Stories by The Cane

[Billy Tops]

These stories were taken from the original Action Bowlers website a few years ago:

The Second Coming
In Fort Lauderdale we have the second coming of Richie Hornreich and Mark Roth, 35 years after those 2 juniors tore apart the new york area.

Having watched and bowled action in the NY area for 40 years till I moved to Florida, have I seen a more dynamic duo than these two youngsters, Matt Gilman 16 and Collin Hayes 14. Matt at age 11 bowled his first three hundred and at 12, an 800 , he now has 8 300s and has come very close to 800 on numerous other occasions, he has just been pressed by 14 year old bowling phenom Collin Hayes, who in the past 9 months has thrown 7 - 300s and 3 - 800s and has also missed narrowly throwing back to back 800s on 2 consecutive days as well as just missing several more 300s including a 299.

Coached by Fred Borden and Randy Pedersen. Randy has never seen a 14 now 15 year old that good, but he never saw Richie Hornreich, and I did. In 1960, Richie at age 12, bowled a doubles match with a 16 year old against 2 guys in the navy, at Leemark lanes Brooklyn with a rubber ball, bowled 8 games with a low game of 258, including back to back games of 289 & 2- 279s with three games in the 260s.

What ever happened to Richie, thats even a longer story, but in my opinion he was better than Roth, Lemongello, Petraglia, Schlegel, and the 2 hand cradle of Joe Berardi.

[Billy Tops]

1958 - Park Circle Lanes - Brooklyn NY - Iggy
The first time I saw Iggy Russo was in 1958 at Park Circle lanes, when he came in on Fri night and challenged anyone in the house over the microphone, just after the singles classic league had just been completed, with some pretty good NY locals at that time, such as Jimmy Allen, Tom Ermolovich, Bert Goodman, Joe Santini ,Vinny Pantuso, Tom Caputi, Tom Camelleri, and a few more 200 plus bowlers. No one accepted Iggys challenge, however he bet $100 that he could bowl 120 right on the nose.

The action started, Iggy off to the races throws a strike, then another and another again one more and Isay to myself whats this guy up too, when after he throws the 5th consecutive strike and says you lose, do you want me to press the re set or throw gutter balls the rest of the way 30 - 60 - 90 - 110 120 picks up the C note and says want more, so the crowd bets now 200 bucks, but he (Iggy) had to hit pins on every shot.

The game commences again and Iggy a master at the game for leaving whatever he wanted worked his way to the tenth frame with 98 in the 8th a strike in the ninth, a sure lock for anyone who knew him cause, he could easily pick three off the right and three off the left. Now comes the 10th frame Iggy shoots for the 6-9-10 and low and be hold to everyones surprize, he picks the 6-10 clean, and now must get four of the remaining six pins to win the 200 bucks, no easy task for us mortal bowlers, but the legend again grabs the microphone, and for about 10 minutes walks up and down on the approach, saying should I try for the 4-7-8 sliding the backrow, leaving the 1-2-3-5 or should Icome in light for a bucket leaving the 2-4-5-8, or perhaps I should throw my loaded ball, a fade to the three pin and leave, the 1-2-4-7, any way you sliced it, a difficult shot. Iggy goes for the loaded ball, throws the fade and leaves the 1-2-4-7 for a winner, and had no more action for the rest of the night...Lenny D

[Billy Tops]

Summer of 62 - Iggy
Iggy Russo came to Ave M bowl to bowl stoop, with his backer bookmaker loan shark or whatever, for a thousand a game. Iggyu notorious for throwing games, his backer would bet on the other guy, knowing Iggy would lose the first game and line in later in the game, however this particular time, Stoop was doing the identical thing that Iggy was doing , trying to lose, with his backer betting a thousand on Iggy to win.

What a predicament, when Iggy got up on the right lane in the tenth he found himself up 1 pin 106 to 105, then both backers proceeded to put a gun to Iggy, Iggys backer saying, you sold me out, he's doing worse than you, and stoops backer saying, I bet a grand on you to win, better throw a good ball, this was on lanes 19 and 20 as I was bowling a match on the opposite pair on the otherside of the house, 11 and 12, it was 3 am Sat morning, Iggy then got up to apparently throw the 10th frame, he collapsed to the floor, grabbing his chest, an ambulance got there 20 minutes later and took Iggy out on the stretcher apparently having a heart attack, being in his middle forties. At the first red light iggy jumped out of the ambulance and ran to his car, he disappeared for a couple of weeks... lenny

[Billy Tops]

NY Invaders
SOME OF THE NY INVADERS LIKE CHICAGO BILL JARGELLA, TROY DAVIS AND DICK WEST FROM THE CAROLINAS, CAME INTO NY LIKE A HURRICANE AND TOOK ABOUT 40 TO 50 LARGE OUT, BEATING THE BEST EVERYWHERE, THE ISLAND , COLONY BOWL , GLENWOOD BOWL, CENTRAL, JERSEY, STATEN ISLAND, AS WELL AS JOE JOSEPH COMING IN TO NEPTUNE, NO TOUPEE AND MUSTACHE, AND BEATING BERT AND COMPANY.ALSO ASK STOOP HOW HE PARLEYED 2 BUCKS INTO $32,000 VS AL ROSA WITH A 30 PIN HANDICAP, BEATING HIM 15 IN A ROW... lenny

[Billy Tops]

1963 - Ave M Bowl - Brooklyn NY
Its a sunday night, I'm at Sid Gordens lanes with Bobby B the cab driver, he says lets go to Ave M and I'll bowl Mac Wagner 20 a game after the travel league, It takes 15 minutes to get to Ave M Bowl and the travel league is in their last game. The game ends, and we see that Mac had just finished shooting 490 plus in his own house on 19 and 20, so Bobby says to mac, want some action and of cours mac says yes, but Bobby, obviously not to swift, says lets bowl on 21 and 22 since you already bowled on 19 and 20. Big mistake, it was the fastest 20 Iever blew being partners with Bobby. Mac started with the first 6 one game, and the first 7 the next, 13 in a row both out of the wood early. Frustrated I turn to mac and say I'll bowl you on 19 and 20 , but first Ihad to look for a house ball and house shoes, 19 and 20 along with 23 and 24, 25 and 26, were my best pairs having bowled league there once a week. We start to bowl, I'm betting my 20 and a couple of the maple guys are there too also betting on me, Iproceed to win 6 out of 7 without bowling a game under 230 with a conventional rubber ball.

That was a little better than Ibowled in that house with my own equipment, so I got the 40 I lost back plus 60 more, I figure its time to go. As im walking out, who is walking in? stoop. Who says to me where are you going, I said home, but Marty insisted that we bowl, since I shot great with a house ball I said to him only on 19 and 20 Marty was the best in the house and we occasionally fooled around fror stuck but never for real money, I respected his game and he was better than me. Well needless to say I beat Stoop also 5 out of 6 with the only game under 230 being the game I lost and another 100 bucks for me and about 3 to 400 more for the side action betters from maple lanes... lenny

[Billy Tops]

Its friday night and I just finished bowling pot games at Park Circle, It's closing time so Jimmy McArdle and myself go to the Caton Inn around the corner on coney island ave for a few drinks, after about 4 or 5 drinks(7and7)for me I turn to Jimmy and say lets go to Ave M, I think we can make some money. Old man Al, who was between 80 and 85 and a good action bowler, I had bowled him twice before and we split maybe 30 games the first time and 20 or thirty games the second time, the old guy was tuff as nails and you would have to bowl 215 or better to have a shot, I told jimmy that the old man would be the only one there bowling practice on 25 and 26 and when we walk in he'd ask me to bowl but on 23 and 24 since he was already on 25 and 26.

Ten minutes later we are walking in the door at Ave M, from the distance we see old man Al bowling on 25 and 26 and Jimmy looks at me and laughs, we approach Al and he says do you want to bowl me on 23 and 24, Jimmy smiles to me again. I had also told him that I would beat him 4 straight and he'd quit. We start the match and this is the first time I ever bowled drunk, and beat old man al 6 straight for 100, he congratulated me and said I never saw you bowl so good, having averaged 240 for the 6 games. For those of you who don't know me, I used to bowl off the wrong foot due to the loss of the use of my left leg to polio in the middle 50s. I would attract a lot of bowlers looking like a fish, perhaps, to some, but a shark to others...Lenny D

[Billy Tops]

1962 - Seaview Lanes - Brooklyn NY - Iggy
I'm in a doubles match with Joe Palase vs Pete Anos and Ed Beldau, we win 6 straight and Ed switches partners, bringing in Phil Marino on Phillys pair, 33 and 34. Joe didnt want any part of the match, I was bowling pretty good, out of the crowd of a couple hundred at 3am comes Iggy and asks to be my partner I said ok, but with trepidation, I cut my bet from 60 a game to 20, I was making 55 a week in wall street. I bowl 258 iggy shoots 176, we loose, about $2000 had been bet. 2nd game I bowl 248 Iggy gets 11 ten pins for 190, we lose again by 15, he deliberately left ten pins which he could do, he's a master. I'm almost ready to quit when iggy says stay 1 more, I got it, no one bets us, I give Iggy a 20 he now ups his bet from 20 a game to $2000 and shoots 290, we win. Now everyone wants us but Iggy shuts everyone out. I give him my 20, he bets another 2000, Iggy another 290 and me 220 to win again, now the heavy betters are ready to kill him because they cant get a bet on us, so Iggy collects 3500 this game marking down the names with no intention of winning, unbeknown to me at 21. The bet is now 1800 and Iggy pockets 1700 for himself shooting another 176 as I again was in the 240s to lose by 15 again.

This happened the next game as well and I quit. The final outcome, I lose 40, Iggy makes 3500 in the middle over booking, and his partner in crime makes $10,000 in the back betting both ways, the signal from Iggy was a cigarette on the telescore meant a loss, otherwise he was trying, this was found out by me several years later by his partner in crime who shall at this time remain only as " S"
THAT YEAR WEBER LEADING MONEY WINNER ON TOUR MADE - $7500,
That night Iggy and S made - $12,000 ... lenny

[Billy Tops]

1962 - Leader Lanes - Brooklyn NY
It's a month or so after a doubles match I had bowled with iggy, at Seaview lanes, where much money was made by iggy and friend, it was a thursday night around midnight, the week before word had it that Mike Lemongello had cleaned out the house at Leader, I wanted to see if I could make a few bucks betting on him. I get there and only two bowlers are beside the desk man when I walk in, they were Joe C and Tony Farina. I asked them where all the action was, they too had heard that the week before the joint was jumpin, but not tonite. The 3 of us are walking out the door when who should walk in, of course iggy and says "where are you guys going". we said there's no action here , but Iggy says Im here, he looks at me and says do you want to be my partner again against these 2 guys?, I turn my head around and looking for side money action or another person, cant believing, he would tank me now, since there was not that much to be made. we go down to 5 and 6 and are playing for 25 a man which was 1/2 a week salary for me at that time. four games in a row the other 3 bowlers were in the 190s to low 200s and I was in the 220s. We sweep them for a 100 a piece and I turn to Iggy, just you and me left, how bout 50 a game. I'm looking to get back the money (40) I had lost a few short weeks ago at Seaview. We start the game, Im off to a spare and a 5 bagger when iggy who has 3 opens thru 6 picks up his ball and says Im getting out of here with 50 profit tonite. I pick up the lines and go home ... lenny

[Billy Tops]

Women Bowlers From Brooklyn - Early 60s
Some of the ladies from the brooklyn area, back in the early 60s, were carol damsky, mae ciancierelli, gerry savage and rita regina, and macs partner reggie fernback. ave m was running a 370 mixed doubles, 1961, and rita regina asked me to bowl doubles, as we made the 370 cap on the head. when we arrive, there are 28 teams to fill the house, but there was one problem. more than 1/2 the entries balked at rita and i being partners , at 370 saying we were much too strong, which we probably were, so they decided to pick teams out of a hat with averages above 185 in 1 hat and those under 185 in another hat. 28 teams were made and i was fortunate enough to win with my new partner arlene weiner, however, opening night meeting produced a classic mixed doubles match, between sal the plumber and mae cianciereeli vs myself and lefty rita regina, in a house not known for high scoring left handers. rita and i bowl them 12 games, for 10 a man and sweep all 12 games with me averaging close to 230 the first 6 and rita 210 then rita averaging close to 230 the last 6 with me averaging 210, so yes the ladies could bowl in the 60s. sal replys after the match, that he wanted a rematch the following week , but to change partners and bowl with al rosa a 180 bowler instead of mae who was a 190 bowler, seemed odd to me, but we did , after the mixed doubles league the following week, and proceeded to beat them 10 straight for 10 a man, easier than the match the week before, sal then says he wants to bowl with mae again the following week, we oblige and beat them again 10 staright with ease, sal finally learning his lesson. didnt bowl us any more. rita and i went on to bowl other doubles matches vs some pretty good action shooters, winning maybe 6 and losing 1 match where our opponents bowled extremely well one in particular at sid gordens bowling center where they averaged 230 a piece against us and we lost 6 out of 8 matches. women were underestimated , but not by me, a score is a score no matter who bowls it, and i had the utmost confidence in my lady partners. jumping from ladies of 1961 to ladies of 1981, one of the top lady bowlers in the tri state area and a good friend sharon nasta , and i team up to bowl a couple of the phillipino bowlers at woodhaven, the year might be off by a year or 2 with my memory not as sharp as it use to be, and since i hadnt bowled since the middle 70s due to 4 kids and wife, along with my physical condition starting to deteriorate, i was only watching and wagering on the game, but this particular time, having watched sharon average 221 at strike city lanes, staten island and tying the great richie hornreich for high average, i figured i could bowl 160 and she could bowl 200 and we could win at the tough wood haven lanes in queens. a couple of hours before the action, sharon and i wen to eat some chinese food down the block from wood haven. after completing dinner we challenge nellie the lefty and her partner, now watching the phillipino bowlers bowl, there styl was not great there scores were not great, but the longer the match went the better they got and would wear you down, and i was not physically prepared to go more than 3 or 4 games due to my weakening condition. the match starts and sharon the 221 avg bowler is having all sorts of problems on the grindout i bowled 170 and so did she and we drop the first one for about 300. sharon says she has no hard equipment and cant get far enough left on the right lane, due to the ball return, i said lets go at least another, where i proceed to carry sharon with a 230 and she 170 again, just the reverse of what i thought. the next game is also won by us with me at 210 and sharon again in the 170s and they quit when some one found a local newspaper with sharons picture on it saying how she shot 299 785 in new jersy and 300 770 in staten island that week

[Billy Tops]

1962 - Mill Basin Lanes - Brooklyn
First let me say, that reading some of these storys, it might appear the i never lost, but i did lose some singles and a couple of doubles matches, its that the ones you lose you tend to forget,. with that said, here are 2 more winners, that i can remember, most of my action was done between 1960 and 1967, and here is one from 1962 possibly 63, but whose counting . it was the first year mil basin was open and i bowled in a doubles league, with alan lazar a 175 avg so we could make the 380 cap, not sure how we wound up , but i know it was close to the top as i had high average in the league at 201. one week al says to me i got us a doubles match for next saturday afternoon with allan berkowitz and some unknown 17 year old, from rainbow lanes by the name of george stillman. well i use to spot 25 a game to allan berkowitz a 180 bowler and beat him at least 3 times in the past, so i figured this stillman kid would have to be better than 205 to give us a run., so i went to mil basin thinking there would be no match, with no equipment. lazar was there, the stillman kid with several other kids were there also but no berkowitz, so they asked me to bowl singles. i look at this skinny crew cut kid with glasses, and say ok then i go get a conventional rubber ball and house shoes, we are playing for 10 or 15 a game whatever the gang of kids could come up with. from my recollection, the kid threw the ball great but would constantly hit the high boards and leave at least 2 washouts a game 1 2 4 10 or 1 2 10 and never broke 180 in 10 games, and i with the house ball and house shoes win all 10 games with not one game under 200 nor one game over 210. later within the next year this kid became one of the toughest match players in brooklyn, for many years to come and i believe, the one mark roth profiled his cranker game from at rainbow lanes just a few years later. while we are on the subject of mark roth and a few years later, its probably 1968 at leader lanes on coney island ave, when i walk into that bowling center and see several young bowlers, bowling across 12 lanes in a kangaroo game one game across 12 lanes. some of those bowlers i can remember were mike mucatell , ralph florio lefty joe tusa and the now after the fact great mark roth as well as 1 or 2 others. they let me in the game and with no practice shots start on 1 and 2 and go across the 12 lanes and bowl 234 throwing the last 5 and win the game and about 60 bucks, with tusa being 2nd in the 220s we start the next game where i continue to strike throwing the first 5 and wind up with a 232 and again win 60 bucks with tusa again finishing 2nd in the 220s they decided to quit and now youve heard another one of my nostalgic matches ... lenny

[Billy Tops]

1964 - Woodmere - L.I.N.Y.
it was early on a fri night at sid gordons bowl on kings highway and utica ave brooklyn my home house, and i was having a hamburger and fries and a coca cola which probably cost 1.50 when some of the action betters from long island come in, around 8 pm, the action usually didnt start till 12 after league and open bowling slowed, but they wanted me to go to the island with them and bowl singles against some lefty kid named will rogers . well 40 minutes later we get to this bowling center woodmere, and the place is full, but they give us the first lane that breaks, lane 9 and we bowl a match on the one lane, the lanes were pretty slick and we were sharing the action 4 ways so there really was no pressure like when i bet all my own money, and won the first 8 losing the 9th and winning the 10th cleaning the 10 or more kids that were betting their weekly allowance out. on the way back to sid gordons little john replies, i guess that will teach him a lesson after he took their money the week before beating one of the super stars from the island mike sorry i cant remember if it was lemon or killer but both were way better than me , so i guess i caught the kid on the right night. many years later i run into mike kilgannon, bowling the senior tour and we shoot the breeze about some of the old action when he brings up the name of will rogers as being one of the best leftys on the island at that time and i told him the story you just read lenny

[Billy Tops]

ok and Tavie vs Jamsie and the Snake
Well it must be late 70s to early 80s and i get awaken out of a dead sleep at 11 oclock on a tuesday night , by jamsie and the snake, saying there was action at some bowling alley in queens , and that ok and tavie were the action, and they , the snake and jamsie wanted my expetise on the match to come along. so i go . it was a doubles league in a bowling alley behind a bar 12 lanes the name i dont recall, but tavie and ok were the #1 team in the league and had just bowled better than 500 the 1st two games on 1 and 12 and won easy , and im telling the boys lets go home they are to strong , but we wait another two games as they switch pairs to 3 and 4 and the two bowlers have trouble breaking 185, so i tell the snake to get 3 and 4 as the rest of the lanes appeared to be like 1 and 2 . but ok says you can bowl us on any pair , but 3 and 4, so jamsie who would never turn down a match, against my advise to only bowl on 3 and 4 since it was their house, proceeded to bowl doubles on 5 and 6, the first game goes to snake and jamsie , but thats all she wrote for the next 6 games went easy the other way and i lost a nights sleep although i didnt lose any cash on this match lennyd

[Billy Tops]

ERNIE SCHLEGEL NOT MC CRACKEN
1st in the movie ernie is not ernie schlegel in kingpin. 1st time i met ernie was at nostrand bowl 1963 when he and a few other bowlers came from the bronx to brooklyn to practice for the up coming city tournament. my brother and i bowled frank medici and mike ginsberg and split about 16 games. we told them to come back in a couple of days friday and we would take them for some soft action, after seeing how good these guys were. friday night we go to kings lanes and mike nifty nine ginsberg, bowls richie divita on 13 and 14 his pair and beats him 8 straight, with all picking up a piece of the pie. the next night we tell them to meet us at seaview and this time its ginsberg and i in a doubles match against joe c and a guy name sal forget the last name. we beat them 6 staight and mike bowls one of them singles while ernie and the bronx crew pick it up real soft , and i made peanuts as i bowled with 5 bucks in my pocket that nigh and thousands were won. of course my brother became a little closer with ernie, and even caddied for him starting at garden city when the man in red , using a red edge , just like stevie wonder , beat mike durbin after durbin had caught ernie in the last round when ernie had a 400 pin lead that was lost in the 1st 4 games when ernie went 2and2 and bowled 2 190s and 200 twice , while durbin caught fire and shot 289 279 268 and 278 going 4-0 , but when he got to the show and if you still have the tape , you can see me sitting in the audience , compliments of the eventual winner ERNIE and the buff sitting in the setee area , with less tv exposure. the buff then went on with ernie for several weeks , helping carry his equipment and advisor as well. for those of you who dont know ernie does very well on tour excluding his earnings, with the rights to all finger grips. the grips in your ball today , he was the man and also one of the first double bag companies that was sold to the japanese, for a tidy sum. so although you see some guys who might appear to be struggling making it bowling they are picking it up soft else where fruit salad! lennyd