William V. Thompson
{{Short description|American professional and champion tenpin bowler}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{other people|William Thompson}}
{{cite check|reason= see talk|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox person
|name = William V. Thompson
|image = WV Thompson 1909.jpg
|image_upright = 0.5
|caption = Thompson in 1909
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1865|04|25}}
|birth_place = Princeton, Illinois
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1938|09|30|1865|04|25}}
|death_place =
|nationality = American
|years_active = 1891–1921
|known_for = Champion tenpin bowler
|notable_works = Rules for tenpin bowling
}}
William V. Thompson (April 25, 1865 – September 30, 1938) was an American professional and champion tenpin bowler. He was the proprietor of Plaza Bowling Alley in the Chicago Plaza Hotel, the first official regulation ten-pin bowling alley. He formed a bowling club from champion bowlers and challenged other organizations across the nation. Thompson was influential in forming of the ultimate sanctioned regulations rules of the game and an advocate of the original American Bowling Congress. He was general manager of the department at Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company that made the bowling equipment for the alleys.
Biography
Thompson was born in Princeton, Illinois on April 4, 1865. While in his teens he was part of the high-school sprinters. Thompson was on the Princeton Tigers football team in his early twenties. His first career job was as a railroad man in his early twenties. Around 1911 he picked up an interest in ten-pin bowling, a new game at the time.{{cite news |last= Davis |first= J. R. |date= December 24, 1911 |title= W. V. Thompson, Leader in Bowler World |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7523007//|newspaper= Anaconda Standard |location= Anaconda, Montana |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}
Thompson decided in his mid-twenties to become a professional bowler.
He became an expert champion bowler of Chicago in the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century.{{cite news |author= |title=Champion Bowler |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7498227// |newspaper=Nebraska State Journal |location=Lincoln, Nebraska|date=April 20, 1899 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title=Delay Official Announcement For Arrival of Late Entries |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7497079// |newspaper=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |location=Brooklyn, New York |date=May 11, 1909 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title= William V. Thompson |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7510897// |newspaper= Pittsburgh Daily Post |location= Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |date=March 19, 1909 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title=The Champion Bowler |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7512502// |newspaper= Times-Democrat|location=New Orleans, Louisiana |date=February 17, 1901 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }} Thompson had his own team called the Chicago Colts.{{cite news |author= |title= Greatest Bowling Tournament of the World will begin in Louisville Saturday with 20,000 bowlers in attendance |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7261973// |newspaper=Courier-Journal |location=Louisville, Kentucky |date= March 11, 1906 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title= Personal and Otherwise|url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7296171// |newspaper=Pittsburgh Press |location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |date=May 5, 1907 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title=Six Bowling Congresses |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7303231// |newspaper=Omaha Daily Bee |location=Omaha, Nebraska |date=February 16, 1908 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }} He was in charge of the champion bowlers of Chicago at this time and set up tournaments with other organizations around the United States.{{cite news |author= |title=National Bowling Congress |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7387154// |newspaper=Indianapolis Journal |location= Indianapolis, Indiana |date=February 21, 1902 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title= Booming in Louisville |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7387928// |newspaper= Indianapolis Journal |location=Indianapolis, Indiana |date= January 9, 1903 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title= Bowlers of Cincinnati |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7387993// |newspaper= Indianapolis Journal |location=Indianapolis, Indiana |date= January 30, 1903 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}
File:Plaza Hotel Chicago 1913.jpg
In 1889 Thompson owned a bowling alley in the basement of the Plaza Hotel located in north Chicago at Clark Street.{{cite news |author= |title=Opinions of the Experts / Chicago Bowling Tournament Highly Praised |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7263016//|newspaper=Chicago Tribune |location=Chicago, Illinois |date=January 13, 1901 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title=Wants a Bowling Tournament with St. Paul |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7388111// |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |location= Chicago, Illinois |date=March 3, 1895 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }} In 1891 he started to upgrade his slate alleys to a larger size and wood construction.{{r|BowlingDean}} His design was adopted in 1892 as the standard regulation type and size for future alleys of ten-pin bowling.{{r|BowlingDean}}{{cite news |author= |title=Why Bowling is Popular |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7301499// |newspaper= Chicago Tribune |location=Chicago, Illinois |date=February 1, 1903 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }} The Plaza Bowling Alley was the first official regulation bowling alley and others followed in its footsteps.
{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/stream/chicagorecreatio02arth/chicagorecreatio02arth_djvu.txt |title=Chicago Recreation Survey |author= |date=1938 |access-date=November 24, 2016 |quote=The first regulation bowling alley in the city of Chicago was installed in 1891 in the Plaza Hotel, situated at Clark Street and North Avenue.}}
Thompson was nicknamed "W.V." in the bowling circles throughout the United States. He formed a bowling club in 1894 at the Plaza Hotel from the champion bowlers of the Plaza Bowling Alley. His club challenged other clubs across the nation that had regulation bowling alleys that were developing at the time.{{cite news |author= |title=Plaza Bowling Club's Challenge |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7156135// |newspaper=The Inter Ocean |location=Chicago, Illinois |date= September 9, 1894 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}}}} Arrangements for cash prizes and trophies for these contests were through the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company.{{cite news |author= |title=Bowling for prizes |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7296723// |newspaper=Wheeling Daily |location= Wheeling, West Virginia |date=January 11, 1898 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title=Inter-City Bowling |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7161424// |newspaper=The Inter Ocean |location=Chicago, Illinois |date=March 10, 1895 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title=A Bit of a Hitch |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7162308// |newspaper=The Saint Paul Globe |location= Saint Paul, Minnesota |date= March 25, 1895 | via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}
Accolades
Thompson was labeled by many as the "Father of Bowling" for his efforts to get the new game of ten-pin bowling to standardized rules that all would follow for fair contests.{{cite news |author= |title=Select A.C.B.A. Leaders With P.T. Moran at Helm|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7514303// |newspaper=Washington Post |location=Washington, D.C. |date=November 11, 1915 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title= Bowlers Honor Grant |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7513709// |newspaper=Washington Post |location= Washington, D.C. |date=December 5, 1915 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title=Duckpin Scores are Low |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7496724// |newspaper=Washington Post |location=Washington, D.C. |date=April 4, 1916 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title=A.C.B.A. is to meet at Ebbitt Tomorrow |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7557750// |newspaper= Washington Post |location=Washington, D.C.|date=December 3, 1915 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}}}} Many details concerning rules and regulations had to be worked out for contests and tournaments (i.e. pin size, pin positioning, ball specifications, lane dimensions, foul line, penalties). Thompson helped formulate these and promoted the new game more than any other person during this time in its early stages of development.{{cite news |author= |title=Sporting News |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7388513// |newspaper=Pittsburgh Press |location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |date=December 6, 1898 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title= All Star Bowlers |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7388293// |newspaper= Decatur Herald |location=Decatur, Illinois |date=November 15, 1898 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title= Chicago has Good Teams |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7296273// |newspaper=Inter Ocean |location=Chicago, Illinois |date=March 3, 1907 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title=Brunswicks Crowd a League Record |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7296415//|newspaper=Inter Ocean |location= Chicago, Illinois|date=December 20, 1913 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title= Brunswick Players Roll a Four-Figure Total|url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7296600// |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |location=Chicago, Illinois |date=March 19, 1902 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }} Thompson, however, preferred not to be called the "Father of Bowling" so was given the title "Dean of Bowling" instead for his involvement in promoting the game to tournament standards.{{cite news |author= |title="Dean of Bowling" now a New Yorker |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7260506// |newspaper=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |location=Brooklyn, New York |date=October 9, 1915 | via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}
Thompson was the manager of the manufacturing department at Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company that made the majority of the equipment for the game.{{cite news |author= |title=Booklet Issued by Company A Factor |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7556033// |newspaper=Washington Herald |location=Washington, D.C.|date=November 16, 1915|via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title=Thompson's Great Work |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7297719// |newspaper=Indianapolis News |location=Indianapolis, Indiana |date= January 15, 1900|via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title= Thompson is Optimistic |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7298513//|newspaper=Indianapolis News |location= Indianapolis, Indiana |date=January 10, 1903 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title=Champion Woman Bowler to Compete |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7512634// |newspaper=Oregon Daily Journal |location=Portland, Oregon |date=March 8, 1904 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title=Bowlers will Flock to City |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7557904// |newspaper=Detroit Free Press |location=Detroit, Michigan |date=December 25, 1909 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }} He worked directly under and was closely associated with Brunswick's president Moses Bensinger. He managed Brunswick's All-Star bowling team on promotional tours around the United States.{{cite news |author= |title=All Stars are Coming |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7513359// |newspaper= Baltimore Sun |location= Baltimore, Maryland |date=November 14, 1899 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title=Champion Woman Bowler |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7512784//|newspaper=Indianapolis |location=Indianapolis, Indiana |date=February 26, 1900|via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title=National Interest in Coming Tournament |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7295943// |newspaper=Indianapolis Journal |location=Indianapolis, Indiana |date=February 1, 1904 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title=Tournament Gossip |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7514659// |newspaper=Cincinnati Enquirer |location= Cincinnati, Ohio |date=February 9, 1908 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }} Thompson was sent by Bensinger as a counselor to England, France and Germany to help launch the new game to Europeans and introduce Brunswick's bowling products. He showed them the American hook for making strikes.
Clubs and associations
Thompson was a major contributor to the forming of the ultimate sanctioned rules and regulations of tenpin bowling that became the by-laws of American Bowling Congress (ABC). He was known in the Eastern United States as the protector of the ABC and its bylaws for regulation tenpin bowling.{{cite news |author= |title=Tri-City Tenpin Match Presents Best Bowlers of cities Represented |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7513893//|newspaper=Washington Times |location=Washington, D.C. |date=January 22, 1916 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }} He became the vice-president of the ABC in 1900 and continued for the next five years.{{sfn|Pfister|2013|p=47}}{{sfn|Colby|1900|p=132}}{{cite news |author= |title=With the Bowlers |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7386808// |newspaper=Saint Paul Globe |location=Saint Paul, Minnesota |date=January 11, 1901 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title= For Bowling Congress |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7512310// |newspaper=Baltimore Sun |location=Baltimore, Maryland |date=December 18, 1905 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }} The by-laws governing the rule on the regulations of the balls, pins, and alleys were updated several times through his efforts.{{cite news |author= |title=Crisis Exists in Alley Game|url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7269093// |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |location=Chicago, Illinois |date=February 1, 1903 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }} From time to time various bowling associations that Thompson worked with eventually joined the ABC and followed their by-laws.{{cite news |author= |title=Bookwater Chosen |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7386938// |newspaper=Saint Paul Globe |location=Saint Paul, Minnesota |date=January 24, 1902 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title= Interest in Tournament |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7387291// |newspaper= Indianapolis Journal |location=Indianapolis, Indiana |date= August 20, 1902 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title=Chicago leads Bowling World |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7262361// |newspaper=Chicago, Tribune |location= Chicago, Illinois|date=February 1, 1903 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title=Buffalo after A.B.C. Tourney |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7522388// |newspaper= Detroit Free Press |location=Detroit, Michigan |date=June 10, 1909 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}
Thompson assisted in setting up a world's bowling championship tournament at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904.{{cite news |author= |title=Bowling at World's Fair |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7510510// |newspaper=Indianapolis Journal|location=Indianapolis, Indiana |date=March 6, 1904 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }} By 1909 he was well known in the bowling field worldwide.{{cite news |author= |title= Famous Bowling Star |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7522189// |newspaper=Pittsburgh Daily Post |location= Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |date= February 23, 1909 |via= Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}
Thompson was associated with the Illinois Bowling Association in the early 1900s.{{cite book |title= The World Almanac and Book of Facts |publisher= Press Publishing Company (The New York World) |year= 1911 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vuM-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA373 |page=373}} He was also associated with the New York Rotary Club at that time and helped organize contests for most of the Rotary Clubs throughout the United States.{{cite book |title= Proceedings: Eighth Annual Convention of the International Association of Rotary Clubs |publisher= Rotary International|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3zl8KRZCemsC&pg=PA248|year=1917|page= 248}} Thompson often bowled with Mrs. Gertrude Hull, the woman national champion of America then in the early 1900s.{{cite news |author= |title=Champion Woman Bowler to Compete |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7593791// |newspaper=Oregon Daily Journal |location=Portland, Oregon |date=March 8, 1904 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title=Mrs Hull Rolls a Match |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7593947// |newspaper= Pittsburgh Daily Post|location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |date=February 24, 1909 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title= Women Will Bowl |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7594042// |newspaper= Democrat and Chronicle|location=Rochchester, New York |date=February 2, 1904 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title=Pertinent Advice for Women Bowlers |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7602071// |newspaper= Wilkes-Barre Times Leader |location=Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania |date=November 25, 1904 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title=Mrs Hull to play in East |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7602218// |newspaper=Inter Ocean |location=Chicago, Illinois |date=February 29, 1904 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title= Three Straight for New York |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7602393// |newspaper=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |location= Brooklyn, New York |date= October 13, 1908|via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
Sources
{{Commonscatinline}}
- {{cite book|last=Colby|first=Frank Moore|title=The International Year Book|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.180027|page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.180027/page/n162 132]|year=1900|publisher=Dodd, Mead}}
- {{cite book|last=Pfister|first=Gertrud |title=Gymnastics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QeaMAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA47|date=October 18, 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-96542-8}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, William V.}}
Category:People from Princeton, Illinois
Category:19th-century American businesspeople
Category:20th-century American businesspeople
Category:Businesspeople from Illinois