Love him or hate him, there’s no denying Nick Hoagland deserves the 2024 Jim Jaryszak Laneman Award
JEFF RICHGELS | Posted: Tuesday, February 4, 2025 4:00 pm
Nick Hoagland, left, and USBC Vice President Mike Cannington, right. Photo by USBC.
I think it’s fair to say Nick Hoagland is the most polarizing lane man in bowling history. That’s natural when you push the boundaries in lane pattern design.
Just look at all the hubbub over pattern 4 at the 2025 U.S. Open, which as I predicted turned out to be overblown.
Nick got his start doing lanes for the Midwest PBA and I was Player of the Year in his first year as laneman in 1999. We even came up with a nickname for his work: NOTG for Nick on the Gutter, meaning hang...