Business: How to Bowl a Strike

Bowling, which has been regarded by big-city sophisticates as a small-town or suburban sport, invaded Manhattan last week with a bang. The Grand Central Bowl Co. announced it will build a $3,000,000 bowling center at Grand Central Terminal in the airspace over the 42nd Street waiting room.

As expected, the equipment for the new center will be supplied by Chicago's Brunswick Corp. But Brunswick's boss is a man who believes bowling is not everything. Since Benjamin E. ("Ted") Bensinger took over in 1954, he has turned what was a faltering firm producing only bowling and billiard equipment into one of the fastest-growing U.S. companies—with a line of products ranging from hospital beds to motorboats. Sales have risen from $33 million to $275 million last year; earnings from $692,000 to $26.8 million. Sales for 1960 are expected to exceed $350 million. Reflecting the rise, Brunswick's stock has increased in value 27-fold.

Awkward Period. Ted Bensinger, a great-grandson of the founder of the company (formerly called Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co.), was company president and second-in-command to his elder brother Bob, the chairman, when he became worried about Brunswick's almost total dependence on its bowling business. In the early 1950s he pushed through a small diversification program, turning out aircraft components and school furniture. But before he could do more, his _ worst fears came true. American Machine & Foundry Co. invaded the bowling market with its automatic Pinspotter, which eliminated pin boys—and started bowling on its boom. To exploit its beachhead, A.M.F. also brought out a full line of bowling equipment and threatened to force Brunswick out of the market. Ted decided that his brother was not using the right tactics to fight the threat. Says Ted: "I went to him and convinced him that I should take over." After a brief period of "awkwardness," Ted became chief executive officer, and Bob agreed to stay on as chairman.

Ted Bensinger went to work to develop an automatic pin setter of his own. Brunswick had experimented for years with automatic pin setters, but decided they were too expensive to produce—until A.M.F. proved this judgment wrong. So Bensinger organized a crash program, in 18 months put Brunswick's machine on the market.

As the new pin setter caught on, Brunswick's stock began to climb, and Bensinger found it easy to trade the stock for new companies. He took over nine firms, including St. Louis' A. S. Aloe Co., the nation's second largest distributor of laboratory and hospital supplies (first: American Hospital Supply Corp.), MacGregor Sport Products Inc., and Owens Yacht Co., the second biggest U.S. builder of cabin cruisers, behind Chris-Craft. With the new companies, the bowling division's share of the company's total sales has dropped from 75% to about 60% in the past two years. Nor is Bensinger's expansion program complete. He is now studying more than 100 firms for possible acquisition and is busy setting up factories and bowling centers in Europe and Australia.