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Post by falcarosforever on Apr 4, 2010 22:07:19 GMT -5
This forum was created for all of the action bowlers, bettors and spectators who had a chance to be part of the fantastic action which took place in Falcaro's during the late 60's, 70's and up to the mid 80's. I know there are many of you out there because there are names of many bowlers who participated as action shooters at Falcaro's all over this web site. It would be great to re-live some of the exciting times of the past, a past that will never be duplicated. You had to be there to really appreciate it. I would even, if possible like to get a reunion of all of the characters that were part of the Falcaro's scene. Let's get some stories posted and try to plan a reunion of some sorts. Wishing all action bowlers of the past and present, Happy Holidays, since this forum has been started on Easter Sunday. www.actionbowlers.com/falcaros.htm |
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AC Deer
New Member
Mr. Poker
Posts: 20
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Post by AC Deer on Apr 4, 2010 22:21:09 GMT -5
I grew up in the sixties in Brooklyn, we had loads of action at many different houses. I lived and breathed action from 1958 to 1976.
I regret to say I was never at Falcao's and therefor am looking forward to hearing about all the action that went on there.
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Post by falcarosforever on Apr 4, 2010 22:21:42 GMT -5
I'm going to start this thread with a great story from the good old days of action at falcaro's.
It was a Saturday early evening at Falcaro's when Jeff Kidder and Gibby Pastor Jr. bowled a special match against one another. Now everyone knew that Jeff was probably the best action shooter of all time and would bury Gibby if they bowled head up. The only way for Gibby to have a chance to win was with some kind of handicap. The handicap in this case was something I have never seen before in all of my action days, and believe me I have seen a lot. Gibby had told Jeff that he was willing to bowl if Jeff wore Gibby's leather coat and street shoes for the match. Jeff agreed and the match started. It was pretty funny watching Jeff put on Gibby's coat, because it was tight on Jeff. It was even funnier watching Jeff bowl with the coat and shoes. The bet wasn't significant but enough to make it serious. As it tuned out the only one laughing in the end was Jeff, because he beat Gibby even though Gibby averaged about 230. I was betting on Gib as well as many other house bowlers and we were in shock. Jeff had incredible talent.......he even walked around with his own pins if you wanted to bowl a lumberjack match. This day at falcaro's I remember like it was yesterday.
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Post by Zoo Master on Apr 4, 2010 22:40:26 GMT -5
Welcome, it's a pleasure to have you here. This is something that was posted awhile back, how accurate do you feel it is... ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday afternoon and evening at Falcaro's in Lawrence was the premier action house during the mid 70's and early 80's. Guys came from all over to challenge the house bowlers. The true house action bowlers at Falcaro's were as follows and not necessarily in order of the best. Tommy "Triple" Yadanza Bruce "The Dipper" Pastor Gibby ("The matchmaker") Pastor Sr. Gibby Pastor Jr. Barry Clare Phil Caporusso Jr. Al ("Ironman") Pinola John The Pollack Joe Viverito Big Al Julio Curra John Dugan Maury Berger Steve Weiss Steve Gowa Paul Katz Ira Katz ("The Whale") John Kurkemelis Steve Reiss Aaron Goldfedder Louis Rothman Michael ("The Sailor") Sperber Dino Star Freddy ("The Silver Fox") Mayo Freddy ("The Ox") Arbolino Andrew Castardi Mike Kilgannon Mike Lemingello Ray Shell  Anyone who remebers more .....please let me know.. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Action Bowlers who came down to Falcaro's during this era to bowl either house bowlers or other bowlers from the region were as follows: Jeff Kidder Bill Dailey Tavie Joe Cologna Cliffy Berglund Tony Devito Ricky Papandrea Gino Papandrea Louis Prisco Big Earl Bobby Simonelli Jr. Hank Behrbom Snake Les Shirwindt Jimmy McCue The Beeper |
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Post by Renaissance Man on Apr 4, 2010 22:57:19 GMT -5
Does one of the old time greats, Joe Falcaro, have anything to do with Falcaro's ?
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Post by falcarosforever on Apr 4, 2010 23:35:39 GMT -5
Joe falcaro had nothing to do with Falcaro's in Lawrence........he may have been involved at falcaro's in Amityville........... Falcaro's in Lawrence, the great last action house, was owned by Herbie Schwartz and Nat Weinberg. Herbie's kid was a trainer at the Flats...Aqueduct and Belmont....I remember one of his horses ... "Thunder Puddles"
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Post by falcarosforever on Apr 4, 2010 23:36:28 GMT -5
I've been reviewing a lot of the boards and find it hard to believe that Falcaro's in Lawrence doesn't get much mention as an action house. The fact is that Falcaro's for a period of 15 years or more stretching from the mid to late 60's to mid 80's was the premier action house every Saturday. Alot of the big name action bowlers who were still bowling action and the newcomers came to Falcaro's every Saturday to bowl big money singles and doubles matches Anyone who doesn't mention Falcaro's during this time period has no clue of what real action was. The action at Falcaro's on Saturday's was the last great action of the good old action days. I for one spent every Saturday at Falcaro's waiting for the right match to bowl or bet on. A typical Saturday at Falcaro's started around 12 noon. From 12 noon, bowlers would start arriving from at the lanes. As more and more bowlers showed up, the opportunity for matches started to come about. Gibby Pastor Sr. who was a Falcaro's icon, arranged most of the matches. Most of the matches at Falcaro's were matches of house bowlers against bowlers from other houses. Although there were many matches between house bowlers as well. Action at falcaro's didn't happen right away, a lot of matchmaking and bull shitting went on before matches actually started. Some of the criteria for a match was obviously who was bowling who, singles or doubles, which pair would the match be on, and how much $$'s per game. The house action shooters at Falcaro's didn't like bad action, meaning if you had a reputation of winning (being up) one or two games and quitting, you were considered bad action and it would be hard for you to get a match. Most of the time when a house bowler was bowling an outsider, all of the house bowlers not bowling the match would bet on the house bowler either in the main pot or in the back against someone else. On one particular Saturday afternoon, I remember Bill Daly walking into Falcaro's with Cliffy Burglund. The typical matchmaking start between Gibby Sr. and Daly and it was decided that Tommy "Triple" Yadanza was going to bowl Cliffy on 47 and 48. Before the match started there were a lot of bets being made both in the main pot and in the back. The main bet was around $2,500. Tommy won the first game, I don't recall the score and the second game with a higher bet came down to the 10th frame with Cliffy needing to make a 2 pin to win the game. When cliffy threw the ball for the spare the ball hooked just past the 2 pin and he lost........you should have seen Daly's face, he was dumb struck and Cliffy took his shoes off and threw them about 20 lanes down. The house bowlers were going nuts. It was great winning money on a blown 2 pin. That day, with the money I won on the Triple vs Cliffy match, I bowled the "Beeper" woo, woo and beat him 3 out of 4 games.
I will be back with more Falcaro's stories....if you have any to share with us....lets here them.....there are many and so many action shooters from this great action house.
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Post by falcarosforever on Apr 4, 2010 23:40:14 GMT -5
As for the accuracy of the list that was posted some time ago, it is very accurate and probably put up by a true Falcaro's action shooter. Some of the house bowlers mentioned would only be known by a house shooter. The action was awesome every saturday....all day and all night. Sometimes you could walk in and there would be 5 or 6 matches going on at the same time. plenty of action.
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Post by falcarosforever on Apr 4, 2010 23:42:44 GMT -5
Barry Clare (home house Falcaro's Lawrence) who was a big action shooter in his days, early 70's to mid 80's, is still bowling and at the age of 51 recently bowled back to back 800's and 300's at RVC lanes.
Barry was a member of a team at Deer Park in the early 80's who held the ABC record for 5 man total wood. The team was:
Barry Clare
Bill Daly
Artie Clemens
Les Shirwindt
Phil Caporusso Jr.
During those days Bill Daly use to back Barry over league bowlers during league play.
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Post by Renaissance Man on Apr 4, 2010 23:43:30 GMT -5
Joe falcaro had nothing to do with Falcaro's in Lawrence........he may have been involved at falcaro's in Amityville........... Falcaro's in Lawrence, the great last action house, was owned by Herbie Schwartz and Nat Weinberg. Herbie's kid was a trainer at the Flats...Aqueduct and Belmont....I remember one of his horses ... "Thunder Puddles" Check out the article about Joe Falcaro, it says he operated bowling lanes in Lawrence NY? news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19510908&id=cisaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=riMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3767,2546357 |
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Post by falcarosforever on Apr 5, 2010 0:09:08 GMT -5
It was kind of hard to read the article.....but I guess yes it is possible that he had something to do with falcaro's in Lawrence as well.....I'm going to look into it and let you know for sure. I only knew Herbie and Nat as owners. Actually, Nat was going to back me on tour when I became old enough, but I got to involved with the action and other gambling outlets.
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Post by fozzie99 on Apr 5, 2010 5:07:29 GMT -5
House bowlers at Falcaro's also included
Ritchie Folgelson almost unbeatable at Falcaro's a "buck 80" everywhere else.
Paul Renteria (future High Roller Champ) I bowled doubles with him once.
Jerry Houser (AKA Beezer)
There were also a bunch of "juniors" into the action John"Jack" Kurkemelis was one of my best friends back then.
Is Falcaro's still there do they still put blue stars with names and dates over the lanes for 300 games?
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Post by Renaissance Man on Apr 5, 2010 9:17:25 GMT -5
House bowlers at Falcaro's also included Ritchie Folgelson almost unbeatable at Falcaro's a "buck 80" everywhere else. Paul Renteria (future High Roller Champ) I bowled doubles with him once. Jerry Houser (AKA Beezer) There were also a bunch of "juniors" into the action John"Jack" Kurkemelis was one of my best friends back then. Is Falcaro's still there do they still put blue stars with names and dates over the lanes for 300 games? fozzie99, Who was your favorite house bowler at Falcaro's, who was your favorite that came to bowl the house guys. |
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Post by falcarosforever on Apr 5, 2010 13:20:45 GMT -5
Hey Fozzie......you are right, Fogelson was tough at Falcaro's. I also remember "The Beezer" and Jack Kurkemelis.......I was part of the juniors who grew up bowling action in Falcaro's. I bowled against Jack many times. Falcaro's was a tough house and the house shooters always had a big time advantage over outsiders coming in to bowl action. In the early 80's I was recruited along with Phil Caporusso Jr. by Bill Daly to bowl out in Deer Park on Bill's team. During the early 80's at Falcaro's I was averaging in the low 190's along with Freddy Arbolino Sr. in the Monday Mens Business league. A 190 average back then especially at Falcaro's was great shooting. When I got out to Deer Park, Bill kept the reigns on myself and Phil until midway through the season, then he let us loose, I know I averaged over 230 for more than 1/2 a winter league season. The good leagues at Deer Park back then were not sanctioned because of the conditions, which are typical now, that's why we have so many 300's and 800's now (conditions and bowling balls). Bill Daly knew what he was doing when he asked myself and Phil to bowl, he knew we would average significantly higher than we did at Falcaro's and it was a big advantage. I believe the "Wallman" Mark Brenner was the first guy to put up the wall at Deer Park.
For you to remember the real name of "The Beezer" Jerry Houser, you must definitely know me. Care to tell me your name? How about some of the old stories you remember.
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Post by falcarosforever on Apr 5, 2010 13:51:35 GMT -5
My first match was against Chuck "Sharp".
I lost. My next whoopin' came from "Dyno" Don Starr. I lost. One day I beat Barry Bernstein 19 out of 26. I won. My next best day was when i bowled Billy Gambino when he used "collection money" and I beat him just before old man Schwartz came in to Falcaros and broke up the "party". I won. 2 wins-2 losses...oh well. Lots of others in between including odd pin, one finger odd pin, 2 ball odd pin, 175 or better- 8 or less is double zero,etc... It was the good old days..
(Tom Triple)
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Post by falcarosforever on Apr 5, 2010 13:52:36 GMT -5
You really have a great site it bring back great memories, I feel like going in that DeLoreon and going right back to the 50's & 60's. I came from Falcaros and used to hang with Freddie the Ox, Ray Shell,Sis,etc. and we really had a great time traveling to Bklyn to bowl all the great action guys. There are some names I recall that I haven't as yet found on your site,names such as Billy Picone,Vinny Pantuso, Billy Gambino,Joe Lyons,Jack Clementi, I saw the match where Fred the Ox bowled Lou Spadero I was there for that one,the one that never got off the ground.I recall going to the Brooklyn Paramount on Sat. nite and watching the Cleftones, etc.Murray the K and then going to Kings Lanes,Seaview and Sid Gordons . Those days were apart of my life that I wouldn't give up for all the tea in China.E-mail me back so I can discuss these things from another old timer........Thanks Neal
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AC Deer
New Member
Mr. Poker
Posts: 20
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Post by AC Deer on Apr 5, 2010 17:10:44 GMT -5
My first match was against Chuck "Sharp". I lost. My next whoopin' came from "Dyno" Don Starr. I lost. One day I beat Barry Bernstein 19 out of 26. I won. My next best day was when i bowled Billy Gambino when he used "collection money" and I beat him just before old man Schwartz came in to Falcaros and broke up the "party". I won. 2 wins-2 losses...oh well. Lots of others in between including odd pin, one finger odd pin, 2 ball odd pin, 175 or better- 8 or less is double zero,etc... It was the good old days.. (Tom Triple) Falcarosforever, you mentioned Barry Bernstein and Bill Daly. Here's a great story when the owner of this site Butch took the both of them down. I was partners with Butch on this hustle. www.actionbowlers.com/bio/chapter9.html |
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AC Deer
New Member
Mr. Poker
Posts: 20
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Post by AC Deer on Apr 5, 2010 17:35:05 GMT -5
You really have a great site it bring back great memories, I feel like going in that DeLoreon and going right back to the 50's & 60's. I came from Falcaros and used to hang with Freddie the Ox, Ray Shell,Sis,etc. and we really had a great time traveling to Bklyn to bowl all the great action guys. There are some names I recall that I haven't as yet found on your site,names such as Billy Picone,Vinny Pantuso, Billy Gambino,Joe Lyons,Jack Clementi, I saw the match where Fred the Ox bowled Lou Spadero I was there for that one,the one that never got off the ground.I recall going to the Brooklyn Paramount on Sat. nite and watching the Cleftones, etc.Murray the K and then going to Kings Lanes,Seaview and Sid Gordons . Those days were apart of my life that I wouldn't give up for all the tea in China.E-mail me back so I can discuss these things from another old timer........Thanks Neal All the guys mentioned plus Richie Hornrich, Johnny Petraglia, Mark Roth and many other great bowlers hung out at Maple Lanes in Brooklyn, bowled in pot games with each other all the time. I think to this day they still hang there. Joe Santini had the pro shop and I had the lunch counter at Bay Ridge Lanes. Did you know Lou Capasso who also bowled with these guys as a teenager in the 70s and 80s, he bowled and beat most of the big name action bowlers in that era. He was six feet plus, had a big mouth, threw a very fast ball with a big hi back swing, always pounded the pocket and scared the pins. Lou was with the PBA at a very young age before his back went bad and he left the tour. He's about 51 or 52 now. www.actionbowlers.com/action/lou-capasso.htm |
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Post by gatlin on Apr 5, 2010 18:38:42 GMT -5
hey i spent 15 years bowling in falcaros bowled abut 4 nites aweek with freddy arbolino lived the action on saturday got there about 11 never left until it was over plenty of good house bowlers myself use to bowl sperber every week 3 or 4 times aweek a reunion would be great
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Post by dipper on Apr 5, 2010 18:45:58 GMT -5
I wish people would sign there names so we would know who is posting.....
bruce "dipper" pastor
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Post by Renaissance Man on Apr 5, 2010 19:39:15 GMT -5
How do you guys rate these house's in their hey days against each other for action.
Homefield
Gun Post
Falcaro's
Central Lanes
Deer Park Lanes
Whitestone
Ave M Bowl
Woodhaven
Raceway
Fiesta
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AC Butch
New Member
I Love Action
Posts: 14
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Post by AC Butch on Apr 5, 2010 22:43:03 GMT -5
The 1960s were my favorite, many, many matches. I lived in the alleys from 13yrs old to 18. The next 5 years were great but not as good as the first 5. I stopped bowling in 1966 and didn't even walk into a bowling alley for the next 10 years. What a mistake that was. 1976 was a lot of fun when I made my 1 year comeback. Bowled the Beeper a few times at Raceway, that was something to remember. Bowled Larry Star at Rainbow, and a lot of good tough matches at Kenmore, Whitestone, and 34 st bowl in Queens. Barry Bernstein and Bill Daley contributed big time to my next bowling retirement. This looks like a great thread forming about Falcaro's, never bowled there, wish I had. My personal pick for the greatest actionbowler from post 1960s is a toss up between Richie Hornreich and Bob Perry. www.actionbowlers.com/action/hornreich.htmwww.actionbowlers.com/action/perry.htm |
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Post by falcarosforever on Apr 6, 2010 0:18:06 GMT -5
hey i spent 15 years bowling in falcaros bowled abut 4 nites aweek with freddy arbolino lived the action on saturday got there about 11 never left until it was over plenty of good house bowlers myself use to bowl sperber every week 3 or 4 times aweek a reunion would be great Hey Gatlin.....nice to see you. I still remember when you tanked a match with me and phil jr. betting on you. Did Gibby pay you well? lol |
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Post by falcarosforever on Apr 6, 2010 0:33:47 GMT -5
I wish people would sign there names so we would know who is posting..... bruce "dipper" pastor Hey Bruce.....its really nice to see you here on this forum. You know that you were probably the premier action shooter at Falcaro's for quite awhile. I bowled a few doubles matchs with you but more often than not I bet on you or you and Joey Cologna when you guys bowled Daly's stable or any other outsiders. Your dad was the real Mr. Action....he was quite a guy! How about telling us some action stories you remember. From what I gather right now Tommy Triple, Barry Clare, Andrew Castardi, Neil Romanoff and you are the only Falcaro's commentators on this board. If you know of anyone else, loet them know about this site. One thing that I'm finding out is, most of the bowlers from our days and before don't use computers, so it is hard to reach them.......to bad, there are lots of action stories out there....and hearing them from different prospectives is fun and interesting. Stay tuned to the site and contribute what ever you can. Maybe we could get a reunion. |
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Post by falcarosforever on Apr 6, 2010 0:46:21 GMT -5
Does anyone remember the doubles match between Freddy Mayo & Ira Katz "The Whale" (he even had a tattoo of a whale on his forearm..lol) against Lemon and Jimmy McCue on 47 & 48? Steve Reiss did.....he told me that the whale and mayo beat lemon and mcCue in a one game match.......whale shot 300, mayo shot 279 for 579 and lemon shot 279 and McCue 268 for 547
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Post by falcarosforever on Apr 6, 2010 0:49:50 GMT -5
Here's a few more guys who bowled action at Falcaro's.......
Keith Duran "The Rooster" or the "Root"
Mike Banner
Flash
Sobby Machione "Silver Streak"
Anyone know of anyone else?
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Post by Zoo Master on Apr 6, 2010 7:59:50 GMT -5
I wish people would sign there names so we would know who is posting..... bruce "dipper" pastor If anyone wants to send personal info or a message to someone else just click on their forum name on the left side and then click on (Send Personal Message) |
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Post by falcarosforever on Apr 6, 2010 12:22:46 GMT -5
Here's a story I will never forget.
One Saturday afternoon I got involved in a match with my doubles partner Phil Caporusso Jr. against Mike Tizzano and one of his croonies from Massapequa Bowl. During the match my partner Phil who was quite animated on the lanes, kept on rubbing in the fact that we were beating them. Phil, would run everything out and yell out HUUUH everytime he or I struck. This got Tizzo pissed off and they quit after 2 games which they lost. The bet wasn't to much, maybe around $100 a game. After the match, Tizzo approached Phil and challenged him to a big money match, but the match had to be at Pequa, obviously we told him no problem because we bowled action everywhere and basically we weren't afraid of anyone at the time. The match was set for the following Wednesday evening at Pequa and Tizzo told us to bring a lot of money because he was going to have the whole house betting on him. Wednesday evening came and Phil, I and Phil's dad took a ride out to Pequa. when we arrived there was literally at least 50 guys there waiting for this match. The pair was picked and after warming up, the bet was being gathered by Tizzo and his buddies. We were anxiously awaiting the word on how much the bet would be because we thought we were going to clean these guys out that night. After Tizzo came back from collecting the monies from the crowd of people that supposedly came to bet on him, he told us that the bet would be $200, you could see in his face that he was embarrassed because all he could gather was $200 from around 50 guys. We had to laugh, and we told him that it wasn't even worth coming here for the $200, we spent that much in gas, well not really, but for $200 we could have bowled somewhere else. It wasn't the size of the bet that bothered us, it was the fact that he told us to bring lots of money and we were prepared to bowl for about $1,000 a game, so it was disappointing. Now, Phil asked Tizzo how much he was betting and he told us that he was betting $20.....wow what an action shooter. There were actually lots of guys who bet small and had backers, but not to many who told other bowlers to bring lots of cash for a big money match that never happened. Phil wound up bowling him anyway and beat him one game and Tizzo quit. Phil yelled out to the crowd "You're all a bunch of pussies, you didn't even want to bet on your own man". After he said that the place erupted and we were lucky to get out of there alive. We left and that was the end of Mike Tizzano.....I never heard of him bowling any action after that. .
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Post by Zoo Master on Apr 6, 2010 13:06:23 GMT -5
I just set up a new section on our www.actionbowlers.com home page. It is called Falcaro's, Big Time Action House. The many great posts from this forum will be the basis of it. Barry Clare is the person who suggested that Falcaro's should get a lot more recognition as one of the great action houses of all time, I agree. Here's a direct link to that brand new section... www.actionbowlers.com/falcaros.htm |
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Post by Renaissance Man on Apr 6, 2010 13:57:47 GMT -5
Did lemon bowl much action at Falcaro's, if so, what years, against who, how did he make out.
Is lemon considered the best action bowler out of Long Island?
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