RESER'S 2010 PORTLAND MASTERS CHAMPION -- BILL MICHAELS JR.
Bill
Michaels Jr. – Masters Champion
Patience
& Perseverance Pays Off
By Bob
Wells
Bill
Michaels Jr. of Vancouver, Washington has a new trophy to add to his
collection, after grinding through the loser’s bracket to win the 25th
Annual Reser’s Portland Masters at Kellogg Bowl in Milwaukie, Oregon.
Participating
in his 6th Portland Masters Tournament, Bill showed his experience
and especially his patience as he had to go through the loser’s bracket to get
to the finals.Bill qualified 5th
after the first 10 games; then defeated Greg Clark and Mike Danielson, his
first two matches.Next he ran into
Kevin Henderson of Albany who was probably the strongest 32nd
qualifier in tournament history, and lost “614” to “560.”That loss put Bill into the loser’s bracket
and he had to bowl every match from that point on.Bill bowled 4 matches on Saturday and 6 mores
matches on Sunday including a double win against the tournament leader Ian
Willard of Milwaukie.
Ian
Willard and Dan Jackson were the two undefeated bowlers left on Sunday.They slugged it out in our highest match of
the tournament with Ian winning “741 to 678”, putting Dan into the loser’s
bracket.After Michaels defeated Bob
Porter (605 to 554) in the last match on Saturday, he came up against the
player he feared the most, left hander Stoney Brown at 9:30 Sunday
morning.But, his perseverance and
patience paid off as he beat Stoney 613 to 593.Next was another very talented left hander, Dennis Powell of
Eugene.Bill got by him “560” to
“518”.But, look who was next…Kevin
Henderson, the bowler who knocked Bill into the loser’s bracket.This time it was bill’s turn as he defeated
Kevin “654” to “483.”Now it was Dan
Jackson’s turn to come up against Bill, but again Bill came through with a
“663” to “566” match to win putting himself into the championship match against
Ian Willard, the only undefeated bowler left.This meant that Bill would have to beat him twice to win the title and
that’s just what Bill did to become the champion.
Bill,
who suffered a heart attack last June at the young age of 45, and is now on
blood pressure medication, commented that his patience really paid off for him
as he got a lot of breaks at opportune times in most of his matches and his
opponents didn’t capitalize on his mistakes.
This
was his 6th attempt, with a 2nd place finish to Scott How
in 2006 being his best finish prior to this year’s win.He also has a PBA title to his credit, as he
won the 1996 Resident Pro title for the Northwest Region.
Bill said that what
makes this win so special is that exactly 40 years ago his mother, Marie, won
the US Open also held at Kellogg Bowl.She was at Kellogg all weekend to watch him bowl, along with his wife
Toni and best friends Dennis and Robin Bailey.
Bill won $2,000, a
Great Eagle Trophy, and a spot in next year’s USBC Masters in Reno.With his 2nd place finish, Ian
Willard gets $1,000 and a spot in next year’s USBC Masters also.
Tournament
highlights and sponsors information can be seen at www.portlandmasters.com, along with some past history of this great event.
About the Tournament
The Portland Masters Bowling Tournament allows top bowlers from the Northwest to compete, earning a spot into the USBC Masters Bowling Tournament. Competition runs across two weekends, starting with a field of 120 bowlers the 1st weekend, paring down to the top 32 bowlers for the 2nd weekend.