Page 60 - BCM June 2024

COVER STORY

to be treated, and that comes across
in how they present the Greater
Ozarks Open. That said, they were
perfectly happy hosting the tourna-
ment before they started operating
it.
“The tournament was started by
a group of league bowlers in 1958,”
Wiemer says. “They ran it for 44
years and then they sold it to me.
The building housing this Bass Pro Shops Catalog Outlet Store formerly was home to So I’ve operated it for 14 years, and
a bowling center owned by the Wiemer family. it has run in our centers since 1991.
One of the founders told me that if
work together.” St. Louis market was left without I messed it up, he’d come back to
Carla Wiemer completes the a PBA Tour stop, Wiemer offered haunt me.”
family/extended family manage- Enterprise Park Lanes, about a There have been no ghost
ment team, taking care of the three-and-a-half-hour drive to the encounters to date because little
dailies, check writing and other southwest, as a host. The center has changed, other than the intro-
business-related necessities. has now hosted stops in back-to- duction of brackets — something
“She does all the things I don’t back years, including the 2024 Pete that the bowlers requested.
like to do,” says Wiemer. “I hate my Weber Missouri Classic. “We’re a little different,” Wiemer
office. The only good thing about “I’ve known Pete for years and my says. “We’re still a single-entry
my office is that I get to share it with dad bowled against Pete’s dad [Dick tournament. We also put out a
Keegan.” Weber], so it was special hosting a pattern that’s a little more chal-
tournament with the Weber name lenging than a house condition. We
The Bowling Life attached to it,” Wiemer says. appreciate the competitive end of
Steve Wiemer bowled in his 51st As bowlers themselves, the the game.”
ABC/USBC Open tournament in Wiemers know how bowlers want Wiemer says that he and the
April to match tournament’s founders never had a
his father’s total, contract. The long-running agree-
and Steve’s ment was based on a handshake.
brother Randy “I was fortunate to work with
is scheduled to those people,” Wiemer says.
make his 50th “There’s a real advantage to having
appearance next
year in Baton Sunshine Lanes and Enterprise Park
Rouge, Loui- Lanes play host to what is believed to be
siana. the largest single-entry team, doubles
A teammate, and singles tournament other than the
Jeff Mackey, has USBC national tournaments.
a Singles eagle
to his credit, and
Wiemer’s team
once set the
Team All-Events record, only to see
it broken in the same tournament.
“Our family has done this
together since [my brother and
I] were in high school, and that’s
pretty special,” Wiemer says.
The family’s on-the-lanes history
also informs its business. When the

58 • BCM • JUNE 2024 www.bcmmag.com

5/16/24 11:30 AM
052,054,056,058,060,062_CoverStory_0624.indd 58 5/16/24 11:30 AM
052,054,056,058,060,062_CoverStory_0624.indd 58