For a little over 35 years, the Crossroads Bowling Center has been the local gathering place for professional and recreational bowlers, serving as the venue for everything from national tournaments to weekly bowling leagues to birthday celebrations.
Owned and operated by Beaumont native and US Bowling Congress Hall of Famer Mark Williams, Crossroads is more than just where locals go when they’re bored on a weeknight.
“We had the best of the best in this building,” said then-CEO of Crossroads Caitlyn Johnson, who recently moved from the area. “Wayne Webb bowled here, David Ozio bowled here, Mark Williams still owns it – these are all Hall of Famers I’m talking about, by the way – Pete Weber was here … A lot of Hall of Famers are through these doors went.”
Professional bowling tournaments, televised on ESPN, were held at Crossroads through the mid-1990s, Johnson said.
“We still have a (Professional Bowlers Association) 50 that comes every Thanksgiving weekend — they’re some of the best senior bowlers in this region,” she said.
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The bowling center’s decor reflects its history. Along the back wall are numerous trophy cabinets depicting local bowling history, including but not limited to the United States Bowling Congress Southeast Texas Hall of Fame.
It serves as a sort of library for records of bowling history in Southeast Texas. On a bright January morning, Tricia Williams, co-owner of Johnson and Crossroads – and Williams’ wife – flipped through scrapbooks dating back to the 1960s and 1970s, showcasing the area’s prolific bowling history, particularly women’s bowling.
“Many of these women are already deceased by this point,” Johnson said. “(The Beaumont Women’s League) used to be 40 lanes, full house. They used to take up the entire bowling center – disguised as a bowling pin.”
Before the 1960s and ’70s, bowling was viewed primarily as a man’s sport, Johnson said. But women began to get more involved, making it necessary for the center itself to have its own daycare.
“They would hire someone to be there for the kids while the parents are bowling. Now we have an arcade for that,” she said, laughing.
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Tricia, an avid bowler herself who started bowling when the Crossroads opened and whose two children grew up in the nursery, unexpectedly married into a bowling family. Not only was her mother-in-law married to a Hall of Famer, but so was Lou Williams, who previously served as President of the Beaumont Women’s Bowling Association.
“All of your cities had their own women’s bowling associations — Houston had their own, Beaumont had their own, Port Arthur had their own,” Tricia said. “The Beaumont and Port Arthur (men’s and women’s associations) combined to form Southeast Texas (United States Bowling Congress).”
Although Lou died before Tricia and Mark were married, Tricia recalls stories from Mark’s youth that show his early exposure to bowling.
“My husband told me that he and his brothers all played bowls when he was a kid and lived across from a bowling alley,” she said. “So they went from school to bowling. On Saturdays he led points because they didn’t have automatic screens. He manually kept points for his mother.”
While many of the women who dotted the scrapbook’s worn pages have since died, some are alive and well and still show up weekly at the Crossroads to bowl.
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“One aspect of bowling is that bowling makes you live longer,” Tricia said.
That could be the case for 93-year-old Margaret Holmes, who celebrated her birthday with her league at Crossroads on January 9.
Holmes has been bowling for six decades.
“When I was 33, I had a nice neighbor who told me I was just going to stay home and take care of my kids,” she said. “She wanted to take me bowling so I could have something else to do. I went bowling once and saw old ladies, young ladies, fat ladies, skinny ladies (all) having a wonderful time. And I went home and told my husband I will do that. From then on I did it.
Holmes started bowling in Pasadena before moving to Jasper and then Orange and later settling in Crossroads when it opened in 1987.
“You just bowl and have fun,” she said. “Don’t worry about the score, you bowl and have fun.”
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In her light blue bowling shirt — prominently featuring her sponsor, Buna-based Fausto’s Fried Chicken — Holmes, a founder of the Crossroads’ Golden Hub women’s league who went full steam ahead for her Monday spot, said she hopes that people continue to do bowling.
“Especially ladies,” she added. The friends she made during her 60-year bowling journey have been the best, she said.
“It’s all about friends,” Holmes said. “And in over 60 years, I’ve had some wonderful friends. I had six (sons), (but) I managed to bowl even though I was pregnant.”
While her sons may not have shared her love of bowling, Holmes said they encouraged her to keep doing it. She’s one of the few local bowlers with a “60 Years Old” patch on her shirt, and it’s obvious that she adores the sport.
But Crossroads is also about encouraging young bowlers.
“You have to have your younger group as backup – they’re going to be the future of the sport,” Johnson said.
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New director of youth programs Katie Collier oversees the two youth leagues, which fill 20 lanes on Saturday morning.
“(They start) at the age of four,” she said. “So let’s talk about the bowling ball being bigger than her.”
Collier said her five-year plan is designed to expand the program within local high schools in hopes of securing students on scholarships.
“There’s a lot going on in Houston and other states, but if we can get some local schools with some teams and get them to compete against the Houston kids, that’s going to open up their college opportunities wide because the colleges are going to try to get their bowlers get replaced too,” she said. “Being on a college bowling team will pay for a big chunk of your college.”
Collier said she encourages parents to get their children involved. Interested parents can email [email protected] or simply turn up on Saturday morning at 10am to register.
“I always have the welcome packs ready for the fresh faces, so we’re good,” she said.
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Like everything in society, bowling has changed since Crossroads opened in the late 1980s.
Crossroads began as a 40 lane alley in 1987 but was recently reduced to 32 lanes to make way for the arcade which opened in January 2020.
And unlike other companies that have struggled to return to a “normal” before the pandemic, Johnson says Crossroads is seeing some of its biggest gains.
“We’re doing better than we were before COVID,” she said. “Our leagues have really grown in the past year post COVID which is incredible. Our birthday celebrations triple. We’ve got more people coming into the building and booking their events with us and they’re going really well. We have regular customers with events at this point. We love hosting corporate events – we make every effort and do custom item orders, things like that. They can basically order our entire menu, we prepare it for them, get it. We have turned our children’s room into a party room at this point, which they can now use for their banquets or meetings.”
The alley was closed for seven weeks in 2020 and Johnson said when it reopened there was a line out the door.
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“I guess people wanted out of the house,” she said. “It was just a constant flow in the building. In 2020-21 our leagues hurt quite a bit and now with the 22-23 season they’re bigger than they were in 10 years so it’s really great to see. I think COVID had a little bit of an impact there for a while, but overall it helped us…we definitely did a lot better after COVID.”
The bowling center is working to make the experience for visitors as good as possible, Johnson said.
Adjacent to the arcade, new space-themed murals adorn the walls, painted by Lamar University graduate student Taylor Wells. In addition, the center is working to replace its air conditioning units and has updated its cafe menu. A new bar area opened in December.
Bowling is about – and always has been – about community, an anecdote shared by Johnson, Tricia and Collier.
“No matter where I go in America, I can walk into a bowling alley and have instant friends, instant family,” Collier said. “Kettlers stick together.”
As confirmed by Holmes, bowling is for everyone.
“I mean, not everyone can play baseball,” Johnson said. “Bowling, literally anyone can do it.”
Crossroads is located at 4370 Dowlen Rd. in Beaumont and is open Sunday and Monday from 12pm to 10pm; noon to midnight Tuesday to Thursday; and noon to 1 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
For more information, visit crossroadsbowling.com or call 409-899-2695.
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