Lisa Wagner retired from the PWBA Tour after the 2001 Fall Tour. She left her mark in record-setting form, including her 32 career victories-the most for any tour competitor.
Wagner didn't stage a nationwide Cal Ripken Jr. or Tony Gwynn baseball-style retirement tour where she would salute the fans in the cities on each stop because she would have needed to have been in the TV finals every week.
The 1980s Bowler of the Decade instead retired the way home run champ Mark McGwire did-quickly and decisively because of the inability to be competitive as a result of physical problems pitted with the increasing talents of other athletes in their respective sports.
She has no regrets about leaving the PWBA Tour because, at the end of her years of grueling competition against bowling's best among women for over two decades, Wagner struggled to finish in the top 25, so she knew it was time to go.
"I didn't want to do the tour anymore because 22 years of the grind was enough for me," said Wagner. "I was done and that's it. It was more than mental, it was also the physical because my arm is not what it once was, and I wasn't that good, and I wasn't into it or practicing enough and working on my game, so I called it a career."
She also gave up her broadcasting career at the same time, as she was replaced by Carolyn Dorin-Ballard and her sister, Cathy Dorin-Lizzi.
"ESPN felt like they wanted somebody with a different style of presentation so they got somebody else," Wagner said. "Television commentary is not my future, and it's not something I asked for. Because of my past bowling accomplishments, the producer wanted me to do the telecasts, and he asked me to do it, but it's not something in my future, and I don't want it. I do not want to travel every week to watch bowling and cover it because I would rather be competing in the finals, so it's just not for me. I didn't put 150 percent into analysis like I should have, so the Dorins are putting out the needed effort, and they are very good, and it's their future. They trained for it at West Texas State University in broadcast communications, and they're great. I think their style of commentary is perfect for the PWBA Tour."
If you have been wondering where Wagner went after leaving the PWBA, she has taken a job in her native southwest Florida working for bowling center owner Pat Ciniello in his marketing department.
"I'm working for Bowling Management Associates, which has five centers in Southwestern Florida, and that's three centers in Naples, one in North Fort Myers, and the other in Cape Coral, which is the new stop on the PWBA" Wagner said. "I live in Fort Myers, and I'm near my Dad and brother, who also reside there. My job is in marketing and promotions for leagues at those centers."
Wagner says that she still hasn't given up on her concept of running her own pet motel.
"I've never dropped the idea of my pet resort, and I eventually want to do it in Naples someday because there's a lot of people who would want to drop off their pets to be pampered. I've always wanted to open it, and I will someday down the road."
Wagner, who was the best and most successful professional bowler in the modern era of the 20th century, knows that eventually her records will fall in the 21st century. She feels records were set to be broken.
"I have a couple of records on the tour, but I never bowled for those records," she said. "The paycheck was the most important thing for me, and I also competed regularly because I liked to be challenged."
Wagner's choice as to who will eclipse her records in this century is not Dorin-Ballard, who failed to win any tournament through June of this year after her torrid, multiple record-setting pace of last year, when she won seven tournaments. Wagner picks Michelle Feldman to become bowling's best with the most career titles.
"Somebody will catch my records, and they are there to be broken," Wagner said. "Even though Carolyn Dorin was on a record pace last year, I don't think she will ever catch my record of career tour victories. I think Michelle Feldman will be the one to catch me because she actually is that type of bowler. When she realizes how good she is, it's going to be very scary because she is really that good. Once Michelle gets the focus of what I call 'tunnel vision' like I did at my best and Carolyn did last year where it only involves you, the lanes, the equipment and pins, and nothing else, then it's all over for the rest of us, and she'll dominate the tour."
Wagner says the Armageddon for the other PWBA competitors will begin when Feldman channels her upper body power into a controlled striking machine.
"She throws it closer in power to any guy I've ever seen," Wagner said. "She's so good that it's not how she flips the ball, but it's because her delivery is so natural that she doesn't even try, but she still blows them away. She can adjust her shot by slowing down her approach and hit it harder or throw it straighter. When she starts setting goals such as bowler of the year or bowler of the decade, she could be that bowler for several decades and not just one decade. She's been playing on the Sport condition, which is what all of us have been competing on, and she now knows how to keep her ball in an area and not shut herself out. She leaves convertible spares, and I think she's phenomenal at doing it."
Wagner says Feldman has a greater range in her game than Dorin-Ballard that gives her a distinct advantage over other bowlers.
"Carolyn is equal to her as a shot maker," Wagner said. "The main difference between the two is that Carolyn makes more pure shots where she must be precise, and Michelle can shoot at the whole lane from different angles and speeds, and she knows they're all going down since Michelle has more physical power in her game."
When it comes to more power, Leanne Barrette actually has the short-run shot at surpassing Wagner's PWBA leading record of 32 tour titles and Aleta Sill's 31. Ironically, Feldman congratulated Sill on her recent retirement the last time Michelle was in the winner's circle on ESPN, which was the St. Clair Shores (Michigan) Classic. Feldman credited Sill with helping her in the betterment of her game.
Barrette finished the latest Spring PWBA Tour swing with back-to-back victories for the first time in her career and now has 25 titles. If she averages two victories per year for the next five years, she would have 35 victories. She credits her coach, Rod Ross, for improving her game by changing her stance to take the stress off her sore hip.
Wagner thinks the regular use of the Sport lane condition will lead bowling to be deemed as a legitimate sport by the toughest critics.
I think it's a very good start to where we need to go," Wagner said. All of the leagues I bowl in are Sport condition, and I like it. It's not absolutely perfect right now, but I think it's definitely a good start, and I would like to see it continue throughout the sport and the industry."
Wagner says the easier conditions created by some proprietors in an effort to benefit bowlers of less talent is a detriment to bowling as a sport.
"When lane conditions are 'walled up' with a mountain of oil in the middle of the lanes, it makes them too easy" she said. "Scratch bowlers don't compete on this shot any more, and the lanes need to be challenging. I bowled five games in a recent scratch tournament, and they had all that dressing in the middle of the lanes, and they oiled them again before the next block, and that's not good. There's no law to say the Sport condition is required, but the sport of bowling will grow when the lanes become more challenging everywhere."
Syndicated columnist Richard Kolb is a member of the Bowling Writers Association of America.