Among bowling's best
BUTLER TWP — Two longtime Butler County Bowling Association board members — and longtime outstanding bowlers — will be inducted into the BCBA Hall of Fame next spring.
Dalton “Skip” Weyand, 64, and Brian Marcellus, 45, will swell the HOF membership to 43. The BCBA Hall of Fame's first induction class was in 1995.
The pair was voted in by Hall of Fame members and the BCBA Board last week.
Site and date of the Hall of Fame banquet — held every other year by the BCBA — have yet to be determined.
“I feel honored to be selected because it comes from my peers,” Weyand said. “For years, I've done my best to help the association and promote bowling.
“It feels like those efforts have come to fruition.”
Marcellus is one of the younger inductees in the Hall of Fame's history.
“I feel like I'm a young guy for this and I never want to disrespect any of the great bowlers in this association who have been doing this for a long time,” Marcellus said.
“This is an honor, a very special honor I'm very proud of.”
Both men come from bowling families. Weyand learned the game from his parents and his mother worked for years at the old Family Lanes.
Marcellus met his wife, Karen, when they were both working at Family Bowlaway. Karen is a 180-average bowler and their sons, Shawn and Braden, both bowl. Shawn averaged 192 for the Butler High School team last season.
“I've done a lot of things in my life, but bowling has always been there,” Weyand said. “I've met a lot of people, mostly good people, through this sport.”
Weyand has served on the BCBA Board for roughly 40 years. He was board president for four years, served as tournament director for five years as well. He attended his first national bowling convention in 1974.
He has served as president, vice president, secretary and treasurer in several different leagues. Weyand is a bronze level coach and has been active in coaching clinics.
“I became a coach because I wanted to promote the sport,” Weyand said. “My dad was in the military and could always bowl wherever he was stationed. We bowled in a league together for a few years.“I think he quit bowling when I started to beat him,” Weyand quipped.Weyand has bowled two 300-games in his career —one at Family Bowlaway, one at Meridian Lanes— along with a 299 at Bruin Lanes and a 298 at Bon Aire. His highest career series is 785.“My ultimate goal is to bowl an 800 series. That's still my goal,” Weyand said. “I still feel like I can go out on the lanes and compete against anyone.”Weyand was nominated for the HOF by Jim Bowser, a past state board president and former association county manager.“Skip's heart has always belonged to bowling,” Bowser said. “He's always willing to give free advice and he's been dedicated to the sport for decades.“All of that, and his bowling ability, deserves this recognition.”Marcellus has been a BCBA Board member for 12 years. His success on the lanes dates well beyond that.He has bowled 18 300-games, more than 500 sanctioned 700-series and four sanctioned 800-series. Marcellus is one of the current Butler County record holders for team scratch series of 3,646, set in 1994.He held the highest average in the county six different years and had a career-high average of 237.“Winning the radio championship series in back-to-back years is what I'm most proud of in bowling,” Marcellus said. “There were probably 250 to 300 entries in that thing every year, maybe more.“The last year Zelie Lanes was open (2001), I won the county singles title in both scratch and handicap. It was pretty cool to do that, too.”Marcellus has held the high average in 10 different leagues. He has won 15 county championships and has the distinction of rolling the last 300-game at the old Family Lanes on Route 8 North and the first 300-game where Family Bowlaway sits today, on Fairground Hill.He was the second person to average 230-plus for a season in the former Butler County Men's Traveling League.“The friendships and contacts I've met through this sport are unbelievable,” Marcellus said. “You can never have enough of those.”He still has something he'd like to accomplish in the sport.“It's probably a pipe dream, but I'd love to win a state championship,” Marcellus said. “Few people in our association have done it and that would be a lot of fun.”Marcellus has finished as high as 17th in singles in the state tournament. He was nominated for BCBA Hall of Fame consideration by Kurt Huff and Ralph Henry.
