Meet the Founders
James Geiger, Founder
It was July 2011 - Goodie and I were at a Sassy But Classy Ladies (SBCL) bowling tournament in Fredericksburg, VA. As we were sitting there supporting the ladies and their bowling club, that's when the idea hit me. I turned to Goodie and said, "hey man, I think we could do this too." The decision to start a men's bowling club of our own was born.
Lawrence "Goodie" Goodwin, Co-Founder
When Geiger shared the idea while we were in Fredericksburg that day, I was immediately on board. We talked a lot about what we needed to do, how to get started, and planned to talk more about it when we returned to Maryland. A few days later we had a meeting with additional gentleman who were also interested. This included Geiger, myself, Alvin Harris, Willie Freeman, Frank Spain, and Vernon Miles. During this meeting, we decided who would do what. Since the idea was birthed with Geiger, it was a unanimous decision for Geiger to not only be the Founder, but to be President as well. Vice President was Willie Freeman, Secretary was Alvin Haris, Frank Spain volunteered to be the Sargeant at Arms, Vernon was our "Go-To Guy" for uniforms and things of that nature, and since no one else wanted to do it, I took on the responsibility of being Treasurer. Once the officers were established, we needed a name. We bounced ideas off of each other and ultimately decided that since we were in the Metropolitan area, and wanted to be distinguished, it was decided that the name Metropolitan Gents was the name that represented us best. In January of 2012, Goodie, Alvin, and I went to a black-owned bank, Industrial Bank, to open an account in our Club's name.
Alvin Harris, Co-Founder
After our Club's name and officers were determined, there were several conversations and meetings that transpired. In the beginning, there weren't too many tournaments. Our primary focus at the time was on recruiting. Since most of the Gents bowled Monday nights at AMF Marlow, we used the meeting room the bowling center had at the time to conduct our meetings. Our first meeting included approximately 9-10 people, our next meeting was about 19 people, and as time went on our attendance numbers continued to grow. Victor Pringle became our first Tournament Coordinator, and our very first tournament as a bowling club was the GWBS Tournament.