Hall of Fame bowler recounts his striking career

							Page 24 | CLARION HERALD                                                       ELDER OUTLOOK                                                     May 22, 2010 | New Orleans



Hall of Fame bowler recounts his striking career
By Mark Pattison                               When Lubanski started             So how does one earn entry     been about 11, 12 years old.”    him to bowl anymore, but
Catholic News Service                        his career, the Professional     into a hall of fame, let alone      Lubanski said his uncle, a     he still gives lessons. And
                                             Bowlers Association was in its   five? Practice, practice, prac-   shopkeeper, gave him money       Lubanski even likes “bumper
   WASHINGTON (CNS) – It                     infancy, the prize money was     tice.                             to bowl. The bowling alley       bowling,” which keeps kids
was 50 years ago this June that              small, and he won only one          “My aunt took me bowling       manager let him bowl free,       from rolling gutter balls. “It’s
bowler Eddie Lubanski rolled                 tournament on the circuit.       one time. I remember the first    but instructed him to “take      a way for them to get start-
two consecutive 300 games on                 Lubanski supported his wife      game I ever bowled was 86,”       care of the pin boys” who had    ed,” he said. His preference,
live TV.                                     and five children instead by     Lubanski recalled. But a love     to reset the pins every frame    though, is that they have
   Lubanski, now 79, remi-                   bowling in the semi-pro bowl-    for the sport was born. “I used   before the era of automatic      some ability: “If you can’t
nisced about his life and                    ing leagues in and around        to average at least 10 games a    pinsetters.                      swing the ball, come back to
career with Catholic News                    Detroit.                         day,” he added. “I must have        His arthritis doesn’t permit   me later.”
Service as a biography, “The
King of Pins,” was released in
2009.
   He estimated that he’s
bowled “50 or 60” 300 games
– 12 strikes in a row. “They
do ‘em so often now that it’s
a little scary,” he told CNS.
“They’ve changed the (lane)
conditions so much, and the
bowling balls are all changed,
too. I go watch ‘em on Sunday
mornings, and in the last six
months I must have seen at
least 15, 20 300 games.”
   Lubanski, a Catholic, doesn’t
skip church to watch bowling.
He goes with his wife to a late
Saturday Mass at Our Lady of
Fatima Church in Oak Park,
Mich., a Detroit suburb.
   Lubanski was a TV fixture
himself in his heyday, appear-
ing on such shows as “Make
That Spare,” “Jackpot Bowl-
ing” and “Beat the Champ.”
   His exploits have earned
him entry into five differ-
ent halls of fame: national,
Michigan and Detroit bowl-
ing halls, plus the Michigan
Sports Hall of Fame and the
Polish-American Sports Hall
of Fame in Orchard Lake,
Mich., outside Detroit.




        Photo | COURTESY OF DON LEDDY, CNS

Eddie Lubanksi bowls in this photo
from the 1960s. Lubanksi, a Catholic,
was one of the greatest bowlers of
his day. Fifty years ago he rolled
two consecutive perfect games on
live TV.