I was wondering how soon this day would come and it has.
In March, for the last time, the tournament that was known at different times as Baskin Robbins/BR Singles/Sue Braud BR Singles Tournament was rolled. It’s had a few names as you can see, but it also had for some 50 years was champions of all kinds and lots of money awarded.
There were 279 entries on the final weekend at All Star Lanes with close to $12,000 in prize money offered. Ronald Smith from Lake Charles came in and the 196-bowler averaged 222 to win the $2,369.50 first prize with a two-game match total win of 526-453 against Baton Rouge’s Gregory Snee, who won $1,184.75. Baton Rouge bowlers Sumner Taylor and Tiffany Blackwell made it to the round of four, winning $497.60.
It’s just so ironic that the Snee name is in the championship match in the final BR Singles event because it was his grandfather, the late John Snee, and the tournament’s namesake in its later years, Sue Braud, who made this thing what it was. Then throw in Gregory’s dad, Greg, as a past winner of this event and it just seems appropriate.
Unfortunately, when the tournament started in 1973 it was still a time of manual scoring and results being totaled by hand. So a lot of the records for the first 16 years are long since forgotten and not available.
But here are some facts: Since 1989 (when the computer files are available) through the March event, there were 115 tournaments (originally named for a sponsor’s Baskin Robbins locations in Baton Rouge). In those 115 events, over 5,200 unique bowlers from 18 different states participated in the tournament and over 53,000 entries were taken.
In that time 14 bowlers won multiple titles and just since 1989, $1.8 million was paid out in prize money.
Those are astonishing facts.
I was looking last night at a list of the winners since 1990 and some of the names are a who’s who of bowling. This is just a part of the list of multiple winners: PBA star Shawn Maldonado, Scott Monteleone from NOLA (three-time winner), Jon Juneau, Duane Chatelain, Juan Coston Jr. and Butch Cormier, who won in December 1990 and in 2011.
Speaking of Greg Snee, he won in July 1990 and then 25 years later won in August 2015.
Many people over the years have helped in the tournament office and many have participated for long years. Braud’s daughter, Donna, and her husband, Jeff Hall, have been doing a lot of the work for years as well and kept this tournament alive after Sue’s passing.
But things have happened in the past few years. Circle Bowl, the tournament’s main home, closed. Weekend tournaments became more and more prevalent making the singles event not unique anymore. Times had changed in the bowling game and the years of traveling back to Baton Rouge to run the event for the Halls probably just made this the right time.
It should be added that part of the history of this event would probably not have happened if it hadn’t been for late All Star general manager Mike LaCroix, who offered the tournament a spot in his center when Circle Bowl closed.
What made this tournament unique and successful was it was an anyone could win it. Young, old, high average, low average and let’s not forget the nine women that won the title, the last being Kiara Smith of Baton Rouge in August 2019.
The SYC and high school playoffs prevented us from doing this earlier, but it is important to salute a bowling event that should not be forgotten when we think of the big events in our city’s bowling history.
Fifty years. It was a good run. So long to the Sue Braud BR Singles.