Video Vault: 1982 Seattle Open
In the PBA tour's glory days during the 1970s and 1980s, most if not all of the events had their stepladder finals televised live. ABC's telecasts were a Saturday afternoon staple for over 30 years, and NBC usually took over for the fall events. Later, in the mid-1980s, ESPN took care of the summer stops.
Here's the introduction to one of the ABC telecasts from June 5, 1982, in Seattle. This was not one of the strongest fields of that year, but those of you who watched these telecasts when I was literally 3 and a half years old might recognize some of the names. Commentators are the late Chris Schenkel occasional now-ESPN commentator Nelson Burton, Jr.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR6Fimb5YpQ
Match-up order, should you choose to watch the whole thing:
Match #1: (5) Gary Dickinson vs. (4) Steve Wunderlich
Match #2: Winner of Match #1 vs. (3) Jeff Bellinger
Match #3 (semi-final): Winner of Match #2 vs. (2) Bob Handley
Match #4: (title match): Winner of Match #3 vs. (1) Tommy Hudson
Fun facts:
* During the ABC run, Burton, Jr. was a regular on the PBA tour and was occasionally substituted for on weeks when he made the stepladder final. He would eventually win 14 titles over the course of his career.
* In the 1978 Quaker State Open, a then-unknown Verne Lundquist was called on by ABC to fill in for Schenkel for that tournament's final after Schenkel was snowbound by what would eventually go down in history as the Blizzard of '78.
Here's the introduction to one of the ABC telecasts from June 5, 1982, in Seattle. This was not one of the strongest fields of that year, but those of you who watched these telecasts when I was literally 3 and a half years old might recognize some of the names. Commentators are the late Chris Schenkel occasional now-ESPN commentator Nelson Burton, Jr.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR6Fimb5YpQ
Match-up order, should you choose to watch the whole thing:
Match #1: (5) Gary Dickinson vs. (4) Steve Wunderlich
Match #2: Winner of Match #1 vs. (3) Jeff Bellinger
Match #3 (semi-final): Winner of Match #2 vs. (2) Bob Handley
Match #4: (title match): Winner of Match #3 vs. (1) Tommy Hudson
Fun facts:
* During the ABC run, Burton, Jr. was a regular on the PBA tour and was occasionally substituted for on weeks when he made the stepladder final. He would eventually win 14 titles over the course of his career.
* In the 1978 Quaker State Open, a then-unknown Verne Lundquist was called on by ABC to fill in for Schenkel for that tournament's final after Schenkel was snowbound by what would eventually go down in history as the Blizzard of '78.
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