McCune's tour roommate Jim Stefanich soon learned what Don was doing, and became the next player on tour to begin the soaking practice. Īfter winning only two PBA titles in ten years as a pro, McCune won three titles in just the first half of the 1973 season using the softer, soaked ball. He then took the ball to a bowling center in Hammond, Indiana that he described as "a tough house" and rolled a 763 three-game series. He tried one of the solvents (he wouldn't say what, but it was thought to be methyl ethyl ketone) and soaked his hard plastic bowling ball in it overnight. McCune consulted with a chemist to get a list of solvents that would chemically soften the ball. McCune once told Sports Illustrated, "I couldn’t even scratch the ball with a knife." Even the best professionals were struggling to get their bowling balls to hook on the lane. Most bowling balls at the time were either hard rubber or hard plastic, rated at 80 or higher on a zero-to-100 hardness scale. His second title was earned at the 1970 Houston-Sertoma Open.īy the early 1970s, bowling lane finishes had changed to a less flammable and more durable, but harder surface. McCune became a PBA member 1963, and won his first PBA title at the 1968 Fort Worth Open. Army and began bowling seriously in all-Army leagues. He is a member of the PBA and USBC Halls of Fame. Six of his eight titles came in the 1973 season, during which he was credited with initiating a major change in the sport of bowling. McCune won eight PBA Tour titles in his career. Donald McCune (born October 9, 1936), originally from Munster, Indiana and now of Las Vegas, Nevada, is a retired American right-handed ten-pin bowler most known for his years in the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA).
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