The Greater Iowa Bowling Association 2025-26 schedule again includes the 11thFrame.com Open, a pair of Ebonite Classics, and the Iowa Open.

As I have written and said many times, GIBA is run by Joe Engelkes, his wife Rosie and daughter Jennifer Wittenburg. They are among the best, if not the best, tournament operators I’ve seen this side of the PBA, running efficient events, taking no expense fees and putting half of the bracket proceeds back into the prize funds at each event — the only money they take out of a tournament is the other half of the bracket proceeds. They also do a great job getting sponsorship for tournaments, and/or working with centers that do that.

One change is that the entry fee for the two Ebonite Classics will increase from $160 to $170, with half of the increase going to the bowling centers and the other half to the prize fund. 

The season starts with the 11thFrame.com Open Aug. 15-17 at Cherry Lanes in Dubuque, and the Ebonite Fall Classic Sept. 12-14 at Maple Lanes in Waterloo.

Engelkes said he again will apply to have the Iowa Open be a U.S. Open qualifying event.

The GIBA 2 pattern doubles has a new sponsor in 3C Plumbing from Cedar Rapids, with Engelkes crediting Rob Aimers for the addition. That tournament will move to Cedar Rapids Bowling Center.

“The good news is that we have been able to retain all of our other sponsors, and you can view the list of sponsors for each tournament on the schedule,” Engelkes said in his email announcing the schedule. “Ebonite will once again be our bowling equipment sponsor and will continue sponsoring the 11thFrame.com Open, the Ebonite Fall Classic, and the Ebonite Winter Classic.”

“Along with Ebonite, our other season long sponsors will be Brandon Steen/The Steen Team, IAM Bowling as our jersey sponsor with an exciting change, and Kwik Trip/Kwik Star. Supporting these sponsors is critical to our partnership with them so when you use a convenience store please do your best to use Kwik Trip or Kwik Star. 

“I am still finalizing our agreement for this season with IAM Bowling, but I anticipate the winner of each of our tournaments receiving a new IAM Bowling jersey. Once I have the details on how that will work, I will pass them along. As we have had the past couple of seasons, if you go to the IAM Bowling website and order jerseys, you will receive a 25% discount if you use the code GIBA. They keep track of jersey sales using that code so again, it is important for us to support our sponsors.”

The schedule is attached to this story as a PDF.