"What we did was play a lot of touch football on the field using rolled newspapers and tie them together to make a football," he said of his early start. "I was one of the younger kids in the area, so I was always playing, whether it was football, baseball or basketball, with guys who were several years older than me. That was a big help, because I was used to playing with guys who were bigger and stronger.
"There was a softball team, Mick's Cab, that played games at Brandywine, and I was the batboy. When they broke a bat, they put a nail in it and gave it to me, so I thought I was rich with all these bats."
Through the years there were many who thought Shiner's future would lie in baseball, he admitted.
"Yeah, a lot of people thought I had a better shot at a baseball career than in football, including Frank Kuhn, who was my football coach at Harding and high school baseball coach along with Harry Matala. To this day, Frank still says I was better at baseball.
"One of the reasons I went with football was because in minor league baseball you made about $50 a month and traveled in old buses. Match that against a scholarship to Maryland University to play football, and of course go to a class every now and then."
He continued, "I probably was a better baseball player than football player in high school, but when I got to Maryland in order to compete with the guys they had, I had to get a lot better. Al Davis, who was the backfield coach for San Diego at the time, told me I could play in the NFL, and I wondered what he was talking about, and it wasn't until my senior year I realized I could end up in the NFL.
"I couldn't play baseball at Maryland because of football's spring practice. Unless you had a signed legal document saying you were allowed to play both, it just didn't happen."
Obviously, there were many highlights in his high school, collegiate and pro career, and he mentioned the following two in particular.
"One of the highlights for me at Maryland was 1961 when we beat Penn State 21-17 for the only win in the series. I had played some before that game, but that was my first start. We had seven offensive starters that ended up playing in the NFL for a total of more than 50 years. Penn State had just as many, if not more, who played in the pros. There were a lot of very good football players on the field that day. Four of our five starting linemen played in the NFL, plus we had Gary Collins and Tom Brown as receivers.
As to the best of his six NFL stops, the 70-year old Shiner laughed and immediately replied, "The most fun was with Atlanta because the people in the South live for football. If you played for the Falcons, you were it! Norm Van Brocklin was the coach, not the easiest guy to play for, but I learned a lot from him.
"I got a lot of starting time with Pittsburgh, then my second year I was hurt and they were 1-13, but I knew with the personnel it was a team that would get better. I was traded to the N.Y. Giants and later joked that being 1-13 was the best thing that happened because the Steelers drafted .
"Years ago the clubs had a county league with the Elks, Eagles, Orioles, Red Men, Lincoln Republican and Myerstown Goodwill all had lanes. I think the only places going now are the Eagles, Orioles and St. Gertrude's. I rolled at all of those places at some time. The clubs were the harder places to score in, so guys starting going to the public places because you could score higher."
He continued, "Every place was different because it depended how they oiled the lanes, and maintained them. If they took care and had a real good line on the lanes it was a lot easier to score on. If they broke down too quick, the ball would hook too much. Then you had trouble."
Stoudt was by no means the only local bowler who was around who put up good numbers in those days. There were Clarence "Noot" Marks, who is 78 and like Stoudt still bowls, Dick "Daddy" Miller, "Boop" Leahy, Mike Bruder, Jim Kearny and By Robertson.
"Other than the county tournaments, where we got cash if you were on a winning team, you got a trophy for a win, and at some time I think I had about 130 or so sitting around collecting dust," Marvin said with a laugh.
Right now, Bud is down to bowling once a week, but when they have 55-and-over tournaments he goes and hasn't really slowed down yet. "At Berks Lanes in Shillington I'm averaging 218. Back in the day I'd average between 225 and 232. As of now I have 21 300 games, with the biggest win was when I went to London in 1975 and won the FIQ World Championship.
"The only thing now as I get older my knees and back get sore, but it goes away, and this year will be my 54th at the ABC tourney in Reno, Nev." When questioned about how equipment in the game has changed and why there seems to be so many 300 games, he quickly replied, "We used to get a 300 once or twice a year. Now they get one every week. The pins used to be all one solid piece, but now they're laminated in pieces and I think are top heavy, so when you hit them they fall over easier. That's part of why there are more 300 games.
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