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Post by Action Reporter on Jan 2, 2002 23:40:41 GMT -5
Big Time Action Houses
(Transfered From The Nostalgia Board)
What house had the longest run of big time action, who was second & third. How long, and what where the years...Herbie
Oldest action house is probably Homefield in the yonkers area. Daily afternoon action house for probably around forty years. woodhaven lanes in queens maybe number two. action constantly there sat nights from early eighties until early or mid nineties. central lanes in yonkers around from early sixties until it burned down in 1968 biggest of all times, saturday night until sometimes sunday evening. most weekends at least 40 out of the 50 lanes had action. it was incredible, like continuous casino action. bowlers came from all over, as far as Florida looking for action. if you were looking for action no matter how bad you were or how good it was there. once in a lifetime. never again...OldTimer
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Post by JK on Mar 28, 2003 20:06:42 GMT -5
I disagree. Gun Post had as much or more action than Central but because it got raided all the action moved to Central. There were nights at Gun Post that you couldn't get to the snack bar because it was too crowded. Action on just about every pair and all the big names. Jake Charter, Joel Meyers, Frankie Medici, Ernie, Mike Limengello, Fats and Deacon, RALPH, Howie Polefski, (my favorite) Jack Clemente, Iggy Russo, Chicago Bill, Billy The Kid, Doc Iandoli etc. etc. etc.
If you remember Gun Post, here is a trivia question: What was the name of the manager?
JK
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Post by Big Mouth Billy on Mar 28, 2003 20:30:32 GMT -5
I was part of the action scene at Ave M Bowl in Brooklyn in the sixties, at that time there were many action houses it was great.
I've been to Central a few times but know nothing about Gun Post, I'd love to hear some more.
What years, what nites, what were some of the big matches, I'm an action freak, to bad it doesn't exsist anymore. All there is now is a bunch of fouled mouthed punks cursing each other.
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Post by Stevie Wonder on Mar 29, 2003 0:11:28 GMT -5
Jk, you are right about GunPost. Don't remember the manager's name but remember sitting down around three am at the counter for a burger next to Pyscho Dave and saying "how you doing". He said he lost $20. Found out he had started with $20, bowled Ralph Engan and beat him about seven straight doubling each game until he was up 1280 bucks and lost the eighth.
See you next Friday.
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Post by Big Mouth Billy on Mar 29, 2003 10:10:59 GMT -5
Jk, you are right about GunPost. Don't remember the manager's name but remember sitting down around three am at the counter for a burger next to Pyscho Dave and saying "how you doing". He said he lost $20. Found out he had started with $20, bowled Ralph Engan and beat him about seven straight doubling each game until he was up 1280 bucks and lost the eighth. See you next Friday. Is this Shear |
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Post by Stevie Wonder on Mar 29, 2003 10:39:56 GMT -5
Big Mouth Billy, no I'm not shear. I was from upper Manhattan and had a pro shop on Broadway from 1963-68. The glory days. Spent much time at Central, Gunpost, Yonkers, Inwood(my house), The Hub, Homefield, Skytop, Fiesta, Whitestone, etc.
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Post by Guest on Mar 29, 2003 16:26:21 GMT -5
Nothing compared to Central. Ask anybody that was there. Whenever the pros were in town, they knew where to go.
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Post by GUEST on Mar 29, 2003 16:29:08 GMT -5
Question for Stevie Wonder. Who was the best action bowler you saw?
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Post by Stevie Wonder on Mar 30, 2003 11:15:18 GMT -5
Ernie Schlegel was the toughest, feared nobody. Also loved Ralph Engan.
But for one year at Central Dewey Blair was incredible, then he dissapeared.
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Post by Big Mouth on Mar 30, 2003 19:06:02 GMT -5
Steve, what did you think of Jeff Kidda, I thought he had ice water in his veins, the best I ever saw.
Do you know of any bigger backer than Bill Daley.
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Post by Guest on Mar 30, 2003 19:27:40 GMT -5
Stevie Wonder. Surprised you forgot about Hornreich and Limongello? Who was better than Hornreich?
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Post by Guest Big Mouth on Mar 30, 2003 20:03:00 GMT -5
The truth is there were so many great action bowleres in the 60's that everyone has their favorites. It's like picking great hitters between Joe DiMaggio And Ted Williams.
Lemon and Horn were two guys I loved seeing.
Daly was the biggest backer for sure.
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Post by Guest on Mar 31, 2003 8:03:58 GMT -5
guest big mouth. Were you at central the night dewey whipped Limongello? Heard that lemon was getting whipped so bad, they had to pull him off the lanes.
were you ever at skytop?
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Post by Stevie Wonder on Mar 31, 2003 9:39:17 GMT -5
I never saw Dewey Blair lose at Central. He beat everybody. But this was all 40 years ago. So don't have any specific memory of Lemon being dragged off the lanes. I do remember guys being tapped out and borrowing money from Max the shylock to stay in the action. That was really crazy since the vig was ten percent a day.
Went to Skytop several times. That was Ralph Engan's home. He and Hank Boroughs were a really tough pair.
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Post by GUEST on Mar 31, 2003 14:54:05 GMT -5
max charged 10 pts. a week, not a day. Did you see the match at skytop when dewie kicked Ralph's ass and quit at 8am to go to school. He was only 16. Dewey quit bowling a fewyears later and joined the navy after he hurt his bowling arm and was never the same again. heard that he bowled in the newsday in the seventies, but was never the same bowler as when he was 16.
Stevie, did you ever see Kenny Barber?
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Post by Stevie Wonder on Mar 31, 2003 17:13:15 GMT -5
You're right about Max. I knew it was a week. No,didn't see Dewey cream Ralph at Skytop, but I do remember Dewey was only 16-17 when he was around. Thanks for telling me what happened to him. He was a real quiet clean cut kid. Looked out of place with all of us so called low lifes. Am I losing it but didn't Dewey show up at Central the first time with a backer who flashed a gun in his waistband?
Kenny Barber was terriffic and a nice guy too. Did you see Frankie Medici bowl action? He was similar in size to Lemon but not as good. A Bronx kid.
Funny, I haven't thought about all this in many years. I was in my late teens and twenties when it was happening. The best part was not really the money but the laughs and seeing so many great characters who could bowl like demons. All the talk setting up matches and milling around looking for an edge was priceless.
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Post by T I T S on Apr 1, 2003 2:10:37 GMT -5
how about ira the whale katz. i only heard of him ever losing once to steve cook at hempstead. i always heard he was one of the best action bowlers ever from long island
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Post by real smart on Apr 1, 2003 7:54:53 GMT -5
the whale was real good, but never in the class of limongello. he did get creamed by steve cook at royal lanes. should never have been on the same pair as this pba hall of famer
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Post by JK on Apr 1, 2003 9:18:20 GMT -5
Answers for some questions: The other real big backer was the guy that came with Dewey Blair....Steve do you remember his name? The match at Skytop ended at about 6am not 8am and he didn't destroy Ralph I think he came up 2 games. But your right he did destroy Mike L. and Ernie and everyone else he bowled during that short period of time. For my money the best I ever saw and I would put Jeff Kidder 2nd.
See you Friday Steve.
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Post by JK on Apr 1, 2003 9:35:13 GMT -5
OK some more answers: The managers name at Gun Post was "SKI".....remember now?
For the guy who asked about Gun Post:
48 lanes on 2 levels. Sat. night after 1 am there was action on every pair (no open play bowlers ever) There were crap games in the mens room AND ladies room,card games at the tables etc. Usually there were no women in the house except for Psycho Dave's girlfriend. Oh by the way Steve I bowled psycho Dave once after he came from a wedding. He bowled in his tux and I wrecked him. I was told that he used to send his girlfriend out to the car to have sex with guys so he could have more money to bet. Not sure if that's true or not. But the best part about Gun Post was Howie Polefski. Great bowler and the funniest guy on the planet. I was there the first time it got raided and they took Ernie and Mike Ginsberg and a bunch of other guys (including Ski) and then they ripped the scoretable out to have evidence of the gambling. It seems all the names of the guys betting in the middle were written on the scoretable. I miss those days!!!!!
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Post by JK on Apr 1, 2003 9:44:03 GMT -5
Last I heard Dewey Blair was bowling in a house in Newberg NY (where he lives) and was bowling 3 games a week and averaging about 216. That was about 6 years ago. I was told he is an architect today. You're right Steve he had a lot more class then the rest of us.
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Post by Stevie Wonder on Apr 1, 2003 11:08:56 GMT -5
JK, I do remember Ski. More about Gun Post. Mike Ginsberg was upstairs betting around 7am one morning. All of a sudden his Father shows up and says "So these are the bums you hang out with" tells Mike they are leaving for vacation and he should go down to the car. He says "no, I'm staying here". The father goes out to the car and throws Mike's clothes in the street and drives away.Everyone was upstairs looking out the window. Mike just ignored it all.
We all thought Pyscho Dave was a pimp.
I was there when it got raided also. Funny because they unscewed the score table with all the bets wriiten on it and took away the kid keeping score.
After that incident the action started big time at Central.
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Old Brooklyn Action Bowler
Guest
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Post by Old Brooklyn Action Bowler on Apr 1, 2003 13:04:27 GMT -5
I remember Kenny Barber from Kings Lanes on Flatbush ave. I threw a real big ball for the time, was a lot of fun to watch, who rembers the Dwoskin brothers, Lenny the cane and his con artist brother who served time in Texas
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Post by guest2 on Apr 1, 2003 19:46:00 GMT -5
buffalo is out of the slam after 5 years on probation, lives not far from ft. lauderdale and fries burgers for a living. Were you old timers at seaview? did anybody witness the iggy heart attack match? And it's hard to believe you guys felt dewey was the best and not hornreich. from what the horn said, dewey was great but was not that good of an inside shooter. And ironically, schlegel was from newburgh while bowling the action in the 60s.
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Post by JK on Apr 1, 2003 20:08:37 GMT -5
Never heard of Seaview where was it? I did not witnes the fake heart attack but it was THE topic of discussion for years afterward. OK here's the deal........Richie Hornreich was a great action shooter one of the best ever. Richie played inside everywhere almost never played outside atleast not when I watched him so how are we to know if he could play outside??? Dewey was either outside or down and in if he had to play 3rd arrow he would have gotten nose bleeds. Two very different games both great bowlers but for that period of a year or so NOBODY and I mean NOBODY beat Dewey. You could watch him bowl 10 games and never see him shoot anything other than a one pin spare usually the 4 pin. I'm sure the reason was he wanted every ball to be packed so of course he would leave more 4 pins than 10 pins. I'm sorry you never got to see him bowl it was a thing of beauty. Oh by the way spoke to a friend of mine in Fishkill today and he told me that Dewey started a league last year at Fishkill Lanes was averaging 228 and quit after 6 weeks because he didn't like the shot. ( must have been inside) Ha!
Later
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Post by Stevie Wonder on Apr 1, 2003 23:07:29 GMT -5
Ernie Schlegel didn't move to Newburgh until the very late 60's or even later. He lived in my neighborhood(Inwood) in upper Manhattan. Another memory. Ernie and I went to a small old house in the Bronx named Boston Road Lanes. He bowled a cab driver named Sy Million. Sy broke us and had to drive us home in his cab
Inside, outside, all I know is Dewey Blair was inhuman and never lost to anybody. He was a machine.
JK, bring pictures.
Anybody bowl action at Whitestone? That was a real good house with all the regulars.
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Post by Guest2 on Apr 1, 2003 23:56:55 GMT -5
ernie was a resident of newburgh when central was at it's biggest in 1967. so the question has been answered. The horn was better, since he could play any part of the lane, from the gutter(leader lanes in brooklyn) through the fourth diamond-which not many could in those days(lemon could and naturally ralph who could hook the whole lane). seaview located in canarsie. seaview and colony and avenue m also in brooklyn were the biggest in the very early sixties. philly marino was the king at seaview and colony.
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Post by Real Smart on Apr 2, 2003 0:17:54 GMT -5
Buffalo is alive and working the snack bar at sawgrass lanes in sawgrass florida. His brother the cane got hitched again a few years ago, lives not far from Sawgrass and disappeared from the game two years ago. his site has been empty that long. nobody had a better memory for stories than him, from iggy to horn to lemon, etc. Too bad the old days disappeared. nobody needed a lock and the sailors were always there, seven, eight, nine down and still bowling as long as they had cash. CENTRAL was awesome. If you were winning you could win a ton. if you were stuck, there was always a match to get you out. Why did it have to burn down?
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Post by ExDegerate on Apr 2, 2003 9:33:08 GMT -5
Some facts about Richie Hornreich, so much talent but being a degenerate gambler was his downfall(horses, casinos, etc, etc, etc). Could have been a great pba bowler.
1. at the age of 16 finished 10TH in the world invitational in chicago against the best around(carter, weber, etc.)
2. averaged 217, unheard of in those days at bedford bowl.
3. first to average 200(206) at the toughest alley in the east, bowlmor
4. won the vargo one year, 4 lb. wood, with a 1060 or 1080 for 5.
5. destroyed jim godman, pbahof at central in 1967 after he had just won the firestone.
6 etc, etc, etc
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Post by guest2 on Apr 2, 2003 12:46:26 GMT -5
the cane just came out of hibernation. see the guest messages with his e-mail address.
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