Bald will be beautiful for bowlers

[Tyler]

Bald will be beautiful for bowlers
By John Leptich, Tribune
September 26, 2006
Here’s the skinny about a clean-cut event that anyone who takes a shine to helping needy kids should head to.
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Saturday, bald will be beautiful as Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Arizona
holds its inaugural Bald Guys Bowling Tournament from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Frontier Lanes AMF Bowling Center, 7300 E. Thomas Road in Scottsdale.

View the original article at http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=75069

I probably won’t attend the hair-raising fun, although I qualify. My hairlessness is temporary (as is my photo accompanying this installment of Our Scottsdale), the result of chemotherapy before my bone marrow transplant.

The event idea comes from the shiny noggin of Brian Hassett, the group’s president and a five-year melanoma survivor who also lost his hair during cancer treatment. Hassett and his daughter, Laura, 19, were talking about new ways to put a spin on Big Brothers Big Sisters’ fundraising events and heard “Take the Skinheads Bowling,” a song by Camper Van Beethoven.

“One thing led to another,” Brian Hassett said. “The more we talked ideas, the crazier it got. We’ve had bowling tournaments for kids for a long time and they’ve always been good for us. But, you do the same thing year after year and it gets a little tiring. We have a need for more men to be big brothers to many of the young boys on our list, so I thought this might help bring them in. It’s a little wacky and it just might get people off the couch.”

Anyone who is bald, balding or wants to be bald can attend the event. Sport Clips will be on hand to shave willing individuals’ heads and bald wigs will be provided for those who don’t want to shed their locks. Women are encouraged to wear their hair as large as possible to complement the men.

Prizes will be awarded to the top three five-member teams with the best overall two-game series. No handicaps will be used. Prizes will also go to winners of a bald celebrity look-alike contest. Names of the celebrities will be disclosed at the event.

“Being bald has become more fashionable,” Hassett said. “Besides haircuts, we have Head Blade (a popular head-shaving razor manufacturer) and a skin-care company on board. I’m milking this for all it’s worth.”

It’s worth plenty for a children’s charity offering a mentorship program to youth ages 6 to 15.

The nonprofit organization, recruits, trains and supervises volunteers who offer their time and guidance to children seeking a positive role model.

Hassett hopes to pack the place and, if an initial sign-up of 15 teams is any indication, he should be able to do so. Yet, there’s one wish Hassett probably won’t get.

“Larry Fitzgerald recently became a Big Brother,” Hassett said of the Arizona Cardinals’ dreadlocked receiver. “I’m trying to convince him to shave his head,” Hassett said with a chuckle. “I’ve been working on him but I don’t think it’s gonna happen.”

Prices for the tournament are $100 for a bald individual, $500 bald team of five, $1,000 bald lane sponsor, $1,700 extended forehead sponsor, $2,000 chrome dome sponsor and $3,000 head honcho sponsor.

For information or to register, call (602) 393-4133 or visit
www.baldguysbowling.com.




Brian Hassett, president of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Arizona, will host the inaugural Bald Guys Bowling Tournament at the Frontier AMF Bowling Center in Scottsdale.

Paul O'Neill Tribune