really was a sportsman.
“I’m the worst golfer in the world, and my very best average ever in bowling was 165,” he says.
His initial impressions of bowling were less than favorable. To illustrate that, he tells a story about a long-ago day when he and two high school buddies were headed home and one decided to stop off at a bowling alley for a couple of games.
“I remember thinking, `He used to be such a good kid.’ The image of bowlers was tough guys, beer drinkers with pot bellies, and I couldn’t imagine a friend of mine wanting to bowl,” Weinstein says.
Today, he says, “When you’re part of the bowling family, all is well with the world. Bowlers represent a cross section. You can be a president of a company or a maintenance man, but you’re a regular guy or gal to your team. There is something about it that forms a common bond.”
Loyal followers
It’s this spirit of family that has made Weinstein a legend in the world of bowling and brought him a loyal flock of listeners.
“He’s the most generous man in the world,” says Mort Luby Jr., publisher of Bowlers Journal and son of the man who gave Weinstein his first job. “Any banquet, any funeral, wedding, Sam’s there. It’s like he’s been cloned. He’s everywhere. Yet he has time to type personal notes, to send cards, flowers. But, he’s also a top merchant. I have a friend in Singapore who won’t do business with anybody but Sam. That’s based on loyalty and friendship, but it’s also because Sam is a good businessman.”
“He’s the ultimate good guy in this business,” claims Dave DeLorenzo, spokesman for the American Bowling Congress, headquartered outside Milwaukee. “He gives prizes, plaques, trophies, travels a million miles to promote bowling and he’s probably done 2,000 events and never accepted a dime. If he did accept a dime, he’d give it to charity. That’s why people who know him and can get WGN listen to him-and want him to be around forever.”
Weinstein claims he gives back simply because his lifetime involved with bowling and the radio program have given him the opportunity to “know and love thousands of people around the world.”
He concedes, however, that his mother had something to do with it.
“Mother wanted me to be a doctor, but I just couldn’t look at blood,” he says a bit ruefully. “It was when I was 17 or 18 that my mother really bugged me with `You could have helped other people if you had become a doctor.’
“I started feeling pretty badly about that, about not helping others. And she kept telling me. So I started putting money away. And I’ve tithed myself ever since,” he says in the most matter-of-fact, modest manner.
He started the Samuel Weinstein Family Foundation almost 40 years ago and writes “500, maybe 600 checks a year.”
The voice of bowlers
Some in the industry have surmised that Weinstein’s radio program is a draw simply because bowling is all but ignored by metropolitan media.
Brunswick Corp.’s director of marketing Gene Fisher believes Weinstein’s following is as “devoted” as it is-whether they know him personally or not-because his listeners “recognize him as their spokesperson. He’s their authority who believes that bowling is a participant sport while it’s the spectator sports that get the major media coverage.”
Some may tune in, simply fascinated by a five-minute wrapup of bowling news because they can’t help wonder: “Bowling? Who bowls?”
Who, indeed.
According to the American Bowling Congress, 82 million men, women and children visit a bowling center in the U.S. each year. And 4.8 million of them are active participants in leagues.
And some wouldn’t dream of picking up a ball on a Saturday night without first tuning in to “The Tenpin Tattler.”
