BATON ROUGE - The Louisiana High School Athletic Association recently announced its 2026 Hall of Fame class and for the first time the association is going bowling.

The sport of bowling has its first inductee in the home of state high school greatness and this time the inductee is the guy that helped put the sport on the state high school map. 

Rick Bourgeois, who earlier this year was honored by the national Bowling Proprietors Association of America, is now be part of the 10-member induction class for 2026

Bourgeois, the longtime director of bowling for the Malco Theater division, is also one of the fathers of Louisiana’s ultra-successful high school bowling program.

He lobbied to make bowling an LHSAA sport starting in 1999 and after a trial run was able to move it through the executive committee and principals to get it approved and it has been expanding and getting better every year. He has served as the LHSAA Bowling Director since 2002 and the 1971 graduate of Broadmoor High School earned the distinguished service award from the LHSAA in 2018.

The Hall of Fame honor adds to the honors Bourgeois has already received as earlier in the year he received the coveted V.A. Wapensky Award at Bowl Expo in Washington, D.C. The award is named after the Bowling Proprietors Association of America’s longtime executive director and Bourgeois joins a long list of winners that includes ABC sportscaster Chris Schenkel, pro legend Dick Weber and a writing friend, Chuck Pezzano.

Bourgeois has spent almost his entire year supporting bowling and constantly promoting the sport. He has been in the business for over 50 years with Malco which oversees two family entertainment centers with movie operations and one bowling entertainment center in the greater Baton Rouge area with another bowling entertainment center in Lafayette.

But in the last 20 years it has been his work that has made every January-April special since 2005 as high school bowling is celebrated and we’ve been fortunate to watch the bowlers and bowling get better each and every year from the four championships of the Denham Springs girls in the beginning to the domination of Brother Martin in the top boys’ division and everything in between.

Congratulations, Rick. Now that the LHSAA Hall of Fame has recognized bowling, maybe someday soon a high school bowler can be next in the Hall.

Just Wondering…

I saw the entry blank was out for this year’s Southern Bowling Congress event in Huntsville, Alabama in February/March of 2026 and I was just wondering something and I’m not sure what the rules of the SBC say about this.

The event is being held this year over five weekends in a 24-lane center for team and a 36-lane center for doubles and singles. Two houses and that is pretty much what I have always seen for Southern because team bowls both Saturday and Sunday and then doubles and singles bowled both days as well.

So, I’m trying to figure out is there a place in Louisiana this nine-state tournament can be held again. There’s only one house in Baton Rouge (with Premier not a tournament house per se). Shreveport has two houses but the Bossier City center has no interest in being a host. Alexandria has a 44-lane center and Lafayette and Lake Charles are one center cities.

There’s New Orleans (Bowlero) and 24 lanes at Colonial in Harahan, but that seems a long longshot.

I just don’t believe Southern would come to Baton Rouge, although it could be divided accordingly and still have four more lanes than the two houses in the Huntsville area.

Again, I do not have familiarity with the SBC rules documents when it comes to bidding for this event, but Baton Rouge’s last chance to host the tournament was scuttled by the pandemic in 2020.

If you remember there was going to be an outstanding entry for the tournament at the now closed Circle Bowl and All Star Lanes. But the shutdown started to occur right before the first of several weekends in March 2020; in fact, some out-of-town bowlers were already in Baton Rouge.

The SBC ran the opening weekend and not only called the rest of the tournament off, but also quickly canceled the 2021 event. The tournament has been a Louisiana after thought ever since. That loss of tournament revenue was another nail in the coffin that would lead to Malco closing the doors on Circle Bowl.

Just wondering? Is it two houses or nothing? Would a place like All Star or Bowlero in Kenner want to give up a few weekends of birthday parties and weekend activities for the prestige of the tournament for the area?

Again just wondering. That’s it for this week.

Until next Monday, good luck and good bowling,

                                        Kent Lowe