The Butler County Bowling Association failed over the weekend in its bid to bring the 2011 men's state tournament to Butler.

The BCBAwas up against Altoona, which hosted the Pennsylvania State Bowling Association's annual convention Friday through Sunday.

Part of the convention's agenda was awarding the site for the 2011 state tournament via delegate vote.

Attendance at the convention was down, with only 66 of the nearly 100 association delegates on hand to vote.

"We have no idea how close the vote was because they don't reveal that,"BCBApresident Larry Parenti said.

The BCBA had a team of about 20 people in Altoona trying to land the state tournament, including representatives from the Butler County Tourism, and Convention Bureau, Kevin and Joe Caparosa of Family Bowlaway, Tom Fry of Sherwood Lanes and Bob Durr of Zelienople's Freeway Lanes.

Butler last hosted the state tournament in 2004. Altoona last hosted the event in 2002.

"They (PSBA)like to keep a certain order in things like this,"Parenti said. "The fact we had the tournament more recently than Altoona probably played a factor."

Butler also hosted the state tournament in 1994. The two times Butler had the tournament resulted in the fifth and seventh highest turnout of bowlers in the event's history.

Current BCBAmanager Jim Bowser was PSBApresident in 2004 and threw out the ceremonial first ball at Family Bowlaway.

Butler resident Mike Coyle is second vice president of the PSBAthis year and will be president of the state association in 2011.

"It would have worked out that I would have thrown the first ball here in Butler like Jim did,"Coyle said.

"Whenever we run for anything, we never get it on the first shot,"Coyle said of state bowling events. "The second shot, we always get it.

"The state seniors tournament is scheduled for Beaver Valley in 2010, my testimonial dinner for becoming president is that year, Cranberry (Township) is hosting the convention in 2010 — they (delegates) probably didn't want to come this far west again,"Coyle added.

Bowser insisted that Altoona hosting the convention didn't play a factor in the city landing the 2011 state tournament.

"That's never an issue. There is no homefield advantage, so to speak," he said.

Family Bowlaway co-owner Kevin Caparosa admitted to having a hard time figuring out how Butler lost out on the state tournament bid.

"We went to the bowling centers in Altoona," he said. "Frankly, our facilities at Family and Sherwood are nicer quality, cost of bowling here would have been 70 cents cheaper — and we still lost.

"The tournament is out east in 2009 and 2010, then in the center of the state (Altoona) in 2011. ... Logic says it will be somewhere in the west in 2012. Maybe we should go for it again, though that's not my decision to make."

The BCBA's next meeting is in August. A decision on whether to bid for the 2012 state tournament could be reached at that time.

"Our (bowling) houses, our presentations, hospitality room and support are always superior,"Coyle said. "But it takes a lot of work to generate a serious bid."

To be eligible to host the state tournament, a community must have at least a 36-lane house for the minor events and a 20-lane house for the team event. Family Bowlaway (40 lanes) is the only bowling house in the county that qualifies to host the minor events.

Remodeling is being planned for Family Bowlaway, but it will remain a 40-lane house "for a number of years to come,"Caparosa said.

The Marriott in Cranberry Township will host the PSBAconvention in 2010 for the third time in five years. The 2009 convention is in New Cumberland, a small town near Harrisburg.