Breakthrough for the Kiddie Korps at Akron
Kim Chapin
April 14, 1969
Oldtimers have been doing surprisingly well on the PBA tour, but in the Firestone tournament, the sport's biggest and richest event, 23-year-old Jim Godman headed a lucrative charge by the "straight ball" generation
Godman has had a strange career in the PBA. He was its Rookie of the Year in 1965, but nearly had to quit the tour last summer because he was about to go broke. "I was down to my last $1,000," he said, "enough for four tournaments. I didn't win anything in the first three, just enough in the fourth to keep me going." Then he got hot and wound up winning $21,125 during the year.
Last week's paycheck solves any immediate financial problems, and at 23 his career is really just beginning. The Zahns, Stefaniches and Johnsons have their best years ahead, and all the old guardsmen can do is sit back and wonder why they were born too soon.