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Dennis Franz
Meritorious Service
2008
Dennis Franz started bowling at the Payne
Avenue Rec in 1957. Fran
Morrisette helped him with instructions and technique.
Two years later he bowled on High School league at Hafner’s from
1959-1962. Dennis is a
retired career man from the U.S. Navy.
He served twenty years and retired in 1985.
This is when he joined three leagues in the Greater St. Paul
Bowling Association. He
joined the Greater St. Paul Bowling Association Board of Directors in 1989
and served that organization until the merger of the ABC, WIBC, and YABA
organizations to the St. Paul USBC Association in 2005.
At this time he was elected to the position of Director for a
three-year term. Dennis served as a Vice President of the Greater St. Paul
Bowling Association in 1995 and 1996 and served as the Board’s President
in 1997. He has volunteered
as the Secretary and Treasurer of the Hall of Fame Committee and as a
Member of the Bowler’s Recognition Dinner Team since 1998.
Dennis has always enjoyed being a part of the working committee for
tournaments. He has chaired
the The Senior Masters Tournament for the last 5 years and co-chaired the
Masters tournament for the last 3 years.
Along with Gary Winter, he has also co-chaired the Senior Masters,
the Masters, the Team Challenge and the Mixed Team Challenge tournaments
since 2006. He has worked the
City Championships every year since joining the Board of the Greater St.
Paul Bowling Association in 1989. He
has served on the Finance Committee and has represented the Association as
a Lane Representative for many years.
Dennis has completed 26 years of participation in the National
Tournament. He also attended
the National Convention every year from 1990-2006.
He has been an active league bowler since 1972 bowling in as many
as 8 leagues a week in the early 70’s and then slowing down when the
family started to appear and his job demands increased.
He has bowled in the Hawaiian, California, Illinois and Minnesota
state championships and bowled a 290 in the California Championships in
1977 which was the second highest game in the entire tournament that year.
He has also bowled in the St. Paul and Minneapolis City
Championships for a number of years.
During his career in the Navy, Dennis was a member of the Varsity
team in Hawaii (1972-74) and also at Moffett Field in Northern California
(1975-79) (where he had to qualify every year in an 18 game roll off for
one of 6 positions). He
also finished 11th in the Interservice Competition in
Washington State in 1983. He
finished 2nd four times in the Naval Reserve Finals in
Portsmouth New Hampshire after qualifying rounds at Glenview IL and Great
Lakes IL (1981-1984). He
finished first in the Brunswick’s ‘Bowl Your Way to Europe’ in
Illinois in the early 1980’s with a 290 and won a trip to the finals in
Washington DC. Personal
accomplishments include: 2-300 games, High Average of 208 (accomplished
twice – in 1979 and 2000) and 3 290 games.
Dennis was also a league secretary from 1972 until about 1995 and
many of those years handled at least 2 leagues.
He was also a Director of the Palo Alto Bowling Association for 4
years from 1975-1979.
Last Updated : Jan-01-2013