Curtis: Bowlers Make Her Job The Best

PBA Seattle Senior Open

Where: Leilani Lanes, 10201 Greenwood Ave. N., Seattle. Tomorrow: Practice, 8-11 a.m. (free admission); pro-am, noon, 2:15, 4:30, 6:45, 9 p.m. (free). Monday: Qualifying, 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. ($3 each). Tuesday: Qualifying, 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. ($3 each); skins-format $2,000 shootout, 7:30 p.m. ($6). Wednesday: Match play, 11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. ($4 each). Thursday: Match play, 8 a.m. ($6); finals (top five bowlers), 7:30 p.m. ($7).

Sandy Curtis says she has the "best job of any woman in the world."

"What woman on earth wouldn't want to be in the position of telling 140 guys what they have to do?" she asks with a dash of comic emphasis.

Curtis, of Kent, is tournament director for the Professional Bowlers Association Senior Tour, a title she has carried since January, and one she began training for at the age of 8 when she first joined a league - at a bowling center in Portland managed by her mother.

She points out that she is the first woman to direct a male professional sports league.

Curtis, 55, brings the PBA Senior road show to her adopted hometown for a five-day event that begins tomorrow at Seattle's Leilani Lanes.

The nearly 140 participants (age 50 and older) include Gary Dickinson, the defending champion and the PBA's 1997 Senior Player of the Year, Teata Semiz, who last year won a Senior event at 63 to become the PBA's oldest winner, and Pete Couture, who has won two of the Senior Tour's first three events this season.

Bowlers with Washington connections include Gary Mage (Vancouver), the 1996 Seattle winner, Ernie Schlegel (Vancouver), Dave Tuell (Tacoma), Wayne Urlaub (Seattle), Darrell Storkson (Everett) and Curtis' personal favorite, husband Darrel Curtis, 65, once mayor of Ellensburg and a two-time Senior Tour winner who, she says, has not missed a Senior stop in 15 years.

Sandy and Darrel Curtis married 18 years ago (they met during a team bowling event in Portland at a center that Sandy managed) and they roll from tournament to tournament in their 40-foot customized bus.

At a Houston tour stop seven years ago, she was asked by a PBA official if she would help by entering scores into a computer.

"I really didn't want to," Curtis admitted. "Then after a couple of times I found that I was enjoying myself. I had managed bowling centers and been around the game professionally for 25 years, so I began hoping they wouldn't notice me and just let me keep helping. It reminded me of all the reasons I loved working in bowling, which is primarily the people."

Curtis eventually served in various administrative positions for the Senior Tour and became assistant tournament director last year. The top position opened up when the fellow who originally asked her to help in Houston, Rich Weber, resigned.

"I stepped into this role fairly suddenly, but I can't think of one person who has been unhappy with the job I'm doing, or at least they've been smart enough not to say it out loud," she said.

Curtis points to regular efforts by several Tour members to visit hospitals, including a trip to the Seattle Veterans Hospital planned for tomorrow. In turn, four veterans connected with local VA hospitals - Gerald Smith, Janice Gisomer, Wes Speight and wheelchair bowler Brian Williams - have been invited to take part in tomorrow's 2:15 p.m. pro-am.

Only about 10 percent of the PBA's senior membership could be considered full-time professionals.

"A lot of our guys are retired businessmen or people who couldn't devote the time earlier in their lives to the national tour," Curtis said. "We have mail carriers and people who are still practicing law on the tour. It's an interesting mix."

Curtis oversees every Senior event (15 this year, mostly in the summer and fall) and is often busy arranging and negotiating next year's schedule (her goal is 20 events, which would be a Tour record for Senior competition, which began in 1981). She clarifies rules, resolves the rare dispute, and serves as official scorekeeper during the finals.

ESPN and ESPN2 have televised past Senior events, and Fox Sports Net will air nine 1998 tour stops (including Seattle's) on a tape-delay basis. The Seniors are concluding a two-year sponsorship deal with the Showboat Casino in Las Vegas, but the future of that relationship is uncertain now that Harrah's has purchased Showboat.

"We're like any pro sport," Curtis said. "The life of your sport depends on exposure and sponsorships. The most exposure you get on television the bigger the sponsors you're able to attract. The national tour just signed a new two-year deal with CBS."

How long does Curtis envision herself holding this position?

"You know, I have no time frame," she said. "My husband asked me, quite jokingly, what would I do without bowling. I feel bowling is a very important part of him staying young and healthy, and I asked him what would he do without it?

"I enjoy the job. I love the game and the people connected to it. We travel around the country, see some beautiful scenery, and I have a few days of really hard work. This isn't like a real job, really. This is a situation that has worked out very well, and I'm grateful for it."