Off a wide intersection, a large sign reading “Flamingo Bowl” in neon script rises higher than any of the neighboring structures in front of a gray building off Oswego Road. About 100 yards from the Dunkin’ Donuts to its left and with trees the only neighbor to its right, the facility sits silent enough so that the water flowing down a drain pipe is the predominant sound. Employees and guests sit on a picnic bench outside and greet passersby with quiet conversation and cigarette smoke.

Inside the building, the tagline “A Future for the Sport” is draped in white block letter across the back wall. After years of being hosted in Las Vegas, the Professional Bowling Association’s United States Open tournament made the move to Flamingo Bowl in Liverpool this year. Tom Clark, the commissioner and CEO of the PBA, as well as a longtime Syracuse fan, says the close proximity to Syracuse is what the sport needs.

“The biggest thing that I want and need to bring to bowling is rabid, avid fans,” Clark said. “Syracuse basketball has that.”

In Clark’s office in Milwaukee, he said, the walls tell the story of his life growing up in Syracuse. A framed copy of the Syracuse Post-Standard from 2003 with the “Believe It” headline following SU’s national title win hangs on the wall. A picture of Clark’s son, Rory — who was almost named Carmelo, but wasn’t after Clark lost an argument with his wife — with former Syracuse guard Malachi Richardson and a large portrait of Clark with SU head coach Jim Boeheim stand front and center in the office.

Clark, at the Battle for Atlantis in 2015, walked over with his son to take a photo with current-Orange assistant coach and former player Gerry McNamara. He still said he was a “geek” as he described the year to McNamara, when Syracuse won the title and Clark’s son was born.

“That was a good year,” McNamara said to Clark.

Less easy to spot is his long connection to bowling. His father was a bowler, so Clark was around it for most of his life. But, PBA memorabilia is few and far between in comparison to his Orange collection. Clark loves the city he grew up in, and he goes back numerous times throughout the year to watch Syracuse games.

“My number one interest in life is Syracuse basketball,” Clark said. “Jim Boeheim, other than my family, has had the most influence on my life. (I’m) not even joking.”

Over the next year, Syracuse bowling centers will host three major events. The biggest is the United States Bowling Conference Open Championships, the world’s largest amateur bowling competition, which will bring more than 50,000 bowlers to the greater-Syracuse area, Clark said.

Gavin Liddell | Contributing Photographer

When Clark was growing up, there were about 9 million league bowlers nationwide that competed in tournaments compared to about five million today, he said. Bowling alleys across the country, as well as in Syracuse, are vanishing. Most of his favorite bowling centers growing up, where the PBA used to host events, are long gone.

“All of us involved with bowling,” Clark said, “we’re trying to bring it back.”

Flamingo Bowl may be the end of Clark’s search for a hub of the PBA.

Inside, the alley offers nothing surprising. An all-black carpet with confetti-like images surround the facility. To the left as one walks in, the front desk worker stands with the collection of bowling shoes behind him. To the right, a concession stand worker sits to the side, taking a break between orders. Bowlers and fans alike slurp from white Styrofoam cups that they ordered at the front.

A public address announcer talking in a soft voice tells the bowlers to finish their warmups. One by one, each bowler grabs their suitcase-like bowling ball totes and drags them over to the right side of the alley, setting up in their starting positions. A small crowd on the left side of the viewing area gets up and walks parallel to the contestants. Despite the small crowd, the narrow inside of the venue makes moving around difficult. People pressed their backs against the wall to allow bowlers to walk by.

After the bowlers are set, the announcer reads from a set of requests for audience etiquette, asking for no stray noises or encroachment on the competitor’s’ space. The bowlers start to create conversation.

“Round two?” one bowler asked another sitting on the bench behind the racks of bowling balls. Leaning back on the bench, the second bowler didn’t offer a reply.

“I’ll wake you up for the third,” the first bowler said.

When the announcer finally started the round, a spattering of applause was followed by nothing but the sound of balls hitting pins. In what could have easily gone unnoticed, the start of the match served as the commencement of the biggest bowling event in Syracuse in almost two decades.

For over four hours, bowlers moved from one lane to another, racking up points that displayed on a small projector on the right side of the alley. By the second hour, the crowd grew larger and applause broke out more frequently.

Gavin Liddell | Contributing Photographer

Bowlers took turns rolling the ball with the same motion and doing their same strut back to the benches. Competitors rarely showed any emotion with their faces, as the only thing that differentiated a good frame from a bad one was the extension of the hand to their fellow bowlers giving a silent congratulation. Liz Johnson, the field’s only female competitor, opted for a fist-bump.

At one point, Walter Ray Williams Jr. left his spot in the 23rd lane and approached the front desk to notify the workers that the pin-clearing machine stopped working. The front desk operator got the machine up and running and the crowd behind the lane unleashed what was perhaps the loudest applause of the round.

The tournament, despite the informal appearance, could have a sizable impact for both the PBA and Flamingo Bowl, Clark said.

Inside, a few kids walked around holding bowling pins adorned with autographs from bowlers. A man introduced himself to “his hero.” A small child wearing a jersey that read “USBC youth” talked with a bowler between frames. In the bar behind the lanes, people ordered drinks and sat close to the window to watch the bowlers. The nationally televised football game between No. 2 Penn State at No. 6 Ohio State went unwatched behind their backs.

“We’ve hosted tournaments like this in the past,” said Tricia Zinter, general manager of Flamingo Bowl. “But nothing this big.”

It was nothing but a string of luck that landed the Liverpool venue as the host. Mike McCracken, the owner of Flamingo Bowl, said he ran into Chad Murphy, executive director of the United States bowling conference, at lunch one day. They spoke about the Las Vegas contract’s end and McCracken convinced Murphy to move the tournament to the East Coast.

“They like this area,” McCracken said. “There’s a high concentration of bowlers within a five hour drive.”

Andy Mendes | Digital Design Editor

Syracuse remains a good location for bowling because of the weather, Zinter said, and that “80 percent” of the time, it’s necessary to take all activities inside. So, as an indoor sport, people could turn to bowling when it is too cold to be outside. Clark himself scoffs at people who say that the weather makes it difficult to host a tournament in central New York.

“You have to get from your car to the front door,” Clark said. “That takes two minutes.”

At Flamingo Bowl, the championship trophy, about 3 feet tall and crowned with a bronze eagle, sits unguarded by nothing more than a single rope barrier. The names of all the previous winners are written on the blue poster next to the trophy and the word “Champion” is printed plainly on the front plaque of the trophy. When the eventual winner, which gets decided on Wednesday, accepts the trophy, they will have done it in front of a Syracuse crowd on bowling’s biggest stage.

Once the round ended, all the bowlers filed out and walked alongside members of the audience, making conversation and smiling wide.

The monitors switched from the game scores to the home screen. The U.S. Open logo appeared in big lettering across the middle of the screen. In the bottom right corner, the words “Now at Flamingo Bowl!” were typed so small they were hardly visible to the naked eye.

Flamingo Bowl was the first central New York venue to host this tournament in years, but Clark doesn’t expect it to be the last. He thinks fans will continue to help grow the sport.

“I have confidence they’re going to be great fans,” Clark said. “In Syracuse, they will understand. There will be a level of respect combined with that energy…that will make Syracuse a great host for great bowling.

“You get the best.”

Published on October 29, 2017 at 11:14 pm

Contact Michael: [email protected] | @MikeJMcCleary