The man behind the Professional Bowlers Association encountered the man behind the counter.

Chris Peters stopped by Lava Lanes to bowl and say hello.

He asked for owner Ric Donnelly.

The counter attendant asked Peters who he was.

Peters identified himself as being with the PBA.

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He was then asked what he did with the PBA.

"I own it," he answered.

Hence, his first visit to the center, which had recently become a tour stop and now is the most popular place to go among players and staff.

"I just came in to bowl," laughs Peters, "because it’s a great bowling center, one of the best in the country. I thought I’d say ‘Hi.’ "

Peters, who gained fame and fortune while working 18 years at Microsoft, stays mostly behind the scenes. But when the tour stops here, he’s usually on hand because his father, Jerry, an avid bowler, has lived in Ashland for nearly a decade and enjoys going to the tournament.

This year was particularly special, as brothers Chris and Jim joined their father in a pro-am on Saturday, then sat front and center Sunday and watched Mike Wolfe win his first championship.

It was because of his father that Chris Peters ultimately latched onto the PBA.

"He was a big bowler in the ’50s," said Chris Peters. "I grew up looking at all his bowling trophies."

The family lived in Akron, Ohio, until the early 1970s, then moved to Beaverton because the Portland area seemed like a good place to raise kids.

Chris Peters attended the University of Washington, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering, then went to work for Microsoft.

He was the 105th employee when he began, and there were some 30,000 when he left.

Peters rose from being a junior programmer to vice president of Microsoft Office development. He helped develop a variety of early products like MS-DOS 2.0, Windows 1.0 and Word 1.0. He then led the Excel development team for five years.

When he left, he co-founded Ignition Corp., a holding company designed to fund, mentor and build wireless Internet start-up companies.

None of this, of course, has anything to do with bowling, and neither did Peters.

"When I left Microsoft, I was looking for a sport to learn," he said. "A lot of my friends were learning golf, but my dad’s kind of a free spirit, and I guess I inherited that from him. If everyone else was learning golf, I did not want to do that."

Then he remembered all those trophies and his dad’s affection for bowling.

"It seems so general, so real," said Chris Peters.

But, he added, it’s not easy picking up a sport at age 40, no matter how much you read up on it, as his Calcutta teammates from Saturday night would attest.

Still, his interest had been piqued, and when Peters read that the PBA was in financial trouble, he called and offered his consulting services.

"I did learn some things while working at Microsoft," he said.

After PBA founder Eddie Elias died, Peters headed a group that bought the organization. He wouldn’t divulge the figure — never has — but allowed that the purchase price has been widely reported to be $5 million.

"Obviously, we were taking on a great burden," he said. "Not what it cost to buy it, but what it would cost to keep it going."

Peters had a heavy hand in the operation for the first year or so, but with the talents of President and CEO Steve Miller and Commissioner Fred Schreyer, he said, he’s backed off.

"They know so much more about running sports," said Peters. "I’m just a computer programmer."

There were sweeping changes, among them: a set season with two halves, dramatically increased prize funds, an all-exempt field and a revamped schedule that dropped some venues and added others.

The changes were not unlike those any sports league might make, said Peters. The PBA just did it in a very small time frame.

The man who set out to save the PBA appears to be well on his way, but he cautions against such terminology.

"The changes were made to get it to be profitable," he said, "and it doesn’t count as being ‘saved’ until it makes a profit. But we’re very close to being profitable, so I’m very pleased, very hopeful."

Whether the PBA will be on par with, say, the PGA remains to be seen, but Peters said that’s the kind of growth and excitement he’d like to see his tour experience.

"We just need to get more CEOs who like to bowl," he said. "They can come up with all sorts of arithmetic to get to golf with Tiger Woods."

He was heartened by the excitement he saw at this week’s stop, and suggests that even though Medford is in a "weird geographical" place, given that bowling’s epicenter is the Great Lakes area, there’s no reason the tour shouldn’t continue to come here.

After initially signing a three-year deal, Lava Lanes and the PBA are operating on a year-to-year basis.

Next year’s schedule will be made out in the spring, said Schreyer.

"Everyone wants it to happen," said Peters of the tour continuing to come here. "If it were a crummy center and the people were not nice, that’d be one thing. But all the positives are here, and they’re here in spades."

Which means Peters might be visiting the center again.

Reach sports editor Tim Trower at 776-4479, or e-mail ttrower@mailtribune.com