Adorning the walls of Kingpin Pro Shop are the many accolades and awards Brian Waliczek has bowled his way to throughout his career. Waliczek, the owner of the shop, often uses them as positive reinforcement. “They boost my ego, when I’m having a bad day,” Waliczek said of the trophies. “I put the trophies that I’ve been fortunate enough to win on my wall in my shop. I’m proud of those trophies.”
Some of the trophies that deck the wall of his shop were earned in the Saginaw USBC Open City Championships. Waliczek has performed well in the past, a part of a Kingpin team that captured several accolades during the Third Open City Championship in 2010. That year, Waliczek earned all-events, singles, doubles and team titles. “That year, we had it at Candlelite. That obviously helped,” Waliczek said. “It was fun. It’s only nine games, so a lot of good can happen quickly and a lot of bad can happen quickly as well.”
He and his Kingpin team of Dan Weigandt, Greg Kuehnl and Garrett Shovan are searching for more of the same this year. The Fifth Men’s and Women’s Open City Championships begin Saturday and Sunday at State Lanes. While Waliczek and Weigandt were winners of the doubles title in the Third Open City Championship in 2010, Kuehnl and Shovan were the winners last year in 2011. All of the team members are in a sport league at Candlelite, which helps prepare them for the tournament-type conditions.
“All of the guys on my team bowl in the league and it definitely helped with tournaments,” Waliczek said. “With the tough (lane) conditions, you can look silly in that league, but you still get used to making adjustments, wrong ones and right ones. It just gets you comfortable moving around. You have to make adjustments or else the wheels can come off. “Making adjustments is so key in today’s game.”
Waliczek alone bowls in numerous tournaments throughout the year, filling up his weekends with tournaments around the Midwest. “Last weekend I was in Kentucky and I did really well in the tournament until I went up against a small, angry fellow named Tom Smallwood, who beat me,” Waliczek said. “The Saginaw guys did really strongly. I led most of the way, until it cut to the top eight. I lost to Smallwood and he went to the finals. J.R. Raymond, who is also from Saginaw, lost to Tommy in the finals. Saginaw dominated that weekend.”
In league play, Waliczek is also having a robust season, sporting scores of 248 at Stardust and 240 at Candlelite for his two leagues.Waliczek doesn’t always get a chance to bowl with the guys in his shop, but when they do, it’s usually fun and successful. He hopes for more of that in the Open City Championship. “If I give them a little push in the right direction, they can put up good numbers,” he joked. “When we are together, they get that little push. Then I ride their coattails.”
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