Mike Ingraham

Tacoma News Tribune bowling writer Mike Ingraham, left, chats with Earl Anthony following Anthony's first Firestone Tournament of Champions victory, in 1974, at Riviera Lanes in Akron, Ohio.

Media members, including Mike Ingraham of the Tacoma News Tribune, (back center) work on their stories in the pressroom following a session of the Firestone Tournaments of Champions bowling event at Riviera Lanes in Akron, Ohio.

Mike Ingraham enjoyed a 40-year career in the newspaper industry, including 24 years with daily newspapers and 16 more as the co-owner, editor and publisher of the Western Gambling Journal.

Mike was born on April 10, 1940 in Centralia and graduated from Centralia High School, where he played baseball, in 1958. He went on to attend both Centralia College and Central Washington University before settling into the journalism field.

Mike worked at the Tacoma News Tribune for more than 20 years, covering a variety of sports at different levels - preps for several years and Pacific Lutheran University football and basketball. For three years he covered the Tacoma Tigers of the Pacific Coast League, and he also worked the desk as a copy editor and page editor for 15 years.

Mike truly made his mark, however, as the bowling writer for the News Tribune. Mike covered hundreds of tournaments, including 10 Firestone Tournament of Champions on the professional bowling tour. He reported on a U.S. Open Championship, a Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) national doubles championship and more than 20 PBA tournaments in Seattle, Portland and Reno. On the local level, he covered 20 Tacoma Masters and 20 Tacoma-Seattle Inter-City bowling matches as a Tacoma News Tribune reporter.

It should not be surprising that, during the 1970s, Mike Ingraham was recognized by the PBA as writing more about professional bowling, on a daily basis, than any other sports writer in the country.

His knowledge of and experience in the sport led him to a role as a voter for both the Professional Bowlers Association Hall of Fame and the American Bowling Congress Hall of Fame. He has been inducted into the Greater Tacoma Bowling Association Hall of Fame and the Northwest Bowlers Association Hall of Fame.

During his free time, Mike averaged in the 170s in 25 years of bowling.