Born in the 70s, first started bowling in around 78/79, but definitely youth leagues in the 80s. The polyester and rubber house balls we had back then were black, but definitely had the weights on them. No house balls of various weight were color coded. I just don't remember seeing any balls back then (read: early to mid 80s) that were under 8 pounds. I was always told that that was the lightest they had, and that was what to start with, so we did.
BL.