What Sport Did Bowling Evolve From?
Have you ever wondered what sport did bowling evolve from? If you are a recreational bowler or an avid competitor, you will enjoy reading about the beginnings of bowling and the sport today.
Bowling may have been one of the oldest games ever played. In the 1930s, Sir Flinders Petrie, an anthropologist from Britain, discovered a primitive bowling game in a child’s grave in Egypt. These old pieces of the game date back to 3200 BC. That would make it one of the oldest games ever, at over 5000 years old. Another historian, William Pehl, disagrees with him, and claims bowling started in Germany around 300 AD.
We have proof that bowling was played in 1366 in England. In fact, it was outlawed by King Edward III to keep soldiers focused on their archery practice. Since many different countries have a version of the game that leads us to believe that it did originate from a much earlier source. Some of these similar games include: Italian bocce, English lawn bowling, and French petanque.
Today, in over 90 countries all over the world, bowling is enjoyed by 100 million people.
Bowling in the United States
Bowling has had an interesting life in the United States. The earliest mention of bowling comes from Rip Van Winkle, a short story written by Washington Irving and published in 1819. It refers to the sound of “crashing ninepins” which is believed to be bowling pins.
At some point, bowling evolved to have 10 pins, but no one is sure when this happened. We do know that bowling was called tenpin and was popular in the early 1800s in New York, Illinois, and Ohio.
On September 9, 1895, the American Bowling Congress was established in New York. After that there were national competitions. In 1917, the Women’s International Congress was formed and following that was the Woman’s National Bowling Association.
The Brunswich Corporation made the first Mineralite ball in 1914 and the first automatic pin setting machine was installed in 1952. Pin setting machines increased the speed and accuracy of the game.
Impact of Television on Bowling
These were great things, but the airings on television of “Championship Bowling” by NBC, made the popularity of bowling explode. Other bowling shows included: “Celebrity Bowling”, “Make that Spare”, and “Bowling for Dollars.” Also popular was the broadcasting of the Pro Bowlers Tour on ABC Sports, which started in 1961.