I still don't know how I happened to stumble onto this website, I wasn't looking for it, and hadn't thought about the old days for many years, but it sure brought back some memories. I have an All-Star Lanes story for you. I mentioned we had some great character names down there: Pyscho Dave, Lenny the Loser, Checkbook Al, etc. We had one guy down there - Mike Bowler. Now the thing is that this was actually his real name! We didn't believe him, until he finally showed us his driver's license. Michael Bowler. Unbelievable. The guy was an incredibly terrific shooter, with one of the smoothest deliveries I have ever seen. He could easily have gone on the tour, but he would never, ever bowl action. Not for a penny. He was just a Citizen who liked to bowl. He would come down two or three nights a week, just bowl six or eight games all by himself, and average in the 230s. Then he would quietly pack up his ball and go home. It was ridiculous. This guy was one of the best bowlers I have ever seen, and all he wanted to do was have some fun bowling. Well one night some guys came down from some house and we were all sitting around. Mike Bowler's name came up because he was there that night. They didn't believe it was his real name. We insisted it was, and we said what's more he can live up to it. Well some trash talk started, and finally we challenged them. Mike was just getting ready to bowl anyway, so he agreed to bowl, because he wasn't putting up a penny, and he didn't care who he bowled. As far as he was concerned he was still just bowling for the fun of it. He basically said something to the effect that "I'm just bowling here, if you guys want to bet, go ahead." So they put up their best guy against Mike for a three game set. We sent in a bundle laughing our heads off, because we knew what Mike could do, and furthermore there was no pressure on him. He couldn't have cared less - as he said, he was just bowling to see how good he could do. He was basically bowling against himself. Well. Mike shoots an EIGHT, and we never saw that bunch again. We offered Mike some money, but he wouldn't take a cent. I guess the moral of the story is that your mother told you to never bowl against a guy whose name is Bowler. Shortly after that, Mike stopped coming down, and we never saw him again.

Harry the Horse

1975 to 1985 were some of the best times of my life, You did have to throw the ball well in those days. But you also had to carry. I bowled plenty of matches at La Gaurdia. My Father, Artie Eng, was the manager there for many years. I bowled Hank and Cliffy, Tavie , Beeper . Bowled Lou Lemone (2 fingers), we bowled Broomsticks. If you see Snake, Simo Jr.
Bonelli, most of the brooklyn gang,They all know me. I knew your rep when I was 15. I had some good matches over at Woodhaven too. I bowled Rudy and Won there. Grind outs 180's

no one ever beat rubio on that pattern until duke and it wasnt the same pattern at the same house. im sure judge doesnt think rubio is a better bowler than duke but you are too idiotic to see this. judge is up alot more than 6k betting on rubio agaisnt people on the S shot. he bowled and beat rudy, scianna, neuman, robert smith he tied, chris johnson dj archer. they bowl for the action and thrill not for purpose of making a living. bowling is a game and you people act like its all you got, pretty sad.

Snake was an excellent action bowler in the 80's just ask Lenny the Cane. John Colossi was an excellent bowler. He won some Lustig's including the Bellerose Winter Challenge for $10,000. He also finished second in the Buddy Russel or Varipapa, forgot which one, I think he won a regional or two as well. He also bowled a lot of action in the early 90's. Simo Jr. was a great bowler but lost the battle to gambling and drugs. Simo Sr. was a great bowler. Saba was an excellent bowler. These people won tournaments and acheived things in bowling. I don't know what your talking about. Don't mention Petraglia, the man is a legend. Roth is the greatest bowler to come out of NY Metro area ever and he spent many a days in Maple. Brooklyn has the best bowling history in our area so respect it and the players that are from there. Long Island and Jersey have nothing in the history of our sport compared to Brooklyn. Brooklyn is where legends are made. Brooklyn is the greatest..

There were more action shooters prior to the 1980s. rudy revs probably the best in the last twenty years. Richie Hornreich, Mike Limongello, charlie Faino, Jeff Kitter would have beaten Rudy if he had been around then...Old Timer

I believe you cannot compare athletes of different eras...that includes bowling....Equipment, conditions and the athletes themselves are unlike they were years ago...The question might be if todays players were put into the 1960-1970 senario and reverse how would they all do... Would they be as dominent as they were in their time.. I do think however that the many of the action bowlers years ago were bigger gamblers than now. Some bowler who would take out of his pocket $ 200 to bet on a bowling match and only earned $ 275 at his job is a much bigger bettor than a guy today who bets $ 200 a game out of his pocket, but earns $ 950 at his job. Action years ago pitted bowlers of equal quality in many matches. How often can we say that happens today.... For the most part today we have a bunch of committee betting locksmiths who in many cases would never bowl a player of equal quality. Many action bowlers today won't bowl a singles or doubles match if there is a lefty involved, or the lanes must be conditioned a certain way or no match, or if he got out of the wrong side of the bed that morning...no match... Then you have the rarest breed of action bowler of all.....the guy who bowls a guy who he knows is better than him but loves the tough competition, and wants to take a shot at making some real money..Knowing all of his be...Anonymous

great action bowlers, here are a few of the best and any time they bowled with or againest each other was like a great game in any sport you loved to watch. joe s,frank medici ralph engan(the most feared), jake charter, dewey blair, lemongello,ritchie hornriech,jack clemente,rich pizzutti, jeff kitter,john massaro,ernie schlegel,doc iandolli,jimmy mChugh, pete mylenki,mike derose,and many more that i'm probably other people can add to this great list. each one of these bowlers had alot of talentand when they bowled each other it was beautiful to watch no matter who one the clutch strikes the jibeing was worth the price of admission

Jeff kidder got really good when urethane lanes came in 1976. before that charlie faino was the best in the country for about 5 years. jeff retired from gambling a few years ago, lives in Hilton head and plays the market for a few clients as told to me by his former partner Bill Daly. Daly also kept a diary of all the matches they were involved in. To say kidder was the second best, you probably never saw much of Hornreich. He beat up on better bowlers. kidder did not have alot of tough competition, although he did crush Roth at Rainbow in a doubles match. And he never went on tour, because he gave up the game to become a professional gambler. he was one of the biggest around, betting 10g a game and up.

DOTTY FOTHERGILL was the best woman bowler and a lefty in the country in the late sixties. do remember the night lich walked into raceway in the fall of '69 with dotty and like a fool decided to bowl doubles against lemon and bobby pancakes who was not that good but was on a tear for about six months. lemon won 5 or six straight. lich and dotty never returned. what a joke. also one night pancakes who was on a roll beating everybody in sight decided to bowl lemon. another joke. pancakes stepped up too much. lemon eight straight. I wish I had seen dewey bowl but I heard enuf about him, especially the night he crushed ralph and quit to go to school. Hornreich did tell me a few years ago how good dewey was as long as the shot was outside. dewey was deadly playing the track, but not that good once he had to play fifteen. and ernie did beat richie at central in the beginning because he was smarter. he would come at 3 am and challenge richie. he beat him because richie was there at 1am and already bowling and by the time the match got started the horn was tired. after a few times, the horn started showing up at 3am, rested and ernie never beat him again. I will admit that ernie was the best for my money because I never walked out a loser betting on him in the back. He had so many easy matches. As for ritchie, i could never get a bet in the back because everybody knew richie was the best. one night ernie beat mike chuchillo 7 out of 8 at central. to get chuchillo on the lanes, richie would have needed to spot him at least ten. you need to speak to schlegel one day and he will tell you that richie and lemon were much better. if you still believe schlegel was better then you forgot that whenever the horn and schlegel bowled doubles, richie was ALWAYS anchor. WHY? Because he never missed when it counted. enuf already.

I saw Ralph, Ernie, Mike, Iggy, but not Dewey

In those days I mainly stayed in at Ave M in Brooklyn, (horn, Lemon, Iggy, Mac & Stoop, Freddie the Ox, Ernie, Petraglia, Roth, and about every big name you can think of) and the rest of the Brooklyn action houses, there was a lot of them in that era. In the seventies I saw a lot of action at Raceway lanes on Saturday nites

(horn, jeff, Berardi and many others) one of the best characters from the seventies was the Beeper

Cane, I’d like to hear your thoughts on these bowlers in their prime, as pure (action bowlers), nothing else, not PBA bowlers.

In what order would you put them, add anyone of your own if you feel their better (action Bowlers) then any of the above.

i didnt see the pba guys bowl action, but did see the other three i would rate them richie , lemon and iggy in that order. never bowled richie, did compete in tourneys with richie , one at hodges and one at maple,he won both by more than secretariat won the belmont, mikey asked me to bowl one night at colony, but after watching him beat billy picone there the week before i turned him down, as i usually was interested in winning not just playing anyone like a family member of mine , who would bowl anyone with a backers money, i used my own money. and iggy i bowled with at seaview and leader and against him at leader, he was a genious 30 years ahead of his time when it came to bowling, with weights, psychology using his own 4 lb pins if he couldnt beat you on the light wood, also bowling low score or off the wrong foot, but refused to bowl me thta way at seaview, after i just came off shooting 770 in a match

the cane

Nelson Burton Jr.

born: June 5, 1942, St Louis, MO

"Bo" Burton was named bowler of the year in 1970, when he led the PBA tour in scoring average. He won the ABC classic singles title in 1969 and 1973 and was a member of the Munsingwear team that won the 1976 and 1977 ABC classic championship.

Burton, son of Hall of Fame member Nelson Burton Sr., joined the PBA tour in 1962 and won his first tour event two years later. His best season was 1978, when he won $67,003. He averaged 221 pins for 28 games in winning the 1976 ABC Masters championship, and he won the BPAA U. S. Open in 1978.

Since 1986, Burton has been on the tour only part time. He often does commentary on ABC bowling telecasts.

ABC Hall of Fame
PBA Hall of Fame

Ned Day

born: Nov.26, 1911, Los Angelas, CA

died: Nov. 26, 1971

The first genuinely famous bowler, Day toured widely during the 1940s and 1950s, visiting local bowling centers to play matches and give exhibitions, including a much publicized visit to the White House to give a demonstration for President Harry Truman in 1948. He starred in a series of movie short subjects about bowling that were seen throughout the country and later rerun on television.

Day was bowler of the year in 1943 and 1944. He was the BPAA match play champion from 1938 through 1942, then presented the title to the All-Star tournament, which he won in 1944. He teamed with Rudy Pugel to win the 1944 match play doubles and with Buddy Bomar to win the title in 1951.

In addition to bowling on seven ABC championship teams, Day won the all-events championship in 1948 with a score of 1,979 for nine games. He had a 200-pin average in 28 years of ABC competition.

Day retired from competitive bowling after suffering a serious knee injury in 1958.

ABC Hall of Fame

Billy Hardwick

born: July 25, 1941, Florence, AL

Hardwick joined the PBA tour in 1961 and was named bowler of the year by The Sporting News in 1963, when he won four tournaments, including the PBA National, and averaged 210.346 pins to win the George Young Memorial Award for high average.

The Bowling Writers Association of America voted him bowler of the year in 1964 and again in 1969, when he had the tour's highest average with 212.957 pins. He won the All-Star event and five other tournaments that year and led the PBA in earnings with $64,160.

Hardwick retired after the 1976 season with a total of 17 tournament victories. He now operates a bowling center in Memphis.

ABC Hall of Fame
PBA Hall of Fame

Steve Nagy

born: Aug. 10, 1913, Shoaf, PA

died: Non. 10, 1966

At seventeen, Nagy was managing the bowling alleys at a club in Cleveland for which his father was caretaker. There was no professional tour during his younger years, so his serious competitive career began with the 1939 ABC tournament.

After World War II, Nagy was well enough known as a bowler to become a member of Brunswick's promotional team. He was named bowler of the year in 1952, when he won the ABC all-events championship, teamed with John Klares for the doubles title, and was a member of the ABC championship team.

Nagy frequently appeared on filmed television matches and in 1954 he became the first bowler ever to roll a perfect 300 game on television. He was chosen bowler of the year for the second time in 1955, after winning the BPAA All-Star tournament.

When the PBA was organized in 1958, Nagy was one of the thirty-three charter members, but he was past his prime and never won a tour event. Nagy suffered several strokes in the two years before his death.

The PBA's annual Sportsmanship Award is named for Nagy.

PBA Hall of Fame