by Dave Williams
A recent article by Nolan Hughes at the pba.com website caught my eye when I learned that Johnny Petraglia would be receiving the 2023 Community Service Award. I guess my first reaction was… What took so long? The award recognizes a current PBA member who exemplifies extraordinary community service, charitable or educational contributions over the course of a PBA season.
The award has been in existence since 2013, and I was surprised to see in the list of recipients that Petraglia has never won. My immediate thought is that the PBA should create another award that exemplifies those same contributions over a career, and then just give it to Petraglia every year!
What Johnny has done in his career, both on and off the lanes, is a textbook model for any professional athlete to follow. I remember meeting him for the first time while I was still in high school, in 1968. He had just returned from Vietnam and was doing an exhibition at Fairfield Bowl, near Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California.
Word came in the form of a flier at L & L Lanes in Sebastopol, and one of the parents asked if we would like to go with him to see this young pro bowler. There were four of us that jumped at the chance, and we made the two hour trip, cutting directly across the state on some back roads to Fairfield. I’m sure those roads are all engulfed with vineyards now.
The 40 lane Fairfield Bowl was packed for the Petraglia event. I’m not sure if it was because he had just returned from Vietnam, or because of the close proximity to Travis Air Force Base, or just what it was, but the place was completely filled with bowlers and onlookers for the better part of a day. It was set up like a Pro-Am event, but the only real star that I remember seeing was Johnny, along with a number of top local pros and semi-professionals that were paired with amateurs on each pair of lanes.
At one point Petraglia did roll a three game match against the top bowler in the area, Reno Soucy, who had rolled a sanctioned 868 in league play at Fairfield Bowl, which was among the highest series in the history of bowling; that is, until the limited distance dressing rule changed everything in 1988.
Johnny Petraglia is now approaching 60 years as a member of the PBA, with 14 career titles. His best years came in 1994, when the 47 year old rolled a perfect 300 game on national television, valued at $100,000; and in 1971, when he was embroiled with Don Johnson in a battle for the top spot in earnings on the PBA Tour. Both Petraglia and Johnson broke the former single season earnings record, but it was Johnny coming out on top with total earnings of $85,065 (Johnson’s total was $81,349).
Many of Petraglia’s years on the tour were lean in terms of tournament earnings, but he always had Brunswick there to back him up. One of the greatest things that ever happened to Johnny was the LT-48 Bowling Ball which carried his signature. The ball was actually developed by Lou Trier, a chemist, at the age of 48 (three years later he developed the LT-51 with another staffer, Tommy Hudson, providing his signature).
Jim Mailander was the product manager in those years at Brunswick, and he later came to work for AMF as an acquisitions manager, where he had the office right next to mine. Jim would often joke at lunchtime about how he made Petraglia a very wealthy man because under the terms of the agreement, Johnny received a 50 cent royalty on every ball sold. Hudson also received the same 50 cent royalty, but the LT-51 never enjoyed the popularity of the LT-48.
Hughes reports in his article that Petraglia has worked countless hours with military veterans and helped to raise millions of dollars through his work with Bowlers to Veterans Link (BVL), a charity dedicated to funding recreation therapy programs for veterans. Here’s an interesting excerpt from the Hughes piece:
Petraglia said his inspiration began shortly after returning home in 1968. He said a group of United States senators organized one athlete from every sport to visit patients in Veterans Health Administration (VA) hospitals. As the least heralded athlete, Petraglia said they paired him with perhaps the most prominent athlete in attendance — Jesse Owens.
“I learned so much from him in those couple of days about how to talk to the patients, especially the patients in intensive care wards,” Petraglia said. “He was just this wonderful and gentle man and he knew exactly how to talk to everybody. He really inspired me. I found out about the BVL soon after and thought to myself that I’ve got to stick with this and do what I can.”
In November, Petraglia celebrated his 50th year working with BVL. The organization has raised more than $56 million supporting veterans by funding recreation therapy programs, clinics and community based counseling centers since their inception in 1942. In addition to his work with BVL, Petraglia said that he also coaches youth bowlers and helps them to earn college scholarships. There’s even a scholarship bearing his name in partnership with the Bowl4Life foundation.
What an amazing man, and story…
CALIFORNIA USBC NEWS! 
You must be logged in to post a comment.