Bowling. A sport of champions, beer, and wonderful male fashion. If you’ve never been an admirer of the sport, perhaps the finest introduction you could ask for is a fellow named Guppy Troup. He got his great name from a youth team named the Guppies in a tournament where all the teams were given fish names. My kind of tournament. Naturally, as a great entertainer young Mr. Troup decided to make the team’s fishy beginnings his own name and has gone by “Guppy” ever since.
The Gup Thrust captured on film.
As far as fish-inspired names go, Guppy Troup is right up there with the very best.
There’s more to like in Ol’ Guppy besides his name. He’s not only one of the more successful pro bowlers of the 20th century, he also has a fashion sense that is unrivaled in the Western world. He was once described as the “gaudiest dresser” on the Pro Tour.
Troup told the St. Petersburg Times last year about the time he went shopping in Kansas City and bought 14 different pairs of trousers of “the wildest colors” he could find. He split the pants right down the middle and sewed them together, creating unquestionably the finest pants in the history of professional bowling.
Guppy’s favorite pair of pants were something he called his “strawberry shortcake number”. I could not find a picture of these surely amazing trousers but I will let your imagination create them in your mind. If they’re anything like what he’s wearing here, they will shoot right into a special display in the Bowling Trousers Hall of Fame.
Guppy is also known for a trademark celebration, naturally known as the “Gup Thrust”. It’s an entertaining movement perhaps best described as a “forward thrusting motion of the hip”, Guppy-style. If you have ever wondered where Bill Murray’s character in the film Kingpin got its inspiration, look no further than Guppy Troup.
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Having bowled with Guppy on tour I can attest to his flashy clothes; but let’s not forget that he was a great bowler too. Sports names always add color, Guppy added color in both name and style. Maybe I should have worn my bow tie when I bowled!
Thanks for taking me down memory ‘lane!’
Have we talked about the hockey player by the name of Larry Goodenough? His nick name was ‘is-he’.
That’s pretty awesome you’ve bowled with him. That may just make you the first person on this blog to have socialized with one of our subjects.
I thought it was pretty cool to know someone that you blogged about too… Keep up the good work!
I will send this off to my dad. He was no pro bowler but his dad owned a small bowling alley. And my dad was on a mens bowling league when he was younger. Thanks
What a hoot of a guy! He seems to really enjoy being the BIG fish in the pond! heeheehee
There are so many fish puns out there when you search for news articles about Guppy. Sometimes it’s just fun to do research for this blog.
Please see http://pawstotalk.net/2012/06/06/bella-and-didi-the-standard-poodles-how-can-we-express-gratitude/
We have given you an award.
Bella and DiDi
Sorta reminds me of my son’s t-ball team. The printer left off an “i” on the uniforms and they were known as the “Gants” even after the mistake was corrected. 😉
Go Gants! That’s great. Goes to show you there’s joy in typos sometimes.
When I was in college in the early 1980s, one day my buddies and I were hanging around the apartment, emptying cans of Budweiser, when someone switched the channel to bowling. There was this guy in the tournament with the unlikely name Guppy Troup, dressed in a crazy outfit. I think he may have been wearing tinted glasses, too. We immediately made him our hero and when he won the event, we streamed out of the apartment, cheering wildly….just as the nice girls next door were arriving home with their visiting mother. She looked impressed.
As far as funny name related memories go, that’s right up there with the best ones. Thanks for the comment Tim!
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