CONTACT: Dick Evans

Jeanette Robinson Makes Golden Ladies Classic A Classic Tournament at The Orleans

When I first met Jeanette Robinson she was a robust finalist in the 1964 BPAA National All-Star Tournament in Dallas.

When I last met Jeanette Robinson at The Orleans Hotel in Las Vegas she was the robust inspiration for the National Golden Ladies Classic, a must participate event for any woman bowler who admits to being 50.

The years may have changed her appearance a little, but not her zeal for life and love of bowling.

Jeanette, who made her bowling reputation in Michigan, has been making a promotional reputation in Nevada.

She started out as an instructor at the old Showboat, where she introduced her National Golden Ladies Classic in 1989.

Now she’s a Hall of Fame fixture at The Orleans, which really fits her gregarious personality with its upbeat bowling center located above the giant casino.

Of all the tournaments I have covered over the years, I have to label last year’s Golden Ladies Classic my favorite for many reasons:

1. The scoring was good, but not outlandish.
2. The contestants were 50 and above, but they still attacked the pins with youthful exuberance.
3. There were no strangers or rivals out there on the lanes. These lady bowlers were just that – real ladies. They cheered for each other like they were teammates, not rivals.
4. Storm adds $15,000 to the prize fund and The Orleans another $3,000, which helps produce an attractive prize fund for both the Seniors and the Super Seniors.
5. A Mystery Doubles and a Second Chance side events keep everybody involved in the tournament almost to the final ball.
6. Most of the bowlers took advantage of special rates and stayed at The Orleans, which was fun because it was interesting to run into the bowlers in the sports book betting horses, at the crap tables, at the poker machines and the thousands of slot machines.
7. The lady bowlers would see you enter the coffee shop and immediately invite you to sit at their table and not expect you to pick up the check. Often, they offered to pick up my check but being raised in the South I politely refused until they twisted my weak left arm.
8. When a bowler came down with an injury, friends there offering them friendly advice, the use of their ankle or arm brace, an aspirin of a pain ointment.
9. When they finished, many stuck around and sipped a beer while exchanging stories about mean five pins.
10. There was no moaning and groaning about scoring conditions, they were all just happy to be bowling with their old friends. When Fran Deken’s mother was hospitalized, there were three or four fellow bowlers accompanying Fran to the hospital.

You can’t buy friendship like that.

And through it all there was Jeanette Robinson patrolling the action in the beautiful 70-lane center.

With the help of Orleans Manager Mike Monyak and his able staff, she makes sure that every i is dotted and every t is crossed.

They expect 75 plus entries for the 17th Golden Ladies Classic, which will be held March 5-8 to The Orleans with practice lanes available on Sunday March 4.

This event is so much fun and so colorful they should attract twice that many.

Among the field will be bowlers from across the pond (Atlantic Ocean) who have heard about this event or bowled in it before.

The $150 entry fee and $60 tournament room rate at The Orleans are attractive incentives.

So is Jeanette Robinson.

For additional information, call Jeanette Robinson at 1/888-365-7111, ext. 6442.