FIVE years ago, Chris Peters was a former programmer who had made a fortune from his Microsoft stock options. Then he learned that the Professional Bowlers Association was for sale.

Undeterred by his lack of experience in sports, broadcasting or any other directly relevant business, he recruited some friends as investors and bought the league. "I was not very athletic" as a child, Mr. Peters said by way of explaining his new career, "but I always loved bowling with my father."

Stephanie DeVaan cashed out of Microsoft in 1995, after five years of marketing office software. Just 34 at the time, she went on to spend several years volunteering at charitable institutions. But by 2002, she was itching to do more, so she put her wealth to work in support of abortion rights and helped to found a political action committee called Washington Women for Choice.

Mr. Peters and Ms. DeVaan, who both live in the Seattle area, are members of one of the most remarkable groups of workers in the history of American capitalism. They were young, hard-working employees who hit an astounding jackpot by being at the right company - in their cases, Microsoft - at the right time.

From the 1986 to 1996, Microsoft's stock soared more than a hundredfold as the company's Windows operating system and Office applications dominated the PC industry. That explosive climb made millionaires of employees who had accepted options as a substantial part of their compensation for 60-hour workweeks fueled by a diet of Twinkies, Coca-Cola and marshmallow Peeps. The sudden riches led many to refer to themselves as "lottery winners."

"While the exact number is not known, it is reasonable to assume that there were approximately 10,000 Microsoft millionaires created by the year 2000," said Richard S. Conway Jr., a Seattle economist whom Microsoft hired to study its impact on Washington State. "The wealth that has come to this area is staggering."

Many employees spent their money immediately, in a variety of ways. If the stock price hit a new high, for example, five new sports cars might drive into Microsoft's parking lot in Redmond, Wash., the next day. Big-screen video projection theaters and indoor pools built to resemble the rocky caves of Hawaii appeared in employees' homes. One employee treated 30 family members to a weeklong vacation at a five-star resort. Another endowed a professorship in his name at Oxford University.

Some left Microsoft for new ventures on their own, and brought with them the creativity and drive that fueled Microsoft's early growth. Now, many of them are still only in their 40's, and they are turning up in the worlds of sports, politics, business and philanthropy, in Seattle and elsewhere.

As owner of the bowling association, Mr. Peters realized that he knew little about running a sports league, so he hired a team of former Nike executives who capped the number of players in order to increase head-to-head competition, create rivalries and excite fans. They added a trick-shot segment and opened matches to women.

Five years after Mr. Peters and his partners, all friends he met at Microsoft, bought the association for an undisclosed sum (estimated at $5 million), it is on track to become profitable next year. Revenue has more than doubled over that span, and the number of 18- to 34-year-olds watching the tour's events on television has increased 80 percent. Corporate sponsors, which did not exist when they bought the tour, now number 19, and include Denny's, Pepsi and Motel 6.

"I love bowling. I wanted to save bowling," Mr. Peters said. "The only way to do that was to make it profitable." Continue At Source