Betty Dougherty and bowling.
Statewide, you can’t say one without the other.
Betty, who died Tuesday, had a fervor for the sport.
While she was active in the adult kegling leagues in Bradford,
it was youth bowling that was her passion.
In 1969, Bruce Therminy and Ron Platko, who served as a coach,
founded the Junior Association in the city. One year later, Betty
came on board as the Association’s first secretary.
Therminy recalled those early days vividly.
“That first year at Star Lanes we had 108 kids,” said Therminy,
who was president in the league’s infancy. “At one time, we had
Bradford, Smethport and Warren in our association. Eventually, it
was just Bradford and included Star Lanes, Byllye Lanes and J&D
Lanes (later Lofty Lanes).”
As the youth bowling leagues evolved in the city, membership
grew to more than 200 members. Betty was in charge of the
association’s youth tournaments including the Pepsi Scholarship and
state tournaments.
“She was an advocate for the youth program,” Therminy declared.
“All the kids respected her. If some of the kids couldn’t afford to
bowl she made sure they would be able to bowl. She took care of all
the awards for the kids including patches and trophies.”
In her later years, Betty became president of the State Junior
Bowling Association.
When she wasn’t working with kids, Betty was active in the
Bradford Women’s Bowling Association where she served as president
and treasurer during the course of her career.
“She was such a wonderful lady,” current vice president Anita
Wolcott said. “She devoted her whole life to bowling – both adult
and children.
“My mother (Bev Davis) and Betty have been the best of friends.
She (Betty) was a mentor to me when I was 16-years-old. She got me
into the junior program. When I joined the women’s program she
helped me with that, too. I have been bowling ever since because of
her and other ladies like her.
“She devoted so much time and energy into bowling to make it the
success it is today.”
Association manger Judy Bartlett echoed Wolcott’s
sentiments.
“I’ve known Betty for 30 to 35 years,” Bartlett noted. “She was
quite the role model for me.”
Current director and past secretary Bev Davis and Betty were
best friends.
“We worked a long time together, 50 years,” Davis recalled. “She
was the best. She was past president, vice president, secretary. I
think she held just about every office there was. She was still on
the board of directors at the time of her death.”
Betty was great when it came to working with the media.
Her husband, Glenn (now deceased), would frequently drop off the
bowling sheets to the sports department with the high scores of the
week circled, which made it easy for reporters to quickly find the
league leaders.
With the advent of the Internet, Betty made use of her computer
and e-mailed the results into The Era.
Over the last few years, Betty had a number of health setbacks.
But that didn’t stop her from submitting weekly scores. She would
call me from her hospital bed to let me know the scores would be
late.
“No problem,” I would frequently tell her.
Every spring, as the junior leagues would conclude, Betty would
send in a press release and set up a photo for the awards
dinner.
It was this year’s phone call for the awards photo request that
I’ll remember the most. After setting up the photo assignment, I
asked her how she was feeling.
“Not good,” she said, referencing a fall she had recently taken.
She quickly told me this would be her last year with the league
after 40 years of service.
As I hung up the phone it occurred to me Betty’s 40-year tenure
would make an ideal feature story. It was my last conversation with
Betty.
Within the last few weeks, her son, Jim, told me she was in
failing health.
Late Tuesday afternoon, I received a call from her other son,
Pete, who informed me of Betty’s death.
Therminy summed up the feelings of all the bowlers in Bradford
when he concluded, “She will be missed.”
