KENNA'S WEB GENEALOGY
Welcome to the genealogy blog of Kenna, Averett, Willette and More
The Bowling Encyclopedia, Chigago, Illinois, 1904
The following text is taken from the book "The Western Bowlers' Journal - Bowling Encyclopedia - A History of Bowling", edited by John G. Hemmer and W. J. Kenna.
Biography of W. J. Kenna, Page 6
William J. Kenna achieved a national prominence in the bowling game within six months of the day that he first learned the difference between a strike and a spare. In other words, less than half a year after he had begun to bowl, he won the right to be the Chicago representative on the famous All Star team which was sent out in the winter of 1899-1900 by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co. That distinction he earned in competition with the best local bowlers of that time, including George Bangart and others whose fame has grown unto present day. The title of Chicago City Champion went to the victor in that contest, and he was the first to bear the coveted title.Mr. Kenna was born in Little Falls, N. Y., April 16, 1867. He trained himself for a business career and equipped as an expert stenographer, went to New York as a youth to take up work in that line. He was successively employed there on the New York Herald and Sun, and with the banking house of Spencer Trask & Co. Later he became private secretary to John Brisben Walker, editor and owner of the Cosmopolitan Magazine, which position he retained until he came to Chicago in 1894 as buyer for the Griffin Car Wheel Co., and his fortunes have been cast since then with the city.
When a young man in New York, Mr. Kenna, naturally a lover of healthful athletic sport, took up the game of roller-polo, and came to be recognized as one of the most expert followers of that game in the world. For three years he played as a professional on various teams in the New York State league and at length refused a splendid salary at the game to apply himself more thoroughly to his business duties.
It was not until several years after he came to Chicago, or in the spring of 1899, that he took up bowling, and he became an enthusiast from the start. His first lessons in the game were learned at the alleys then conducted at Sacramento avenue and Lake street by Fred Holland. The next fall he was the prime mover with Holland in reorganizing the West Chicago league, and that same season found him accredited to the All-Stars as the premier ten-pin bowler of Chicago.
Upon his return he resumed play in the West Chicago league and won the championship of the league for that season. About this time Mr. Kenna was induced to take a business interest in the rapidly advancing game, and he installed the big bowling establishment at West Madison and Robey (ed. renamed Damen Ave.) streets, the leading center of the game in that division of the city, which he conducted for more than two years. In the meantime he kept up active play and has bowled four straight seasons with the Grands in the West Chicago league, and is now in his second season with the Standards, of the Chicago league.
Mr. Kenna's strongest point in bowling is unquestionably his special ability under pressure, and he is acknowledged to be one of the greatest money bowlers of the world. He has figured in more great individual contests than any other local bowler, and has won his full share of honors.
One of his most notable bowling triumphs was his victory over Graf at the time of the national tournament in Indianapolis in February, 1903. Graf had challenged Percy Hills to a match for $1,000 a side. The match was not made, and Kenna engaged the Indianapolis challenger for a smaller purse and defeated him. Kenna's play in this contest was described by the daily press as the finest exhibition of bowling ever seen in that city - and that on top of the national tournament.
Mr. Kenna is one of the men who bring to the bowling game an enthusiastic and intelligent interest in its affairs, and has been active and prominent in the councils of the governing bodies since first he took up the game. Appreciating that the continued popularity of any branch of athletics depends chiefly upon the men and the rules by which it is governed, he has given attention and study to bowling politics, has been the author of more than one rule of value, and an intelligent and eloquent supporter of others which he has helped to enact into the statutes of the game.
Mr. Kenna is co-editor of the "Bowling Encyclopedia".