1970 PBA Firestone Tournament of Champions TOC

Chris Schenkle, the golden voice of the PBA. He was part of the reason that bowling was in its' heyday back in the 60s and 70s.

My god these announcers.. voices like black coffee.. so soothing.

That was when the pins weighed 4 pounds and you had to not only had to be extremly accurate you had had to have forward roll with power to compete with these talented and strong men! The full roller was the way most these guys were throwing. Just amazing! 8-10 pocket splits were common if you made the least little mistakewith your delivery...all i can say is these guys were mens men that were so talented! That last match between dick ritgers and don johnson plays so well now to anybody who can remember how tough conditions were then. These young people now will never understand how good you guys really were! I remember this show from when i bowled jr. League saturday mornings and would always await bowling on tv that afternoon. I believe 2 pm in missouri time. Thanks for putting this on youtube.

I just love this tournament! Everyone had incredible form and style. They all had great follow throughs, were great spare shooters, and seems like they were great sports towards each other. You could see Ritger really rooting for Johnson. I don't know if the style would still be competitive on the PBA tour nowadays, but I model my own game from the the pushaway to the release to the follow through off the likes of Jim Stefanich, Don Johnson, Larry Laub, David Ozio, and a little Earl Anthony.

Man, I remember watching this 50 years ago. I was rooting hard for him. Ringing 10 pin! WOW!

I love watching Durbin. I also think he is, by far, the most underrated announcer in our sport. He made all of his partners better. We really ought to talk more about him as one of the all-time greats.

Ritger showed a lot of class....first congratulating Durbin on the 4-5 pickup and then giving Johnson congrats when Johnson rolled the first strike in the 10th to ice the victory

One of the most memorable moments ever in the history of PBA bowling. The 299 in the finals with the solid ten pin. Great upload!

Huge crowd. Remember when bowling allies were giant palaces?

Great upload! I don’t know WHO crazy glued that 10 pin in the finale. That might’ve been Johnson’s best ball of the match. Sure wish he had that 300...

$25,000 in 1970 would be the equivalent of just over $170,000 ($170,407.16 to be exact) in 2020.

Hey -- dig Ritger's gesture after Durbin makes the split at 17:00!! Height of classy.

An absolute classic telecast, thank you. And what about Dick Ritger's fabulous shirt..? ;-) Aaahhh, fashions change!

Nicer times, politer times, happier times. And the bowlers were just as good as today's top players.

Say what you will comparing this game to the contemporary game, but these guys practiced by putting a dime at the arrows. There was no margin of error given the equipment and lane conditions. They were masters of their craft given what they had to work with.

Love it, watching 70s bowling with 2005 Highlights on the scroll!

If you watch the end of the movie "The Big Lobowsky" you can see Asher in the background bowling

It's unfortunate many people today don't know Don Johnson was as good as the top bowlers in the sport. He had as many titles as Earl Anthony and Dick Weber for a number of years.

i wonder what top fashionistas in 1970 would have said in regards to Mr. Ritger in his those blueish pants with that untucked lemon lime collar shirt, or, for that matter, Mr. Davis Christmas in springtime wear lol. Mr. Ritger is wearing the coolest looking bowling shoes ive ever seen, looks Italian, which, of course, is befitting of the pba image head.

44:49: The Moment You’ve All Been Waiting For.