RIP Mark Roth

[cliftonparksufan]

One of the greatest bowlers of all time. Who knew he lived in Fulton.

News

www.bowl.com

 

[CuseFaninVT]

One of the greatest bowlers of all time. Who knew he lived in Fulton.

News

www.bowl.com

I remember him well. My dad duplicated his style well enough to win the Troy 700 tourney in the 70s

RIP

 

[cliftonparksufan]

I remember him well. My dad duplicated his style well enough to win the Troy 700 tourney in the 70s

RIP

The Albany area was a bowling hotbed in the 50's, 60's and 70's. The 1st PBA tour event was held in Albany in the late 50's. There were a ton of alleys which were full all hours of the day. Your dad must have been a pretty good bowler but everyone's dad bowled. White collar, blue collar. It didn't matter. They could go smoke and drink beer and cuss. Junior programs were huge. Bowling was more popular than golf but look at it now. Easily 50% or more of all the alleys have shut down. Not just in Albany but everywhere.

Roth was the 2nd generation along with Earl Anthony and Johnny Petraglia with the 1st generation being Dick Weber and Dick Ritger. Every ten years begat another great generation of bowlers but because it never paid much I think a lot of great bowlers couldn't afford the grind of the road.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

The Albany area was a bowling hotbed in the 50's, 60's and 70's. The 1st PBA tour event was held in Albany in the late 50's. There were a ton of alleys which were full all hours of the day. Your dad must have been a pretty good bowler but everyone's dad bowled. White collar, blue collar. It didn't matter. They could go smoke and drink beer and cuss. Junior programs were huge. Bowling was more popular than golf but look at it now. Easily 50% or more of all the alleys have shut down. Not just in Albany but everywhere.

Roth was the 2nd generation along with Earl Anthony and Johnny Petraglia with the 1st generation being Dick Weber and Dick Ritger. Every ten years begat another great generation of bowlers but because it never paid much I think a lot of great bowlers couldn't afford the grind of the road.

Yup. I grew up a half block from Green Island Lanes. My dad was in a few different leagues there, and did a bunch of other tournaments. I bowled every Saturday morning for years.

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

The Albany area was a bowling hotbed in the 50's, 60's and 70's. The 1st PBA tour event was held in Albany in the late 50's. There were a ton of alleys which were full all hours of the day. Your dad must have been a pretty good bowler but everyone's dad bowled. White collar, blue collar. It didn't matter. They could go smoke and drink beer and cuss. Junior programs were huge. Bowling was more popular than golf but look at it now. Easily 50% or more of all the alleys have shut down. Not just in Albany but everywhere.

Roth was the 2nd generation along with Earl Anthony and Johnny Petraglia with the 1st generation being Dick Weber and Dick Ritger. Every ten years begat another great generation of bowlers but because it never paid much I think a lot of great bowlers couldn't afford the grind of the road.

Dave Ferraro was from Kingston. My father told me that when he was a broke young man, just starting out training horses, he and a friend decided to run numbers to make some extra coin. On their first attempt, Dave Ferraro's father, who was apparently a pretty well-to-do business owner (i think he owned and operated bowling alleys), won right off the bat, basically further crippling my father financially, and bringing an abrupt end to his numbers operation.

I remember that, as a kid in the 80s growing up in the Capital District, I watched the local bowling broadcast on Sunday mornings. I used to love the way they lined up all the different colored balls on the rack located off the side of the lanes they used. It's funny the things that stick with you. I was just a wee-little guy then.

 

[upperdeck]

video games killed the bowling alleys. too bad because with the new balls it so much easier to bowl these days and so many alleys have juiced the lanes to promote good scoring

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Dave Ferraro was from Kingston. My father told me that when he was a broke young man, just starting out training horses, he and a friend decided to run numbers to make some extra coin. On their first attempt, Dave Ferraro's father, who was apparently a pretty well-to-do business owner (i think he owned and operated bowling alleys), won right off the bat, basically further crippling my father financially, and bringing an abrupt end to his numbers operation.

I remember that, as a kid in the 80s growing up in the Capital District, I watched the local bowling broadcast on Sunday mornings. I used to love the way they lined up all the different colored balls on the rack located off the side of the lanes they used. It's funny the things that stick with you. I was just a wee-little guy then.

I just searched and there are only a couple TV Tournament Time on Youtube. Here is one of them. Are those the balls your remember?

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

I just searched and there are only a couple TV Tournament Time on Youtube. Here is one of them. Are those the balls your remember?

That blue rack!

 

[br801]

The Albany area was a bowling hotbed in the 50's, 60's and 70's. The 1st PBA tour event was held in Albany in the late 50's. There were a ton of alleys which were full all hours of the day. Your dad must have been a pretty good bowler but everyone's dad bowled. White collar, blue collar. It didn't matter. They could go smoke and drink beer and cuss. Junior programs were huge. Bowling was more popular than golf but look at it now. Easily 50% or more of all the alleys have shut down. Not just in Albany but everywhere.

Roth was the 2nd generation along with Earl Anthony and Johnny Petraglia with the 1st generation being Dick Weber and Dick Ritger. Every ten years begat another great generation of bowlers but because it never paid much I think a lot of great bowlers couldn't afford the grind of the road.

Not just the Albany area, but Central NY, Western NY, the Southern Tier, Long Island and New Jersey were all bowling hotbeds, and many great bowlers emerged from those areas.

You're right that everybody bowled, and that it did transcend all of society. My father bowled in many competitive leagues and competed in tournaments, but he also bowled in a co-ed league with my mother. I bowled competitively as a kid, but we were taught to emulate the style of a Dick Weber or Don Carter, because that's how my father and most of his peers were doing it. When Mark Roth came along, we all wanted to bowl like him. I have fond memories of watching those Saturday afternoon ABC telecasts with my father, and watching the older greats go up against the young guns like Roth and Holman.

RIP, Mark.