Hello all! News and information from our last several tournaments is given below. I hope to see you at one of the great tournaments in the North American Heartland region in 2026!
Happy upcoming holidays to all,
Bill Huepenbecker, NAH Regional Directo
Cleveland GIFT
The 35th edition of Cleveland’s GLBT Invitational Fellowship Tournament (GIFT), “The Love Boat!”, was held the weekend of June 13 – 15, 2025. GIFT 2025 was again sponsored by Radical and Bowler’s Mart as well as a local Cleveland Business Group. Our host hotel, Wyndham-Independence, and AMF Brookgate Lanes were the venues for the weekend. The GIFT 2025 Committee welcomed 184 bowlers from 88 cities across 17 states and Canada to the North Coast to participate in what attendees have described as one of the most well executed tournaments on the IGBO circuit. We again held Friday registration at the host bowling center along with a 9-pin No-tap event that saw 59 participants competing for a piece of the $543 prize fund.
As a result of the tremendous fundraising efforts of the GIFT Committee throughout the year, the base tournament prize fund was supplemented by $10,256, for a total of $16,512 in prize money. This equates to $89.74 in prize funds per bowler… not bad for a $125 entry fee! Prize fund checks were mailed to 111 different bowlers, representing 60% of all registered entrants.
An additional $31,369 was also paid out for other optional events, including Optional Scratch, Scratch Masters, Cash Raffles, Brackets, Mystery Score, Seniors Division, Dark Horse Doubles, Strike Pot, and Strike Ball, bringing the grand total of money paid out over the weekend to $47,881.
As has been a GIFT tradition since 1986, cash donations were made to several deserving Northeast Ohio organizations. This year, a group of Cleveland Business sponsors donated $1,050 to be donated to three designated organizations. The LGBT Center of Greater Cleveland, CANAPI (Community AIDS Network/Akron Pride Initiative) and Near West Theater (Drag Story Hour) each received $350 to support their essential work throughout Northeast Ohio. An additional $1,050 was designated to be allocated to our charities next year. A $350 donation was also given to Pride in the CLE, sourced by $1 from every Cruise passenger ticket. The GIFT cumulative donation total now stands at over $62,900.
The 35th Annual GIFT Cruise embarked on Saturday evening. Originally envisioned as “something for the bowlers to do on Saturday night,” this event has taken on a life of its own! A beautiful evening had almost 400 folks treated to a 2½ hour excursion on the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie aboard the spacious, well-appointed Goodtime III Cruise Ship while dancing, socializing and enjoying spectacular views of the ever-changing Cleveland skyline.
The Awards Banquet was held in The Wyndham Hotel Ballroom on Sunday evening. After being welcomed by Co-Directors Eric Strong and Jim Hassel the attendees enjoyed a delicious buffet dinner and dessert. In commemoration of our 35th anniversary, the program portion of the Banquet included an entertaining walk down memory lane presented by longtime GIFT Committee member Ed Progar who summarized our rich history and introduced the many former GIFT directors in attendance. Bill Huepenbecker, our IGBO regional director, and GIFT committee member, reported on the current IGBO news and upcoming events, along with presenting a $350 check from IGBO to the Cleveland GIFT charities in recognition of the 35th tournament. The GIFT Committee was thoroughly surprised to receive a donation of $3.500 from Captain Rick Fryan of our cruise ship, Goodtime III, in recognition of our 35-year partnership.
Cleveland GIFT always occurs during the second full weekend in June and has become one of the premier tournaments on the IGBO circuit. Plans are already under way for the 36th edition of Cleveland GIFT, which will be held the weekend of June 12 – 14, 2026, under the co-direction of Eric Strong and Jim Hassel. Additional information can be found on the tournament website www.clevelandgift.org. Remember to follow us on Facebook as well!
Chi-Town Classic
This year the Chi-Town Classic was proud to re-join the IGBO family of tournaments after 4 years off. This was however our 30th year of IGBO participation. After selling out in 11 days, we welcomed 152 bowlers from 20 states, paid out 63% of our bowlers, and offered a 1:4 ratio on the Team, Doubles, and Singles Events. We paid out 92% of the entry fees back directly to prize funds. We also offered a wide range of side pots to further enhance your money-making potential. This year our charities that benefited from your gracious contributions included Brave Space Alliance and AIDS Foundation Chicago. These local Chicago charities represent our commitment and creed we have set out when we resurrected our event, “All are Welcome.”
Next year, we are looking to improve and make our tournament one of the premier events in the United States. When it’s time to get back to bowling after being off in the summer, it will be time to visit us in Chicago at the annual Chi-Town Classic. Our board is working hard to make sure we are “Bigger and Better for Your Bowling Pleasure.” Join us next September 10th to 13th 2026 in the beautiful city of Chicago.
Motown Invitational Classic
This year, the Motown Invitational Classic celebrated its 40th anniversary. We welcomed 176 bowlers from throughout the United States and Canada for what was a truly memorable weekend. With help from our Storm, IGBO, and many other sponsors, we were able to pay out over $41,000.00 in prizes. We also raised over $5,000 throughout the year for our charities, Saving Destiny Animal Rescue, Covenant House of Michigan, and the American Legion Christmas Giving Tree program. This included a $400 donation from IGBO in recognition of our 40th tournament, with the check being presented by IGBO President, Rob Silliman.
The entire committee thanks all those who attended or supported our 40th anniversary, and especially those who have been involved over the last four decades. Looking forward to next year, we welcome you back to Detroit for the 41st MIC tournament, October 2nd-4th, 2026. The committee has already begun planning for next year, and we are excited to see what the next 40 years will bring. Follow our Facebook and check our website frequently for updates and fundraising events. We wish our entire IGBO family a happy holiday season, and good luck on the lanes.
CINTIT
CINTIT celebrated our 38th annual event this Halloween weekend. It was our second sellout in a row where we hosted 120 bowlers from across the United States. We thank our sponsors Storm, IGBO, and several local bars and restaurants. CINTIT was able to provide $750 donations to our 2 charities, Caracole and Outreels Cincinnati. In addition, CINTIT donated $500 to the Greater Cincinnati USBC in memory of our host bowling center manager, Sandy Cummins, who passed away unexpectedly this year to establish a youth bowling scholarship in her memory and in recognition of her tireless dedication to youth bowling in the Tri-State area. Since CINTIT 2025 was just completed, we are unable to provide full financial details as audits are actively occurring, but we are proud that our Rainbow Raffle ticket sales were our highest ever! Your CINTIT 2026 committee is already hard at work to make our October 30-November 1, 2026 event even better. Please remember to check out our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064603246985) and website (http://www.cintit.org) for all the details of our 39th CINTIT.
