This is the first in a series of articles leading up to the state bowling tournament in April.

ERIE — Bryan Hubler hoped to attend a recent Butler County Bowling Association meeting. Inclement weather prevented him from doing so.

But he’ll be back.

An Erie resident, Hubler has been director of the Pa. State USBC Open Bowling Championships since 2015. Butler is hosting the 82nd edition of the state tournament, beginning the first weekend of April and running each weekend through mid-June.

“I want to come down, meet with the Butler board, answer what questions they might have and drop off a few computers for them to use,” Hubler said. “Butler’s association is well-organized and they run a good tournament. I just want to be there to help.”

Family Bowlaway and Sherwood Lanes will house the tournament, as they did in 1994 and 2004, the other two years Butler hosted the state event. Two computers are placed at each site, one to run the brackets, the other to show the tournament scores.

Hubler said the Pennsylvania State Bowling Association consists of roughly 50 local associations throughout the state. The state tourney is awarded annually at the PSBA convention in July in Harrisburg. It is awarded to a bidding local association two years out via vote of the state board.

“We’ll be awarding the 2024 tournament this summer,” Hubler said.

He added that roughly 10 associations have put in bids to host the tournament over the years. The host association must have two houses — with a minimum of 28 lanes for singles and doubles, 26 for team — capable of hosting the event.

“Some of the smaller associations don’t have that capability,” he explained. “We usually get two associations bidding for it from year to year. Though there is no (formal) cost to bid, it is an investment. Bidding associations set up hospitality rooms at the convention so people can learn about the area.

“It takes a lot of work to land and run this tournament. It’s not hard work, but it takes a lot of hours and a lot of people. The event still gets to a lot of different sites ... this will be my sixth state tournament as director and I haven’t been back to the same site yet.”

York hosted the 2021 tournament. There was no tourney in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Erie hosted the event in 2019, Wilkes-Barre had it in 2018, Reading in 2017.

Hubler said there were 800 5-person teams participating in last year’s state tourney. Some years have seen 1,200 teams participate.

The fact Family Bowlaway and Sherwood Lanes are so close to each other is an added benefit to Butler serving as host.

“Those houses are practically right next to each other,” Hubler said. “That’s a bonus. We’ve had tournaments in towns where the bowling houses were 30 to 45 minutes apart.”

Butler has had one champion in each of the state tourney’s categories. Richard King won singles in 1994, when Butler hosted. Jack Ordy and Ralph Henry won the state doubles title in 1962 in Hazleton. Tom Fry won all-events in 1992 in Erie. Lyndora Hotel 1 won the team title in 1996 in Altoona.

Registration forms for the tournament are available in bowling houses throughout Butler County.

“People can bowl in the event at the last minute,” Hubler emphasized. “We’ll take walk-ins if there are available lanes for them to bowl.”

Pre-registration is strongly encouraged, however.