Time away pays off for area bowler

Normally, re-engaging in an activity after a 17-year layoff doesn’t lend itself to improvement.

Not so in Chuck Fagan’s case.

The 56-year-old South Sider returned to bowling with a bash following a lengthy hiatus due to injury.

Although it took four more years, Fagan reaped the fruits of bowling’s tree of scores when he rolled his first 800 on Dec. 1 in Charlie’s Service at Holiday Bowl.

A 300 game contributed to the total.

Fagan said he hadn’t touched a ball since 1988 because of a back injury from work. Then, in 2005, Fagan was attempting to teach his son, Charlie, 18 at the time, how to bowl.

“I don’t think he understood what I was trying to tell him, so I took matters into my own hands,” Chuck Fagan said of his dilemma at Boardman Lanes. “He was brand new to the game, so he didn’t know anything about an approach or how to hook the ball. I rented a pair of shoes, grabbed a ball off the rack and threw a couple times. I hadn’t bowled in 17 years, but it didn’t seem to hurt. So I bowled a game and then another couple games. The next thing I knew, I was in two leagues a week.”

It was understandable for a guy who quit bowling because of two back surgeries, but the re-indoctrination put him back on track from whence he came.

“Like a lot guys, I was a bowling alley rat,” said Fagan, who started hanging around Holiday when he was 15, although he didn’t fully benefit from the surroundings until he was old enough to imbibe at the alley’s Rip Van Winkle Room and Wildlife.

Fagan, who attended Cardinal Mooney for two years, then graduated from Woodrow Wilson in 1971, eventually became the assistant trainer/handler for Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini.

Fagan said that scores in his “first” bowling life were nothing like his resurrection.

“Back in the day, we didn’t have these kinds of sets,” Chuck said of today’s 800s.

His top pre-layoff series were 760 at Boardman Lanes during a mixed doubles tournament in the late 1970s and a 750 in the old Pyramid League (now Belchyk/Action Plumbing Classic) at Holiday.

Since his return, Fagan’s top series was 796 during the 2008-2009 season.

After 17 years, he was struck by the difference in the game.

“With new equipment, it’s a lot easier to carry that back row [7-8-9-10]. There were many good bowlers in [Pyramid], but we used to have a guy with a spray can and mop condition the lanes. Now, a computer’s doing it. The bowlers are still good, but the scores are higher, probably 20 pins higher than when I quit.

“With the old plastic and rubber balls, you had to let it go perfectly and get a lot of revolutions. If you didn’t, it could have slid into the pocket like a wet noodle and leave an 8-10. Now, the release doesn’t have to be perfect and you can still hit every pin. The resin does the work for you. You still have to have some skills, but the equipment helps.”

Fagan never thought he’d bowl an 800, so, when it appeared on his radar, he was nervous.

His first game was 232 and his second was 300. The third game started with a double, then he left two 10 pins before picking them up.

“I needed to hit the last eight for a 268 to get 800 even and I did — on the nose. There was no room for error. An 800 is a lot harder than 300. I was glad I got the perfect game beforehand.”

The 300 was his third — all since his comeback.

After his injury, Fagan received his associate’s degree at KSU-East Liverpool as a physical therapist’s assistant. He currently works at Atlas Rehab in Liberty.

“I went back to school when I was 40. It was kind of strange. I was getting old and had to get back to work. I was running out of money.”

Charlie Fagan is now 23 and an amateur boxer.

He was most recently on a fight card prior to Thanksgiving. He’s also a godson of Mancini’s.

Chuck Fagan worked with “Boom Boom” from 1979-1985 and the two got together last week at Kelly Pavlik’s 13th Round in Struthers, where Mancini was promoting his Southpaw wine.

“I talk to Ray once a month,” said the reinvigorated Fagan, who may expect more 800s just as frequently.

Teri Haefke’s 763 led C-G Pro Shop/Ladies Trio at Wedgewood on Dec. 1 and Mike Taninecz had a four-game scratch set of 848, followed by Nick Garbec’s 751 in McKinley’s Friday Night Sport Sweeper.

XJohn Bassetti writes about bowling for The Vindicator. E-mail him at bassetti@vindy.com.