Post by Zoo Master on May 1, 2010 10:01:48 GMT -5
Who Is AC butch? - www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYqucAt1s3o
Part 1 - AC butch's first action match, 1957, Leemark Lanes, Brooklyn NY
Play entire bio automatically>>> www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=4CD3705BC65C5505
Action - A motion picture about to be made based on the life story of AC butch
This is a video treatment for a book and motion picture about the story of my life, which includes a very unique time in the history of bowling. The late fifties and sixties, this time period was the hay days of action bowling in the metropolitan area. The large new bowling establishments came to New York for the first time; bowling became much more popular than ever before. This was prior to, and including, the early days of the PBA, (Professional Bowlers Association) when the prize money was really low. Most of the really good area bowlers, were action bowlers, even the ones that joined the PBA.
Many of the bowling centers were opened 24 hours a day, most of them had house bowlers that would take on the outside hustlers who traveled around looking for easy marks. Many of the better bowlers became legends in the N.Y. area. Men like Iggy Russo, Richie Hornreight, Joe Santini, Ernie Schlegel, Burt Goodman, Johnny Petraglia, Freddie the Ox, Mike Lemongello, Fats & Deacon, Mac & Stoop, Sis Montevano & Johnny Myers, Lenny Dwoskin, just to mention a few.
You could walk into many bowling establishments any night of the week after midnight, the place would be packed with bowlers and their backers from all over the tri State area looking for the same thing! ACTION. A few hundred people might be there, bookies, shy locks, lawyers, business men, street people, all for the same reason, to watch and bet on some of the best bowlers in the world.
Like sport teams, and horses, the action bowlers had very loyal followings. There were also the backers, many of which had their own stable of bowlers, they would arrange matches and give their bowler a percentage of the winnings, if there were any. They also backed a lot of guys on the PBA tour, and took a piece of the pie.
New York bowlers were known through out the country as action bowlers. This whole scene started to die out in the late seventies, a lot of the bowling alleys were closing down, the ones that remained open started shutting the doors after the leagues ended for the night, the 24hr day no longer existed. We'll probably never see this type of action again.
It's 1954, I'm 10 years old and live on top of a carpet store on 5th Ave in Bay Ridge Brooklyn. On this Saturday afternoon I was with my father like many times before in a bar on Ovington Ave. But this was not just any bar, there was a pool room on the second floor, a restaurant and most importantly a bowling alley on the main floor. Even though I had visited this bar since I was old enough to sit on my dads lap I never was allowed to enter the bowling alley. This afternoon my father asked me if I would like to try my hands at bowling.
That was the beginning of my first and greatest love affair. My father was very good friends with the owner and made arrangements for me to come in any day after school and bowl a few games for free, my old man would take care of the pin boys at the end of the week. It took almost a full year before I broke the magical score of 100, and what a thrill that was.
It's now 3 years later and at the age of 13 I was already a seasoned league bowler, I was the sub on my fathers bowling team and when ever he would rather sit in the bar and have a drink, which would be quite often, I would take his place on the team. It was the last night of the bowling league and we were in second place bowling the first place team, we had to win all three games to capture the championship. I had been bowling real well, so my father let me bowl all three games, I came through and helped the team sweep all three, we were number one.
The best bowler on the other team, Jimmy Nolan, for that matter, the best bowler in that part of Brooklyn, was a southpaw that threw a real big hook, he was in his late teens and was the head pin boy at ovington Lanes and had a hot Irish temper. My father was in his mid thirties, was a Swede, and had a real bad square head temper. One word lead to another, I was astounded when I heard my father say, I'll put my son up against you in any other house but this one, how much do you have the guts to bet.
First of all, I had never bowled for money before, outside of league bowling and some pot games (that's where a group of guys, put up say a buck each, and the highest game wins the pot) Jimmy was considered unbeatable at ovington, that's why my father said in any other house. To me it all sounded crazy; I was very good for my age, but not in Jimmies league. We go down to Leemark Lanes on 88 St, I was never there before, it was one of the brand new big modern bowling establishments.
My father and Jimmy agreed to a three game total wood match for $50. I was bowling with an Ace black and white ball; the type used on the black TV lanes every Saturday night from Neptune lanes in Brooklyn. As I stood at the line, ready to throw my first ball, my legs were shaking so badly I thought I was going to fall right on my face. Jimmy started with a split, some how the ball fell out of my hand for a strike. I went on to bowl the three best games of my life up to that point, 258, 277 and 238 for a whopping 773. Needless to say I won the match, My father gave me the fifty dollars plus fifty more from the bowling league championship, all in one dollar bills, The bank roll was so big I could hardly put it in my pocket. The next day, I walked in for the first time to the place where this story really begins, Ave M Bowl, I had a hundred in my pocket, my ball and bag in my hand, I was on top of the world.
Play entire bio automatically>>> www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=4CD3705BC65C5505
Part 1 - AC butch's first action match, 1957, Leemark Lanes, Brooklyn NY
Play entire bio automatically>>> www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=4CD3705BC65C5505
Action - A motion picture about to be made based on the life story of AC butch
This is a video treatment for a book and motion picture about the story of my life, which includes a very unique time in the history of bowling. The late fifties and sixties, this time period was the hay days of action bowling in the metropolitan area. The large new bowling establishments came to New York for the first time; bowling became much more popular than ever before. This was prior to, and including, the early days of the PBA, (Professional Bowlers Association) when the prize money was really low. Most of the really good area bowlers, were action bowlers, even the ones that joined the PBA.
Many of the bowling centers were opened 24 hours a day, most of them had house bowlers that would take on the outside hustlers who traveled around looking for easy marks. Many of the better bowlers became legends in the N.Y. area. Men like Iggy Russo, Richie Hornreight, Joe Santini, Ernie Schlegel, Burt Goodman, Johnny Petraglia, Freddie the Ox, Mike Lemongello, Fats & Deacon, Mac & Stoop, Sis Montevano & Johnny Myers, Lenny Dwoskin, just to mention a few.
You could walk into many bowling establishments any night of the week after midnight, the place would be packed with bowlers and their backers from all over the tri State area looking for the same thing! ACTION. A few hundred people might be there, bookies, shy locks, lawyers, business men, street people, all for the same reason, to watch and bet on some of the best bowlers in the world.
Like sport teams, and horses, the action bowlers had very loyal followings. There were also the backers, many of which had their own stable of bowlers, they would arrange matches and give their bowler a percentage of the winnings, if there were any. They also backed a lot of guys on the PBA tour, and took a piece of the pie.
New York bowlers were known through out the country as action bowlers. This whole scene started to die out in the late seventies, a lot of the bowling alleys were closing down, the ones that remained open started shutting the doors after the leagues ended for the night, the 24hr day no longer existed. We'll probably never see this type of action again.
It's 1954, I'm 10 years old and live on top of a carpet store on 5th Ave in Bay Ridge Brooklyn. On this Saturday afternoon I was with my father like many times before in a bar on Ovington Ave. But this was not just any bar, there was a pool room on the second floor, a restaurant and most importantly a bowling alley on the main floor. Even though I had visited this bar since I was old enough to sit on my dads lap I never was allowed to enter the bowling alley. This afternoon my father asked me if I would like to try my hands at bowling.
That was the beginning of my first and greatest love affair. My father was very good friends with the owner and made arrangements for me to come in any day after school and bowl a few games for free, my old man would take care of the pin boys at the end of the week. It took almost a full year before I broke the magical score of 100, and what a thrill that was.
It's now 3 years later and at the age of 13 I was already a seasoned league bowler, I was the sub on my fathers bowling team and when ever he would rather sit in the bar and have a drink, which would be quite often, I would take his place on the team. It was the last night of the bowling league and we were in second place bowling the first place team, we had to win all three games to capture the championship. I had been bowling real well, so my father let me bowl all three games, I came through and helped the team sweep all three, we were number one.
The best bowler on the other team, Jimmy Nolan, for that matter, the best bowler in that part of Brooklyn, was a southpaw that threw a real big hook, he was in his late teens and was the head pin boy at ovington Lanes and had a hot Irish temper. My father was in his mid thirties, was a Swede, and had a real bad square head temper. One word lead to another, I was astounded when I heard my father say, I'll put my son up against you in any other house but this one, how much do you have the guts to bet.
First of all, I had never bowled for money before, outside of league bowling and some pot games (that's where a group of guys, put up say a buck each, and the highest game wins the pot) Jimmy was considered unbeatable at ovington, that's why my father said in any other house. To me it all sounded crazy; I was very good for my age, but not in Jimmies league. We go down to Leemark Lanes on 88 St, I was never there before, it was one of the brand new big modern bowling establishments.
My father and Jimmy agreed to a three game total wood match for $50. I was bowling with an Ace black and white ball; the type used on the black TV lanes every Saturday night from Neptune lanes in Brooklyn. As I stood at the line, ready to throw my first ball, my legs were shaking so badly I thought I was going to fall right on my face. Jimmy started with a split, some how the ball fell out of my hand for a strike. I went on to bowl the three best games of my life up to that point, 258, 277 and 238 for a whopping 773. Needless to say I won the match, My father gave me the fifty dollars plus fifty more from the bowling league championship, all in one dollar bills, The bank roll was so big I could hardly put it in my pocket. The next day, I walked in for the first time to the place where this story really begins, Ave M Bowl, I had a hundred in my pocket, my ball and bag in my hand, I was on top of the world.
Play entire bio automatically>>> www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=4CD3705BC65C5505
Larry Hersh many years later at Deer Park Bowl
Leader Lanes Brooklyn NY