The Action Chronicles - Bowlers Journal Cover Story - Featuring ActionBowlers.com & AC Butch

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It was sometime in the mid 90s when I attempted to find some information and stories about the greatest time period of my life, the 60s when I was a full time action bowler. To my surprise I couldn't find anything about it using all the major search engines. I was very disappointed,  instead of just forgetting about it I started a messageboard and guestbook titled action bowlers.

I received the number one position in Yahoo using those keywords and received lots of traffic. Many of the best known and most famous action bowlers from the past and present including many PBA bowlers visited and left behind nice comments and stories, word of mouth also helped a lot.

Everything was going great and then disaster struck. The company that was hosting my messageboard and guestbook went out of business and I lost all those precious stories, comments and tributes. I was about to give up but a week or so later I started actionbowlers.com, I learned how to create a website and now have the only site on the internet dedicated to all the great actionbowlers past and present.

I started my life of gambling at about nine years old, I was very good at flipping baseball cards and pitching coins to the line or wall, I made a small living from it. I also started bowling then which I loved since day one. I had a big choice to make at the age of fifteen, a choice between action bowling and baseball which I was good enough at to possibly turn pro sometime in the future. But then again how could baseball possibly win out against the head to head action of bowling. I was , and stiil  am,  a very competitive person and there's nothing like one on one action to fill that need, especially when you throw in the gambling aspect of it.

Action

is a motion picture about to be made based on my life story

This is a 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.

My First Action

It's 1953, I'm 9 years old and live on top of a carpet store on 5th Ave in Bay Ridge Brooklyn NY. 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 every 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 5 years later and at the age of 14 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 mid twenties, 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 Lee-mark 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.

The Hustle

 The first real experience I had witnessing a total hustle, involved Bernie Bananas and Al, Bernie was a young Jewish boy that looked like your typical book worm, a real nerd or so you thought , he was my age, 15. Al was in his mid twenties about 6ft tall with a spare tire around the middle, just married, just moved into the neighborhood, a real nice guy, lived above a store on Ave M across from the bowling alley, he had a hi paying job as a fur cutter. Right after Al moved onto Ave M, he made the biggest mistake of his life.

Al would take the D train home from his job in Manhattan, which ran on the elevated line on McDonald Ave right along side the bowling alley. It was pay day, Als pockets were full, as he walked down the steps from the train he decided to check out the bowling alley. The second he walked through the door, Bernie new he had a pigeon. What went on the next year changed and ruined Als life forever.

Bernie would bowl Al every Friday when he got paid, after he beat Al for his the whole paycheck he would bowl one more game on credit, this way Al would have to come back the following week on pay day to give Bernie what was owed him from the previous week. That would start the whole cycle over again. Al couldn't beat Bernie if both his eyes were covered; it was an out and out hustle. Al became a degenerate gambler, lost his wife, his job, and everything else.

Going On The Road

In the early days at Ave M, back in the late 50s, it wasn't what you would call a big action house, mainly the kids, such as myself, Roy, Marc, Bernie, Norman and many others would bowl pot games and some head to head matches. Many of the local bowling alleys such as Elmwood, Leader, Windsor, Shell and Jamar had the same situation.

Saturday mornings and afternoons were the big times to us. A women by the name of Jose owned the lunch counter at Windsor lanes in Boro Park, she had her own stable of teenage bowlers, we would go down there on Saturday mornings and challenge her guys, trying to get into her deep pockets. It was something to talk about and look forward to all week long. We set up a lot of home and home matches and that's when the doctoring of the alley conditions would come into play, trying to gain some sort of an advantage, it usually would backfire.

I remember the time I was bowling A home and home match against one of the top guns from Elmwood lanes. The first three games were at Ave M, I was ahead by a total of 38 pins going into their house. I threw a semi spinner and bowled much better on fast dry lanes. The lanes at Elmwood were so oiled down that nobody could hit them, the condition was actually laughable, the 38 pins became monumental, I won the match. If they had left the lanes alone, he would have had a legitimate chance of beating me.

I Found Heaven 

All my life, I was bored with, quote un quote, with normal everyday people! I love characters, and was Ave M Bowl ever filled with them. I found my heaven at a very early age. There were people like Bernie Bananas, old man Al, Iggy Russo, Sal the Plumber, the list goes on and on. One of the guys that lived on Ave M had written a big hit song, Poetry In Motion, sung by Johnny Tillitson, It was constantly being played on the bowling alley juke box. Another guy from the neighborhood Neil Sedacca was constantly riding up and down Kings Hi-way in his red convertible playing his own hit songs. It was a great time, I wish everyone could experience what I did.

One of the things I learned early was the importance of getting on the good side of the people that ran the snack counters at the alleys. My favorite food at Ave M was a Tuna sandwich on rye, heavy on the mayo, potato chips and a cherry coke, it was really Tuna mixed with Bonita, I loved it. Charlie was the main counter man at night and would hang out after his shift was up at 2am, he would bet on some of the bowlers. That was the magical hour when most of the action bowling began, all the straight people were home sleeping, and we, the night people took over. Charlie was in his forties, short, balding, a little pudgy and very low keyed. Charlie had power, he controlled the food, and how much some one like myself would get for free? It all depended on how well Charlie did betting on you. I got lots of food.

Then there was the big money backers, the lawyers, shylocks, business men, they all had there own stable of bowlers, like race horses, this was there hobby. They would negotiate matches for their bowlers, when, where, and for how much. The bowler would usually have nothing to loose and get a percentage of the winnings. Some bowlers would get greedy and dump their backers and the people betting on them, (loose on purpose, while an accomplice was betting on his opponent) this can be very dangerous to say the least. It is also looked down at by almost all of the bowlers.

One person famous for dumping was Iggy Russso. Iggy was legititmally one of the best bowlers in the Country, and that was his problem. He was a true clown, he talked like he had a horn stuck in his throat, carried 3 balls in one big bag at a time when everyone had only one ball, his pants were clipped up above his socks, and he loved to taunt his opponents. It got to a point that Iggy had to dump games in order to get matches. It didn't always work out so well for him, like the time he found his brand new car busted up and burning outside in the street, not to mention all the times he had a gun put to his head

Ave M Becomes A Big Time Action House 

The real action started at Ave M when two guys by the name of Mac and Stoop joined forces and made Ave M their home. They would turn Ave M into probably the biggest action house in the Country. The big name bowlers came from all over gunning for these two Damon Runyan characters that would become legends in their own time.

One of the greatest moments I remember is the night this 16 year old tooth pick from Long Island came into Ave M with his backers. I honestly thought the ball weighed more than him. He went on to cleaning out the house, his name was Mike Lemongello, one of the greatest action bowlers of all time. He also did very well on the pro PBA tour as did many of the action bowlers that came out of Brooklyn, such as Johnny Petraglia and Marc Roth just to name a few.

Through out the years there were many good action houses in the Metropolitan Area, Paramus, Yonkers, Kuskies, White Plains, White Stone, Colony, Kings Lanes, Fitzimmons, Bowlmore, Gil Hodgers, and many, many more, but Ave M was in a league of it's own, thanks to Mac and Stoop.

These were the days that most of the major alleys stayed open 24hrs a day, 365 days a year. What more could I ask for.

In my teenage years I had one major problem, my father, he was very strict about me being home no later than 10pm. That was fine before I started hearing about all this great action that was going on late at night after the leagues were over. By this time we were living on a dirt lined Street in Bensonhurst, across the street from the Cemetery. One Friday night I awoke about 3:30 in the morning and started daydreaming about what must be going on at the bowling alley. It became to much to bare just thinking about it, so I decided to gamble, I very quietly got dressed and stuffed some pillows under my blanket and wrote a message that I left early to go fishing with my friends. My bedroom was in the back of the second floor of our home, I went out the window and jumped on top of the back door porch, I then climbed down the peach tree.

I walked the 10 blocks or so to the bowling alley, the anticipation and excitement was mounting every step I took, I felt the blood vessels in my temple jumping for joy. When I finally turned the corner at Ave M and McDonald, the site in front of me was beyond my wildest expectations. The entire block of the bowling alley on Ave M was loaded with double parked cars, they were all over the place, the entrance to the bowling alley was brightly lite and many people were hanging around outside the door.

As I made my way into the bowling alley my heart was pounding and now I totally couldn't believe the site in front of me. All 28 lanes were going and the place was so crowded you could hardly walk in. Money was being bet on the games like it was water and all the famous action bowlers that I had only heard stories about were there live and in the flesh. They came from all different areas, Long Island, New Jersey, Westchester, Philadelphia, you name it. My whole body was tinkling. I had to go to the bathroom real quick, which was on the second floor behind the locker rooms. As I walked up the steps there were people all over the place, a big crap game was going on inside the locker room. I really thought I died and went to heaven. From that day on I was totally and hopelessly hooked, the world of action was definitely my world.

Six months later after sneaking out of my house and returning before dawn almost every night of the week, it finally happened. It was about 4 am , I was bowling a match with a total of about 500 dollars bet on me, a very sizable amount in those days. It was the tenth frame, I needed 4 or more pins to win the match, as I picked up the ball, I saw my father standing there, starring at me. My knees were knocking, I hit my ankle, threw a gutter ball, and lost the game. My father said to me, pack up your gear and get in the car.

On the way home I expected to have my head busted open, instead, he listened to how much all of this meant to me, and he became my backer. I started spending every free moment I had at Ave M, I became a real good bowler, but was smart enough to stay away from the big names in the game. I bowled with the 190 class action bowlers. It was easy for me to make a living off of those guys. Certain nights of the week, the action was at different houses, Saturday Night was Central Lanes.  Later on it would be Yonkers Bowl, Friday Night was Whitestone in Queens. Ave M was the only house that had the constant action 7 nights a week for a period of 2 to 3 years running.

We had all the great action bowlers coming there. Bert Goodman, Sis Montevano & Johnny Myers, Fats & Deacon, Kenny Barber, Joe Santini, Freddy the Ox, the greatest bowler that ever bowled on 4lb lead centered logs, Stoop was the second best. The list goes on and on. They would come in with their own crew of backers, and people that just wanted to bet on them. There's a whole story around each bowler and their backers which you'll see in the motion picture.

To say they were all very colorful characters, would be a vast understatement. What started bringing all these bowlers to Ave M and kept them coming back was Mac & Stoop, who mostly bowled as doubles partners at that stage of their lives. These were two of the biggest characters of all, especially Stoop. I never tired of their endless stories about their lives, on and off the lanes.

 Besides being great bowlers they also were great whoremasters who loved to party. Mac was older and one of the most respected persons I ever met, as a bowler and a human being. The sixties was really a very innocent time in bowling circles, people were looking to make a rep for themselves, and a match usually ended when someone went broke.

The seventies were much different, everyone seemed to be looking for an edge. I saw matches end before they began, like the time at Yonkers bowl, when the great Richie Hornright walked off the lanes because his opponent Joe Beradi, threw 10 power house strikes in a row in practice. I was shocked, I never saw that before, and Richie was truly one of the best action bowlers in the world.

My best night / weekend, and then I retire from bowling

It's 1961 and besides my father backing me, I had my own crew. My partner, like myself, was also 17. Paul's life is a whole motion picture and book within itself. He was a good-looking macho Italian womanizer, he was also a mans, man. Pauls father owned a very successful wholesale bagel bakery, he worked as a bagel baker and hated it, even though he earned 3 times the money that most family men did. No matter how much he made, it was never enough.

Paul's father was the type of man that would kick the living shit out of him for any reason at all, but that never stopped Paul from doing whatever he wanted. We would be involved with each other, on and off for most of our lives. Including making sex films that showed on Broadway and through out the World at the tender age of 20. He was working with Andy Warhol and many other famous or near famous people, you'll see a lot more about these years in the motion picture. Paul had an office on 7th Ave above the Carnegie Deli, where he interviewed naked girls for the flicks. Paul would end up firing the leading male many times, and take over the roll himself.

It's 1966 and one of the toughest matches I ever bowled was against Richie Grossman, who would be found a few years later in the trunk of his car in Gravesend Brooklyn with a bullet in the head. It was a Friday night, A week before I would make the biggest mistake of my life, getting married, I left my future wife at about midnight and walked the 5 blocks to the bowling alley. The night before, my crew, consisting of Paul, Doug, and Larry, had made a mid size hit of about eight hundred bucks, that was suppose to be our kitty for tonight's action. Paul wanted me to bowl Richie Grossman, Doug and Larry felt he was to strong for me because I wasn't bowling much lately, and Richie was a workhorse. Paul immediately split the kitty up and told Doug and Larry where to go. He turned to me and said bowl him, you'll eat him alive.

It turns out it was one of my best nights ever; my first three games were 290, 289 and 246. The first 15 games I averaged about 240 and we were up about eight thousand, by far the most money we were ever ahead. Richie went broke, I paid for the lines, the match was over, or so I thought. I was feeling great, couldn't wait to get out of there and split the money with Paul, in walks Sal the plumber. Richie talks him into backing him and here I am, back on the alleys again. It's now 5:30 in the morning; all the people that were betting on me had gone home, we were covering Richie for about fifteen hundred a game. By nine thirty, Richie completely wore me out, I quit, winning 300 hundred dollars. Richie was pissed that I quit, while he was still down thousands that the outside betters had left with earlier.

The next night I was at Leader lanes at about 1 am, I was still exhausted from the night before and swore I wouldn't bowl. My partner Doug begged me to bowl doubles with him. Relentlessly I gave in and bet only ten dollars a game out of disgust of what happened the night before, we went on to beating 4 different doubles teams, never lost a game all night long, cleaned out the house, I never increased my bet past ten dollars, many thousands had been won, I made 170 dollars. I walked out the front door with my ball in hand, went to the middle of Coney Island Avenue, the sun was just beginning to come up, a lot of the guys were walking out wonderering what I was doing. I slowly went into my approach and delivered the ball down the middle of the avenue, it hooked slowly towards the gutter where it ended up. That was the last time I threw a bowling ball for quite some time. The following Saturday I got married and didn't even walk into a bowling alley for the next ten years.

1976 - The Come Back

I worked on wall Street for a few years, I rose through the ranks quickly and became the manager of the margin dept at Reynolds & Companies but was very unhappy working for someone so I quit and purchased a NYC Taxi Cab medallion, much to the disagreement of my wife, who loved the idea of being the bosses wife at the office parties, what a down it must of been to now say my husbands a cab driver.

I decided to work nights which at least put me back in my environment. I started driving every night at 6 PM after the rush hour, I would stop at about 12 ( short hours ) and go to where it all started, the bar on Ovington Ave. The bowling alley part of the bar no longer existed, the poolroom was expanded, I was there for the card games that went on right at the bar. I would meet my partner Larry who also went to work on wall St and then purchased a cab with me. We both supplemented our nights pay from the card games each night, the other players just weren't in our class. It was like taking candy from babies.

One night we sitting there having a drink and just shooting the shit, I think we wiped everybody out, Larry was saying we should start getting some exercise, why not go bowling. At first I said no, but then he talked me into it, It was Tuesday about 2 in the morning and we soon found out that none of the local lanes were open 24 hours any more. I actually got a sick feeling in my stomach, I was 30 years old and felt as though my era had slipped by me.

We decided to take a gamble and drive out to long Island to see if Green Acres Bowl was open. On the way out we started to remenense about all the years of action we were involved in and could it be possible that it doesn't exist any more, I felt that was impossible, it was always there. It took about 40 minutes to get to get there, as we approached the shopping center, I found myself almost praying that it would be open. A great relief came across me when I saw the outside lights on.

As we walked into the alleys my eyes were searching every which way at once, Green acres was a very large bowling establishment. Would there be any action, would there be anyone I new. All of a sudden I spotted something going on way down at the end of the right side of the lanes. I found my heart actually racing as we walked down there, sure as shit! It was a match game. I felt a great feeling of relief go through my body, It was only one game, but that really seemed to mean something to me. I didn't know anyone there, they were descend bowlers, bowling for a few hundred a game, with about 8 people betting on the side. One guy was covering all the action for this one bowler called the Beeper, he was called the Beeper because he didn't talk, he beeped. The person backing him was named Barry , a middle aged Jewish man who owned a successful business in the garment center, and loved to gamble.

After watching a few games, I did what I hadn't done since I was 11 years old. I rented a pair of house shoes and started bowling with a house ball. I bowled a few games with Larry, we both bowled pretty bad, which was nothing new to Larry, he never was much of a bowler. The match game was over and every one was just sitting around shooting the shit.

From where I was sitting with Larry it wasn't hard to over hear them, it gave me a little insight into what was going on in the area. Thursday nights, the action was at Kuskies in Lynbrook Long Island after the Classic league, a rich trucking company owner by the name of Mac, was the big money backer there, Mac was in his mid sixties. Saturday night the action was at Yonkers Raceway Bowl, a 2 floor movie house, converted into a bowling alley. The big names came from all over for the weekend action. Friday night was Whitestone lanes in Queens. The biggest action around was being backed by Bill Daley, A thin guy about 5ft 10, in his mid 20s. Bill was a close to a duece shooter himself, but only went head to head with someone when he had a strong advantage. He figured people were willing to take a shot at his long money. His #1 horse was a 16year old by the name of Jeff Kidder, Jeff had ice water running through his veins, and was maybe the best action bowler I ever saw. Where Bill Daleys money came from, nobody seemed to know, supposedly he went into the Army broke, when he came out he started backing Jeff and Cliffie Burgland, he covered all bets, no matter what the amount was, nobody backed him down.

 It was fun watching Jeff bowling against some of Macs guys from Kuskies, Mac sponsored quite a few top pro bowlers on the PBA tour. When some of his guys were in town, Jeff would bowl them, usually coming out on top. Instead of going to the bar every night we started to check out these different action houses, stayed quietly in the background, and just observed what was going on. Most of the players were different from the last time I was involved. To some extent the action was even bigger than when I was in it, but there wasn't as much of it, another big change was how careful everyone seemed to be about who they bowled, they all kept looking for an edge.

 I was driving with Larry to Green Acres on a Monday night, this time I brought my own bowling ball and shoes, I kept them from years ago. Larry said I should get back in shape and bowl some of these guys. I agreed, but not the way he meant it. I told him my plan was for us to act like big money pigeons, I told him I wanted to bowl the backers, Barry, and then Bill Daley with Mac betting on him. Larry said it'll never happen, some one would know me from the past and kill the deal, besides, where would I get the type of bankroll needed to bowl these guys. I told Larry to leave it up to me, I could con them, and the bankroll would come from Dougie, who was doing very well with a Amcco transmission business that he owned.

It was some years since I saw doug , but I new if I told him I had a pigeon he'd come running.  the only trouble was, Bill Daley was no pigeon, but that's where the money was. The first thing we did that night was bundle up all our singles from the cab business with some big bills on the top and bottom. I managed to start up a conversation with Barry, mentioned that I use to be a fairly good bowler years ago but can't seem to recapture it. I figured this way I was covered incase any one told him about me. I also mentioned that I owned a cab company.

 I then started bowling against Larry a few alleys away and started flashing the bank roll after each game to pay off Larry for the game I just lost to him. That was the hardest part, being bad enough to actually loose to Larry. This went on a few days a week for the next 2 months, I formed a nice relationship with Barry, a few times he asked to join in with us and make it a 3 way pot game. I declined, I told him I've seen him bowl and I wasn't back in shape yet. Barry was a low 170s bowler, I was already shooting 190s or better in other houses when I practiced for real.

By locking him out I was setting him up for the big kill, then I figured the money I beat him for would be used against Bill Daly, with hopefully Mac betting on Bill, If all went right, I could make a couple of years pay. I already was forming a relationship with the both of them, whom both disliked Barry. I mentioned how Barry was trying to hustle me, and that if I could just get a little better I would bowl him, don't forget, Bill was a much better bowler than Barry. I kept coming off as a has been, with lots of fresh money.

Through out this period they saw Larry beat me for what seemed to be a small fortune, he would kid around with me and ask how much new money my cabs brought in for him that night, he acted very obnoxious. It got to a point where they all wanted a piece of me instead of just Larry getting it all. He actually would wink at them, as though to say, this is my private fish. I called my friend Doug in New Jersey, told him what was happening, and just as I had hoped he said to set it up, money was no problem.

That night at Green Acres I managed to barely beat Larry for the first time and started talking like a big shot to Barry, I said it's finally coming back, that I'm ready for him head to head. I think he thought I was nuts. Larry kept on saying that I shouldn't even consider bowling Barry I got mad at Larry, told him to get fucked, and in the heat of anger told Barry to name the day. To my surprise, Barry said the only place he would bowl me was at Times Square Lanes in Manhattan, or whatever it was called, 42nd St & B'way. That really through me for a loop, I couldn't figure it. Turns out that's the general area where his business is, and that's actually his home alleys. I was never at these Lanes let alone bowl there, I said no problem. The match was set for that Wednesday night.

I met Doug and his brother in front of a coffee shop near the bowling alley, Larry didn't come because he and Douglas weren't on talking terms, I gave him a piece of the pie anyway. Dougs older brother came with him, had arms like tree trunks and a permit to carry. The bowling alley was right around the corner from the famous Ames pool room, where the hustler with Jackie Gleason was shot. As we entered the bowling alley, we saw quite a few people waiting for us, we were amongst the few white people there, I was beginning to wonder if this was a mistake, maybe Barry knew I was hustling him. He greeted us and asked where Larry was, I said I was still pissed at him. I introduced Doug and his brother, who accidentally on purpose, let his piece be seen.

We started practicing, after about 10 balls each, we were ready to start the match. I asked Barry what he wanted to bowl for, to my astonishment he only put down $200. At this point Douglas stood up, faced the crowd of about 25 people, took out a tremendous wade of money, all $100s, and boldly announced, I'm covering the house, put it up gentlemen.

At that moment I felt sky high, it was a long time since I felt like this last. I went on to beat Barry 7 straight games, after purposely loosing the second game. The hardest part was keeping it close. Barry kept going into the office of the bowling alley and getting more cash, liked he owned the place, maybe he did. We took him and the crowd for $9000 cash, the last game was a $2500 marker.

I was paid the following week at Green Acres, Barry told me he'd never bowl me again. I told him that if I get better I'd like to bowl Bill Daley next, I think he knows what happened, he said to me, let me know when you set up the match, I'd like to bet on you, and then he winked at me. It took another month to set up a match with Bill Daley. Douglas was broke from the trotters, I got in touch with Paul, who made arrangements with his bookie Cubbie to back me. The match was set for Kuskies on a Thursday night at 1:30 am.

That night to prepare mentally for what I hoped to be the biggest money night of my life, I left my house the regular time for work, instead I went to the Manhattan Beach hotel and checked in. Went to my room, took a shower, asked for a wake up call at 9:30, laid in bed nude with just the sheet on me, I wanted to totally soak up the moment, daydream about beating Bill and Mac for about 50 big ones, all of a sudden the phone rings, It was my wake up call, I had dosed off.

I met Paul and Cubby, we went to a steak joint on the way to Kuskies. Cubby kept asking me if I was sure I could beat this guy, Paul had told him it was a shoe in, which was not true, Bill Daley was a  very good bowler. Cubby wanted to know how much to bet, I told him to start off at $2000, he choked, but said OK. Paul said he would do the betting. I told him, Bill will just say to name it, just tell him the amount, no bluff plays, he's the real deal, don't mess with him.

We get to the alleys, pick a pair, and start practicing. Just like I hoped, Mac was there. I'm hitting the lanes real well in practice, Paul does exactly what I told him not to do. He asks Bill Daley, what do you wanna bowl for. Bill Daley immediately shoots back, 5 grand, Mac chirps in from the background I'll take ex-amount more on Bill, to save face for Paul I had to say, I only wanted to start for two.

I win the first game, tie the second game, win the 3rd and 4th, Bill comes over to me and has the balls to say, my lowest game is 214, and I haven't won a game yet. He said I had one of 2 choices. Change lanes or bowl Jeff Kidder on this pair. I said no to both, he said if I didn't pick one of the two, I would never get the chance to get into his pockets again, I told him to get fucked, and put my ball away.

We ended up winning $8,000, I never bowled him again. As we were walking out,  Barry Bernstein was walking in, he really got pissed off when he found out about the match and I hadn't called him. He said it wasn't the money, it was the chance to rub it in Bills face.

It was mixed feelings on the way home, the money was good, but we felt cheated. Once again, Larry wasn't there, because he and Paul also don't talk anymore.

butch aka Cliff

Butch & Bill Daly

25 years later at Deer Park Bowl

1976 Butch vs Bill Daley controversial match video  click here

Butchs All Time Greatest Picks

My  picks for the greatest action bowlers  by the decade

My picks for the top action houses of all time

Action Houses

My pick for the person that contributed more to big time action bowling than anyone else

Bill (Mr. Action) Daley

Some of Butchs Matches

Prior to joining the Air Force in 1962 at which time I was in my prime, the best I ever was.

These are some of the matches against the better known action bowlers that I won.

Bee Bee Notoro at frankie & Johnnys Brooklyn

Joey X at Old Parkway Brooklyn

Tommy Dinardo at Neptune Lanes Brooklyn

Jimmy Nolan at Leemark Lanes Brooklyn

Buffalo (Alan Dwoskin) at Ave M Brooklyn

George Stillman at Ave M

Doug (the rug weinstean) at Ave M

Les Sager at Windsor Lanes & Ave M

Les Shirwindt at Ave M

The Cane (bowling him one step) at Ave M, I never lost a one step match to anyone...

Red Basset  at Ave M

Sal Pollizi at Elmwood Lanes - Ave M

Sal the Plumber at Ave M

Johnny Gale at Ave M

Mousie Bonsignori at Ave M

Richie Devita at Ave M

Richie Farina at Ave M

Louie Spadaro at Ave M

Mac Wagner at Ave M - 1963

Richie Grossman at Ave M - 1966

Ralph at Leader Lanes and all their house bowlers - 1966

There were hundred of matches from 1958 through 1962 and then 1963 through 1966 which I won a very high percentage of...

One weekday afternoon Johnny Petraglia came into Ave M with his backers, he was about 15, I was 16 or 17, I agreed to bowl him, we started practicing on 17 & 18  one of my best pairs, I had my line zeriod in, he didn't, when it came time to put up the money they put down a $100 bet, I new what they were doing, waiting for Johnny to catch a line before betting bigger, I simply said to them I won't bowl for less than $300, I had Paul with me and he had a pocket full of greens, the match was over before it ever began...

I just couldn't let them get over on me, it was a great feeling when he took his shoes off and left, I really didn't want to bowl him to begin with, Paul pushed me into it, he thought I could beat anyone at Ave M.

The house I might of been able to beat anyone was Kingsway Lanes, Coney Island Ave and Kings Highway Brooklyn. It was a real old house, built in the 40s, it had only 12 lanes down stairs and they were full of hi boards, I don't think anyone ever averaged more than 170 plus there. I became good friends with the owner who had won a lot of money betting on me at Ave M. He said I could practice all I want for free and if I could average about 190 he'd back me against anyone that came thriugh the doors, he didn't care who it was.

I managed to learn how to get around the hi boards and was averaging over 190, he loved it, I set up a few matches there and won them easily but most people would not bowl action there...

Matches I won in 1976

Beeper at Raceway

Les Sager at Kenmore and Kuskies

Larry Starr at Rainbow

Bill Daley at Kuskies

Mike Foti at Maple

I also Bowled a few matches at Whitstone, 34th st Bowl, Green Acres, and Raceway, can't rember who I went up against but I did well.

butch's career as a gambler

· 1957 - bowled my first match for money, $50 - 3 game total - won - 13 yrs old

· 1957 - started playing various games of poker with my friends, loved it

· 1958 - pitched coins every day at school, enabled me to use cabs most of the time

· 1959 - became a bowling hustler - it supported me

· 1960 - started shooting street craps and going to the track - this was the life

· 1961 - was already learning how to cut my loses, and press a hot streak

· 1962 - joined the Air Force and used my gambling skills to stay in the money

. 1963 - was asked to leave the A.F. and resumed being a bowling hustler

· 1966 - made the mistake of getting married, quit gambling and stopped bowling

· 1970 - bought a cab so I could get back into the street life

· 1972 - started playing poker every night after work, made more than working the cab

· 1974 - would work the cab for only 3 or so hours and than go to a poker game

· 1976 - went back to being a bowling hustler, the money was once again flowing

· 1977 - quit bowling because the easy money stopped, went to the track everyday

· 1979 - started to run and cut a weekly poker game with my partner Paul

· 1980 - played in our own game as much as possible, won a lot of money

· 1981 - our game closed down, started going back to the track everyday

· 1982 - took up casino gambling, went to Atlantic City every week, 3 day stays

· 1983 - started booking bands in A.C., spent more time there gambling

· 1985 - resumed playing poker and going to the track

· 1990 - started teaching people how to be a winner when gambling

· 1995 - started to play a lot of poker in and around Atlantic City

· 1997 - started to gamble on the internet, blackjack and craps, earning a good living

  2006 - Playing a lot of internet poker for the last few years, doing very well, life is great.

Butch And The Stars

Butchs Dream Match

In a dream match both bowlers are always to be considered in their prime.

Late sixties, Central Lanes, Rudy Revs vs Iggy Russo.

It's 3am on a Saturday night at Central, Rudy already had made his grand entrance when Iggy walks through the door, goes straight over to Rudy, and in his high bitched voice says, hey fat boy, what da say we bowl a few.

Great Action Bowlers

Butch's Favorite Movies

Butch'e Bio

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