Bowling Memoirs by Johnny Petraglia – My Most Embarrassing Moments

I’ve had embarrassing moments in life, we all have. Just a couple of mine are here. After a long and tough day working with Brunswick staffers, I fell asleep at dinner and Sean Rash took a picture of me asleep with a piece of chicken in my mouth and put it online. At that same meal, I was so tired I ripped open a pack of sugar and instead of pouring it in my coffee, I poured it over the other packs of sugar. What is most interesting is I don’t use sugar in my coffee. Robert Lawrence thought I was having a seizure.

In the early days of my career, after a bad break I reached up and slapped the hanging telescore and knocked it off the chain. They had to stop the squad, bring out a ladder and re-hang it.

However one of my most embarrassing moments came when nobody was there. Nobody heard it or saw it. We used to bowl a Senior PBA stop at Airport lanes in Jackson, Michigan. This was a great house for me. I won the Senior National Championship there, and won one other time there, along with four finishes in the top five. The host of the tournament was Mel Wolf. He was a great guy and a great host. We don’t bowl there anymore because Mel passed away a couple of years ago. I had the added pleasure of staying at Mel’s house. He and his wife Anne made you feel just like family.

One year after the tournament, instead of heading home, I had to go to Brunswick in Muskegon, MI. So I had to get to I-96 and head west. I asked Mel how to get to the interstate. Mel gave me directions. It was pretty simple. He said, “Go to a certain block, turn right, go a couple of miles and when you see the subway, turn left. I did what Mel said. I drove a couple of miles and saw the big yellow and green Subway sign. I then said, “Oh, that Subway.” I was looking for a TRAIN STATION!! Jackson, Michigan has a population of 35,000. I think the odds of them having an underground subway system are pretty much non-existent. So I make the left and drive toward the interstate feeling like an idiot and then I say to myself, “I guess the old phrase is true…..

YOU CAN TAKE THE KID OUT OF BROOKLYN, BUT YOU CAN’T TAKE BROOKLYN OUT OF THE KID.”

cento anni’… Johnny Petraglia

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