How Did Sports Begin in Our Community?

By Bret Wurletzer

In the first chapter of Portland gay community sports history, we explored the beginnings of the first organized sporting program for the men and women of our community.  Tom Giel had begun annual events called Terrific Tournaments.  Creating leagues was becoming a strong option. 

Tom’s objective was to create an event where people just “coming out” could comfortably go and not feel intimidated.  Having experienced a nightmare on his first evening in a gay bar, Tom hoped that he could provide alternative way for people to meet one another, other than in a dark, smoky bar.  That first evening of trusting someone, only to have them become threatening and forceful, left a nasty emotional scar that took years to heal and overcome.

The premise behind the establishment of the league was to create an environment that would allow people to enter a regular, well lit business with the intention of coming for a sporting event, not to cruise.  “You have to remember the time period in which we were creating this,” says Tom. “We had an ultra-conservative Mayor, Frank Ivancie, who had little love for the gay community and was even willing to send his own gay son to Florida to keep him from being a subject for the local press. People were paranoid. In the opening years of the league we didn’t even use last names, just first names and last initials.”

In 1979, Tom ran for the position of Emperor to further his design to offer the community more in the way of sports. Upon winning the position, he formed a committee of other interested individuals who wanted a variety of activities.  Tom began by having his partner, Vaden, put together a one day ski trip to Mt. Hood.  What followed were roller skating excursions, pitch & putt golf, and even a campout on the Oregon Coast.  “You have not lived until you’ve seen the eyes of fellow campers, as members from your campout conducted their very first Swamp Queen pageant, complete with a bouquet of Skunk Cabbage,” said Tom.  “Watching the winner, Bertie Mae Heffer, and contestants parade through the campground in chiffon and high heels was a sight not ever to be forgotten.  It was actually early Priscilla Queen of the Dessert material.”

After a visit to San Francisco, attending the softball leagues in their city, Tom looked into starting Portland Softball leagues.  But with all his other responsibilities and due to the complications of negotiating park space with the hesitant city, Tom decided to concentrate on the bowling league.
 
During the 80’s the league became the place to go on Sundays.  Even the counseling centers, Phoenix Rising and the Center for Sexual Minorities, began recommending the league for those individuals looking for a more casual way to meet new friends – those too frightened to come out in a bar scene.

Having literally gotten the ball rolling, Tom began once a month leagues from January through August. Eight sessions total.  And when the season ended in August there was always a party.  After two years the leagues became so popular that it was switched to every other weekend from January to May.  The first season had ten teams with 50 bowlers.
In the first couple of seasons in ‘80 and ‘81, a banquet was held in the backroom of Dahl & Penne’s Bar at the base of the Morrison Bridge (where Bank of America tower is now located).  But by ’82, Tom acquired a contract with Oaks Amusement Park for an annual picnic in mid-May.  For the first time in our community’s existence, the gay and lesbian community had a amusement park destination where bowlers and their friends could go and enjoy the gay day. It was an amazing time.  We had enough bowlers in those days to warrant renting the entire park. Watching bowlers sniffing amyl nitrate and riding the Oaks Park bumper cars nonstop for hours was a side-splitting, hilarious experience.  The poor ticket-taker just watched in amazement, not knowing what to think.”

By 1985 the league was up to 300 bowlers.  There were so many bowlers that the league had to split into 3 sessions, twice on Sunday and again on Thursday evenings.
Tom began something else that was unique in the bowling environment.  Rather than have a league where only the top three won awards, Tom came up with the ideal of randomly drawing for four to five divisions in order for more bowlers to win awards.  It was Tom’s view that there wasn’t enough reward for gay and lesbian individuals within the community.  Typically, only the top three teams win trophies and special awards.  By the new arrangement, every member of the five member teams within each division, received a trophy.  With 300 bowlers that meant five divisions, or 45 trophies.  You may not be the best in one division, but you might be in the other division.  The random division draws continue to the current day.

Because this was a more casual league that loosely followed the American Bowling Congress rules, some bowlers struck out on their own and began another community league that was to be sanctioned.  Sanctioning meant that their scores and averages would be recognized by the national organization.  The Sunday PCBA continues to remain a social league.   
The difference was that on the Sunday League, bowlers didn’t have to pay an annual sanctioning fee ($16 currently).  If a Sunday bowler wished to bring a friend, a date, or even a family member in to bowl, even for just one event, there was no sanctioning fee as is required in a sanctioned league.  It remains that way even today.

The Sunday community leagues currently have a blend of both men and women of all ages.  They bowl on Sunday’s beginning at 3:30 pm and bowl three games, ending around 6 pm.  After 32 years, the league is still the cheapest entertainment league around at only $10.00 per week.

Most leagues run 30-32 weeks from September to April.  The Sunday league runs two short seasons of 14 weeks each – September to December, and then January to April.  Some bowlers like to camp in the good fall weather and don’t start until Spring, while others like to bowl the Fall and play softball in the spring.  The majority of bowlers bowl in both halves.  The league pays out to its bowlers twice a year as a reward for bowling. 

Instead of trophies that end up in garage sales, the Sunday League hands out actual U.S. Silver Eagle dollars in display cases.  They are dated by the year in which they are won.  When Tom began handing out the silver dollars back in the 90’s, silver was at an all-time low in the $6.00 range.  With the price of silver rising at the same level as gold, currently each silver dollar award costs over $23.   Rather than a box full of trophies, those individuals who have been winning for years, now have a valuable commodity that can only continue to grow in value.

In the mid-80’s Tom discovered that community bowling was not unique to just Portland.  An organization called the International Gay Bowling Organization was uniting gay leagues all over the country.  There were even gay tournaments that bowlers traveled around the country to attend.  Tom decided that Portland needed to be on the map of tournaments.  And thus the Portland Rose Bowl Classic International Tournament was born.  More on this story in our third and final installment of Sports History in Portland.