The Washington times., 1933-12-27
FORMS FIRST
D. {. SMALL
PIN TEAM

This is the eighth of the "Duck-
pf1t-MdkerS" cries, biographical
sketches of outstanding figures in
the ducEpin game. Nert in series
fDiH appear Friday.
y, BY GINO SINH
~ Jack Williams proudest boast
is that he was the first native
Washingtonian to bowl duckpinS.
Jack, whose front monickerS
are John Henry, though born in
Washington, was living in the
Monumental City a year or so
after the dWarfed pins made
their appearance.
He used to work in the Govern
ment Printing Office at Washing
ton, and journey home to Balti-
more over the week-ends.
He frequented Berger's Beer
Garden, on Blair Road, on Sat
urday nights, bowling duckpins
for a nickel game and receiv-
ing a beer check at the same
time.
A Saturday night league was
formed early in 1908, and Jack
broke into the game as a mem
ber of the Mayflower team.
A regular patron at Harry
KrauSs' Palace alleys on week
day afternoons he happened to
mention the new tangled pins
which had become popular in
Baltimore. Harry decided to take
q look at them, and brought
couple of sets back with him.
They aroused only mild interest
among Capital City bowlers.
Form Duckpin Team
Williams and group of his
fellow workers on the G. P. o.
night shift liked them, however,
and spent wintry afternoons top
pling them. During the Xmas
holidays of 1908, Jack organized
q team under the name of %Con-
gressional Record" Washington
Post printers also spent after
Moons at the Palace and Jack
persuaded them to band together
and the first formal duckpin
match was rolled on Thursday,
January 7, 1904.
The Record lineup included
Jimmy Spence, who passed on
last year; Jack Cotter, Ollie At
kington, Louis Tuttle and Will
IamS. The Posts team was cap
tanned by Harry Essex, and was
made up by ''Moochie" Benzler,
Jake Statler, Jim Sprucebank
and "Slats" Warner. These two
teams met each Thursday until
March when the Record crew
went on day work.
Jack recalls that the first duck
pins resembled BARRIERS tonic
bottles. with wide bellies and
lcng necks.
Williams was born in South
east Washington on April IA,
1875. SThe fact that his father
was dead and because he didn't
ike algebra made him refuse an
uncle's kindly offer to put him
through high school.
8 Re entered the printing busi.
ness at 16, working on the Army
and Navy Register, when it was
housed where the National The
ater now stands. He loves his
trade and is always delving into
somthing new in connection with
it. In his present capacity as
foreman of the Library of Con-
gress composing room he is in
valuable for his ability to repro
duce peculiar foreign letterings.
Although he does not speak any
other tongue other than his ma.
tive one.
Fond Of All Sports
Williams is fond of all sports.
He played bit of baseball in his
youth, mostly with the G. P. o.
team. He also took fling at
golf. He has gone in for croquet
since he gave up bowling about
two years ago. He is the dean of
the Apache Club, which once
boasted great grid aggregations.
He was introduced to the bowl
ing game around 1890 when he
set up ten-pins on the crude out
door alleys at Guetler's Beer Gar
den, on e Street, between Thir-
teenth and Fourteenth Southeast.
The alleys consisted of three one
foot boards placed side by side
with half-inch space between
them to allow for the swelling
from rain. There were no gut
ters. The balls ranged from five
inches to eight. Some had thumb
holes and a grip for all four fin
gers. Cooked hat and five backs
were the popular games Of those
days and these Germans had great
times, says Jack.
60 It was he who introduced the
classification idea to give the
small "fryes" a chance in the an
nual Ten-pin Tournament, which
was carried over to duckpins.
=. He was twice president of the
w. C. D. A. in 1918 and 1919 and
In 1920 was elected secretary. In
1881 he became N. D. P. p. c.
president.
He was also instrumental in
having women roll in the city
tournament. AS 10 women teams
desired to bowl in the tournament
Jack arranged to distribute 10
prizes and the affair was a grand
success.
Captains Good Fellows
He captained the Good Fellows
team in the District League for