Therm Gibson won $75,000 in about 20 minutes on Jackpot Bowling—more than Mickey Mantle’s documented 1961 contract. Six strikes bought a baseball-sized payday.
On January 2, 1961, Detroit bowler Therm Gibson stepped onto NBC’s Jackpot Bowling and rolled six consecutive strikes for $75,000. Milton Berle was hosting, Chick Hearn was calling the action, and a bowling lane had become the stage for a payday usually associated with an entire professional sports season. Mickey Mantle was a New York Yankees superstar. Gibson was an accomplished bowler whose name never carried the same national recognition. Yet the bowler’s single television jackpot exceeded th
Full documentary: youtu.be/ZIqUbqzGAaU