Sean Rash lent a hand. Jan Schmidt had her leg back, kinda.
It was all appendages on deck for the broadcast team doing the target show of the 57th Beat the Champions at Elk Grove Bowl in mid-December. The broadcast airs at 11 a.m. this morning on NBC Sports Chicago (formerly Comcast SportsNet).
Rash, with 12 career PBA titles, is on track for the Hall of Fame. But his work in half a dozen years of BTC shows a pro with a handy-man bent.
During warm-ups for the taping, Liz Johnson and Francois Lavoie noticed slippage on the approach on Lane 9. Rash, in his coat and tie, came from behind the broadcast desk to help staff on lane prep.
Rash, who lives in suburban Montgomery with his family, first worked on BTC as a third voice on the broadcast with Schmidt and Carmen Salvino. Rash twice set the target scores in the last four years, including last year when he filled in for a snowed-in Ryan Ciminelli.
Asked what role he favors, Rash said, “Always want to bowl, but you have win to do it.’’
Winners of the U.S. Open are invited to set the target score.
Schmidt bowled a Hall of Fame career. But her work over quarter of a century in play-by-play for BTC set its own standard. She worked with color analysts as varied as the flamboyant Salvino (for nearly 20 years), Diandra Asbaty and Rash.
Last year for the taping, she was hobbled by a foot she busted jumping about her Cubs in the ninth inning of the seventh game of the World Series.
“Leg is still not 100 percent, but I started wearing regular shoes a few weeks ago,’’ she said.
Next up for BTC, the charity event sponsored by the Chicagoland Bowling Proprietors Association with the Sun-Times as the media sponsor, is sectionals in February. In the first 56 years, 5,768,200 entries by league bowlers raised $2.856,618.43 for charity.
The top prizes for both the men’s and women’s champion is $7,500.
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