Fifth in the Nation the school's nine intercollegiate teams, the Bisons! bowling once again performed better than any of the others on the national level. A fifth·place finish in the 1978 Na· tional Association of Intercollegiate Athletics' nationals further established Harding's venerable ranking among the smaller colleges in a record 14th ap· pearance at the Kansas City, Missouri tournament April 15. Two weeks later, C'oach Ed Burt's Keglers turned in another fifth place performance, this time at the National Intercollegiate Bowling Championships in Milwaukee, Wis. The University of Minnesota won the NIBC title. "When you go against the caliber of competition in this event, you don't have to take a back seat to anybody, " Burt said. "Our boys rank with the na· tion's best teams, and they proved it in Milwaukee. " To compete in the NIBC tourney, the Bisons first went through regional and sectional competitions. Finishing in the runner·up position to Texas A&M in the American College Union International Region XII tournament, the Bisons ad· vanced to the sectionals at Memphis, Tenn. The ACUI sectionals provided for the most dramatic comeback of the season for the Bison bowlers. After the first two rounds, Harding was in third place behind southwest Louisiana and the BDWLINIl_ University of Tennessee. "I thought we would go home at best with the second place trophy when we were 101 pins down doing into the last game, " Burt recalled. In an almost unbelievable turnout, led by AII·American Bryan DaVis, the Bisons rallied , overcoming the 101 point deficiency by 58 to defeat Southwest Louisiana. Davis, a Tulsa native, knocked down 275 pins in that final round . ," Reflected Burt , "I just underestimated those boys. It was really unbelievable. " Earlier in the season the bowling team captured both the Arkansas Inter· collegiate Conference and NAIA District 17 championships. The victories were the 13th conference title in 14 years and the 14th consecutive District 17 title. Senior Kevin Fisher became the first bowler in AIC history to claim individual conference championships back to back. He averaged 196.6 on a total pin· fall of 4,710 while defending his title. In addition to Davis and Fisher, three other top bowlers - Mark Cramer, David Mitchell and Ron Wheeler competed nationally for Harding. 1. CONCENTRATING, Mike Bedwell aims for just the right path to make a strike . 2. RICHARD HILEY carefully releases the ball, followed by a good carry through. 3. STEPPING up onto the approoch , Mark Cramer waits for his ball in an afternoon practice session . 4. FRESHMAN bowler Danny Campbell and Cary Shaler watch temmates while keeping score in the Bison lanes. 5. BOWLING TEAM. Front row, Cramer, Bedwell, Wheeler, Fisher, Gerlach. Back row: Coach Ed Burt, Davis, Hiley, Flynn , Mitchell , Gumser. season rouiKIup 1978 AIC BOWLING RESULTS Harding College University of Central Ark. Arkansas Tech University Hendrix College Ouachita Baptist University Arkansas College 23,556 22,341 20,778 19,619 18,738 17 ,702 Bowling ~ 139
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