BIG GUYS CAN BOWL, TOO

Joe Paulus (left) presented Billy Welu with a trophy after he won the 1959 BPAA Individual Match Game Tournament in Buffalo, New York. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Welu was a multi-sport athlete growing up in Houston, playing basketball, golf and baseball. In fact, while in high school the St. Louis Cardinals offered him a contract to play catcher. Welu pursued bowling and it worked out pretty well, culminating with an induction into United States Bowling Congress Hall of Fame in 1975. “I picked the right field,” Welu stated. “Those professional football players are nuts.”