CENTRAL STATES BOWLING GUILDS, INC
CENTRAL STATES
BOWLING GUILDS, INC
About CENTRAL STATES BOWLING GUILDS
Central States Bowling Guild was created out of the desire of African American bowlers to compete at a time when African American Bowlers were prohibited from league and tournament competition by the American Bowling Congress (ABC). They developed competition with friends from other cities and traveled to accomplish their goal.
The founding guilds were Twin Cities; Kansas City-Missouri Midwest; Kansas City-Kansas and St. Louis, Missouri. The founding officers were Ed Harris, President; Arthur Moore, 1st Vice President; Sarah Ringgold, Secretary; Glorus Hoyle, Recording Secretary; Joe Hardgraves, Treasurer; and Liz Smith, Tournament Coordinator.
In 1958, a group of bowlers from Milwaukee traveled to the Twin Cities for a match game with a group from the local area who decided to take up the challenge. The Twin Cities group bowled and entertained their guest and accepted an invitation for a return match in Milwaukee. In January of 1959, the same group traveled to Milwaukee for the return contest.
Fred Lee, one of the original members realized that if out-of-town matches were to be successful, that a governing body would have to be chosen with rules and regulations for the members to follow. Jack Adams, another bowler, took Fred's ideas and set them to paper so that they could be presented to the other members.
More groups were added with the formation of Central States Bowling Guild in 1966, Milwaukee joining in 1969, Des Moines and Detroit in 1973 and Quad Cities in 1983. Central States Bowling Guild (CSBG) incorporated in 1978 under the leadership of James Bethel, Des Moines.
Unfortunately, due to the inability to sustain the required membership, Des Moines Road Runners Bowling Guild was removed from Central States Membership in 2023.
