Joe LaSpina, John LaSpina, and Andy Varipapa II at the PBA50 Johnny Petraglia BVL Open at Maple Lanes in Clearwater FL.
Last week several PBA Hall of Famers competed at Maple Lanes Countryside in Clearwater, FL, for the PBA50 Johnny Petraglia BVL Open, a stop on the PBA Senior Tour that doubles as a fundraiser for Bowlers to Veterans Link. “Veterans Administration funding stops at therapy,” Maple Lanes’ Vice President, Joe LaSpina, said prior to a pro-am event with league members and the pros. “So, what the BVL does is fund therapeutic recovery programs inside the VA.”
LaSpina said the tour and his family-owned operation — which his grandfather started in 1960 and now boasts five family bowling centers in New York and Florida — have enjoyed a long relationship. “We typically raise about $100,000 a year for BVL,” LaSpina said, noting they presented four checks totaling $70,000 to several local veterans’ charities at the conclusion of the pro-am event. “Not too many family-owned operations can make a claim like that.”
The tournament honors PBA Hall of Famer Johnny Petraglia, a Vietnam veteran and longtime BVL spokesperson. “It’s all about raising money for the veterans,” said Petraglia. “They do so much for this country. They deserve it.”
The connection between Maple Lanes, Johnny Petraglia, and Andy Varipapa was also highlighted as during the tournament, Maple Lanes provided a copy of Andy’s recently published biography to the 200+ amateurs who bowled with the pros in the pro-am. The author of the biography, Glenn Gerstner, was on hand to sign the books as were two of Andy’s grandsons, Andy Varipapa II and Andy Ruffolo. Before the pro-am Andy’s trick shot films were shown on the video screens for the fans.
John LaSpina, President of Maple Lanes and former National Chair of BVL, has known Johnny Petraglia since he visited the first Maple Lanes center in Brooklyn in 1960. That was the same year that Johnny Petraglia took his first lesson from Andy Varipapa. The relationship between the LaSpina and Varipapa families goes back to those days when Andy gave lessons to many bowlers at that Brooklyn center and would perform his trick shots at numerous grand openings of new centers.
It was an honor to be part of an event that benefited veterans. On behalf of the Varipapa family, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to John and Joe LaSpina for making my grandfather’s biography and legacy—which included entertaining the military around the world over three decades—an integral part of the festivities.
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