On Saturday, Jim Mayberry, the owner of Walnut Bowl, was inducted into the Kansas State United States Bowling Congress Bowling Association Hall of Fame.
Mayberry joins Forrest Jensen Jr., Don Luce, Larry Cecil Jr. and Joel Mumma as the 2011 class of inducted members.
Mayberry is the third inductee from Great Bend with the first being Alvin Otte in 1988 and the second being Virgil Maser in 2008.
“It’s a great honor,” Mayberry said. “It really is a great group. It’s a very select group when you think about it. There’s 15,000 bowlers in the State of Kansas that are actually sanctioned and there are a little over 100 maybe that are actually in the hall of fame.
To be specific, there are 96 members currently in the Kansas hall of fame.
“It’s a very select group,” Mayberry said. “It’s very small and there are some really great names. All of the Kansas bowling greats are in that group, so it’s really an honor and really humbling to be listed with that group.”
Mayberry joins a list of hall of famers that includes professional bowlers such as Robert Glass, Chris Barnes, Bill Busby, Justin Hromek and Bryan Boebel.
According to Mayberry, the selection process for the hall of fame is extensive.
“You have to nominated by someone in the State of Kansas,” Mayberry said. “Then you have to be approved or a letter of recommendation has to come from your local association and then of course, you’re screened to make sure you have the qualifications.
“Then you are voted on in our annual meeting of our directors and delegates and you have to get two-thirds approval of them to be elected. Once that happens you are placed into the hall of fame the next year.”
Great Bend Youth Board President Neal Herrman was the one who originally nominated Mayberry for the honor.
Mayberry said that he didn’t start bowling until after he was out of college.
“I didn’t bowl as a child,” Mayberry said. “You know, every kid back then had their own ball, but I didn’t bowl that much. I got married in 1974 and was getting out of college then. Life starts to slow down a little bit. You got to find something to do. You’re getting too old to softball and baseball so I got a bunch of my friends that I worked with and took up bowling on Monday nights.”
Since then, Mayberry said that he has competed with the same group of friends in traveling leagues and regional and national competitions.
He has received various awards including city tournament championships and top five average awards. He has competed at the Greater Ozarks Open, Kansas State Tournament and USBC National Tournnament for 24 consecutive years.
He bowled a 300 game in 2006 during a local league competition at Walnut Bowl.
“My high series is 756 or something,” Mayberry said. “It’s not real big. I’m an above average bowler, but I am not in the elite class.”
But it’s not all about the competition.
“The game is great,” Mayberry said, “but just the people and the relationships that you develop. That’s what it’s about. You know, you get to know these people. Some of these people I’ve known for 30 years and I still bowl with them.
“For 30 years, we travel to tournaments. We travel together. We bowl together in league nights.”
Mayberry moved to Great Bend in 1982, but didn’t decide to buy Walnut Bowl until 1996.
“I moved to Great Bend in 1982 and the facility had never really been updated,” Mayberry said. “It was built in 1961 and nothing in it was modern. It was one of the few centers in the state of Kansas that didn’t have automatic scoring.
“My family decided in 1996 to approach the corporation that owned it. Negotiations went on for about a year and they decided to sell it in 1997. Since then we’ve done a complete update on it.”
Mayberry is involved in the local bowling leagues for adults and the youth. He coaches in the youth league and gives private lessons for kids.
With Herrman, Mayberry helped develop the Great Bend High School bowling team in 2007.
In 2009, he was hired to be the assistant coach for the high school’s team.
“Two years ago, they selected me to join the team as a coach,” Mayberry said. “You know I was coaching on the side, not during the season because that’s illegal. But I coach all the kids in our youth leagues and then private lessons. When the assistant coach left, they offered that job to me and it has just been a blast.”