Tuesday rolls around: Contest week for league bowlers in 58th Beat the Champions

When Tuesday rolls around at Wood Dale Bowl, there will be the 18-team Tuesday Trios, a mixed league. There’s some extra umph for league bowlers this week, especially there.

Contest week for league bowlers began Sunday and runs through Saturday in the 58th Beat the Champions.

In March, Vicki Hobscheid became the first bowler, man or woman, to double up as champion of BTC. She advanced from the Wood Dale Bowl Mixed, which she is in again this year, on Wednesdays.

“I think it convinced the league to get in again,” proprietor Mike Malone said.

Leagues with 100-percent entry and 24 or more bowlers advance at least one bowler to sectionals of BTC, the Chicagoland Bowling Proprietors Association’s charity event. The Sun-Times is the media sponsor for BTC.

On Christmas, the target broadcast, which will be recorded with Rhino Page and Liz Kuhlkin at Rolling Lanes in Countryside, airs on NBC Sports Chicago.

Then comes sectionals in February and the finals in March, when both the men’s and women’s champions earn $7,500. The real big numbers are the more than $2.8 million raised for charity in BTC’s first 57 years by nearly 6 million entries.