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Aleta Sill
Aleta Sill (née Rzepecki, born September 9, 1962) is a retired American professional ten-pin bowler and current bowling coach from Dearborn Heights, Michigan. She competed nationally on the Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA) Tour from 1980 through 2001. In her career, the left-handed Sill won 31 titles (second most on the official PWBA list), including six major championships. She was the first female bowler to eclipse $1 million in career earnings. Aleta is a 1996 inductee into both the PWBA Hall of Fame and the USBC Hall of Fame.
For most of her career, Sill was a member of the Ebonite national pro staff.
Aleta says her parents named her after the character Princess Aleta from the Prince Valiant comic strip series.
Aleta began bowling at age 5 when her maternal grandparents, Steve and Adeline Zuke, let her roll a few balls after their league session at Oxford Lanes in Dearborn, Michigan. After seeing her struggle, Steve jokingly told her, "We're not paying for gutter balls; you have to learn to keep it on the lane." Steve promised he'd buy her a ball and shoes if she bowled a score of at least 80. "It didn't take me long to break 100 and fall in love with the game," said Aleta.
She participated regularly in youth leagues, and in 1976, her youth coach Joe Naso took her to watch a professional women's tournament that had come to the Detroit area. From that point on, Aleta was determined to become a professional bowler. Said Aleta in 2015, "I played other sports in school, but bowling was the one thing I always stuck with."
After graduating from Crestwood High School in Dearborn Heights, Aleta joined the PWBA in the summer of 1980, with grandparents Steve and Adeline agreeing to pay her tournament entry fees that season. She entered her first pro tournament in August of that year, the Stroh Light Classic in Rochester, Michigan, and finished 11th. After a heartbreaking second-place finish at the Stardust Classic in 1981 (a total pins event which she lost 9,439–9,435 to Donna Adamek), 19-year old Aleta won the season's next tour stop, the Gallery of Homes Classic in Los Angeles, for her first professional title.
While struggling through a winless 1982 season, Aleta began to question if she should continue a career as a professional bowler. Those questions were put to rest when she won her second title and first major championship at the 1983 WIBC Queens. She won a second title in 1983 at the Dallas-Fort Worth Classic, and was the Tour's leading money winner that season. In between these two 1983 titles, Aleta Rzepecki married David Sill and became known as Aleta Sill. Her career really took off in 1984, when she won five titles, including a major at the Sam's Town LPBT Tournament of Champions, and was voted by her peers as the 1984 Player of the Year. She was also named Bowler of the Year in both 1984 and 1985 by the Bowling Writers Association of America (BWAA). The 1985 season saw her win three titles, including her second WIBC Queens crown.
After she won only one title between 1990 and 1992, Sill's career resurged. She won 13 titles between 1993 and 1998 to reach the 30-title plateau, including two wins in the U.S. Women's Open major (1994 and 1998). The 1998 victory made Sill the first bowler, male or female, to win her sport's triple crown twice (two WIBC Queens titles, two U.S. Open titles and two Sam's Town Invitational titles). The feat was eventually matched on the men's PBA Tour by Pete Weber in 2013. Aleta won the Merit Mixed Doubles Championship three times in four years (1993, 1994 and 1996) with three different partners.
Aleta Sill
Aleta Sill (née Rzepecki, born September 9, 1962) is a retired American professional ten-pin bowler and current bowling coach from Dearborn Heights, Michigan. She competed nationally on the Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA) Tour from 1980 through 2001. In her career, the left-handed Sill won 31 titles (second most on the official PWBA list), including six major championships. She was the first female bowler to eclipse $1 million in career earnings. Aleta is a 1996 inductee into both the PWBA Hall of Fame and the USBC Hall of Fame.
For most of her career, Sill was a member of the Ebonite national pro staff.
Aleta says her parents named her after the character Princess Aleta from the Prince Valiant comic strip series.
Aleta began bowling at age 5 when her maternal grandparents, Steve and Adeline Zuke, let her roll a few balls after their league session at Oxford Lanes in Dearborn, Michigan. After seeing her struggle, Steve jokingly told her, "We're not paying for gutter balls; you have to learn to keep it on the lane." Steve promised he'd buy her a ball and shoes if she bowled a score of at least 80. "It didn't take me long to break 100 and fall in love with the game," said Aleta.
She participated regularly in youth leagues, and in 1976, her youth coach Joe Naso took her to watch a professional women's tournament that had come to the Detroit area. From that point on, Aleta was determined to become a professional bowler. Said Aleta in 2015, "I played other sports in school, but bowling was the one thing I always stuck with."
After graduating from Crestwood High School in Dearborn Heights, Aleta joined the PWBA in the summer of 1980, with grandparents Steve and Adeline agreeing to pay her tournament entry fees that season. She entered her first pro tournament in August of that year, the Stroh Light Classic in Rochester, Michigan, and finished 11th. After a heartbreaking second-place finish at the Stardust Classic in 1981 (a total pins event which she lost 9,439–9,435 to Donna Adamek), 19-year old Aleta won the season's next tour stop, the Gallery of Homes Classic in Los Angeles, for her first professional title.
While struggling through a winless 1982 season, Aleta began to question if she should continue a career as a professional bowler. Those questions were put to rest when she won her second title and first major championship at the 1983 WIBC Queens. She won a second title in 1983 at the Dallas-Fort Worth Classic, and was the Tour's leading money winner that season. In between these two 1983 titles, Aleta Rzepecki married David Sill and became known as Aleta Sill. Her career really took off in 1984, when she won five titles, including a major at the Sam's Town LPBT Tournament of Champions, and was voted by her peers as the 1984 Player of the Year. She was also named Bowler of the Year in both 1984 and 1985 by the Bowling Writers Association of America (BWAA). The 1985 season saw her win three titles, including her second WIBC Queens crown.
After she won only one title between 1990 and 1992, Sill's career resurged. She won 13 titles between 1993 and 1998 to reach the 30-title plateau, including two wins in the U.S. Women's Open major (1994 and 1998). The 1998 victory made Sill the first bowler, male or female, to win her sport's triple crown twice (two WIBC Queens titles, two U.S. Open titles and two Sam's Town Invitational titles). The feat was eventually matched on the men's PBA Tour by Pete Weber in 2013. Aleta won the Merit Mixed Doubles Championship three times in four years (1993, 1994 and 1996) with three different partners.