It became somewhat of a running gag about how Schenkel was absent during some of the memorable moments of the series. He was not in the booth for the PBA's first-ever televised 300 game, rolled by Jack Biondolillo at the 1967 "Tournament of Champions", due to a broadcast union strike. He was out on assignment covering other events for the network during each of the next two televised 300 games (Johnny Guenther in 1969 and Jim Stefanich 1974) and he also missed the first televised 7–10 split conversion as done by Mark Roth in 1980. Some even considered it to be a "curse" that if Schenkel was covering bowling, the bowlers would not throw a perfect game. This appeared to have some merit to it when Don Johnson rolled a memorable 299 in the 1970 "Tournament of Champions". He needed a strike on his final ball, but left a 10-pin. The curse was finally broken in 1987; with both Schenkel and Burton in the broadcast booth, Pete McCordic rolled a 300 game against Wayne Webb. Immediately after the final strike, Schenkel yelled, "We have it! We have it!"