He tried one of the solvents (he wouldn't say what, but it was thought to be methyl ethyl ketone)[5] and soaked his hard plastic bowling ball in it overnight.
He then took the ball to a bowling center in Hammond, Indiana that he described as "a tough house" and rolled a 763 three-game series.
By mid-July, it was estimated that 22 of the 24 match play finalists in a Houston, Texas event were softening their bowling balls with chemicals.
[7] The trend McCune had started was perfectly legal at the time, but soon led to new PBA and ABC (now USBC) rules related to altering a bowling ball surface.
However, bowling ball manufacturers took note, and began producing softer surface equipment like the Columbia 300 yellow dot and Brunswick LT-48, which each checked in at 55 to 60 on the hardness scale.
In addition, Eugene McCune's son Kevin (Don's grandson) won the 2023 PBA Players Championship.