BowlCo

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Servitude

From a long way back- I felt it was always important to please others. From my parents to friends to siblings... and then eventually to customers. I thought I was going to be a meteorologist- went to school and studied it... then a professional bowler- as I loved the sport side and was pretty good... good enough to beat Pete Weber in matchplay in a couple of PBA events a long time ago. But I always found myself in love with the bowling center. The smells... from a child smelling the lacquer finish used on the lanes, and yes- LOTS of smoke... to the small centers and the smell of the grill and fryers cooking up those beloved bowling alley burgers and fries. I knew back in the early 80’s I wanted my own center.

So- I bought my own center in 1986... along with my then fiance’ Lori (now married 32 years with 5 kids shown above and now one grandchild, too!) a small 6 laner in a small town in Iowa. My wife.... what a gal. Drug into a business where 80 hour weeks is standard- even though she was home most of the time raising the kids- taking them to school, hockey, volleyball, etc... all that while I worked. Our holdings grew bigger- That grew to a 16 in Omaha, to a 32, to grouping together with other partners at one time operating about 4 or 5 centers at once. But it was always the same thing... I loved to serve. Yes- I wanted the neatest, cleanest, coolest bowling center with the best shot and neatest looking masking units, yada, yada..... but I was so consumed with how the bowlers were feeling. Even when I was maybe at a BPAA meeting at another center in Omaha or somewhere- I always wanted to help if that poor guy got busy or need someone to run and get a ball call, etc... I felt compelled to serve.... even my competition.

As time marched by- I felt even more compelled to help other proprietors- even in my own neighborhood- with new ideas to help their business. I always felt if business was good for my competitors center- it would also be good for me- as it would keep my sharp and in tune with whats happening inside my doors- and at the bare minimum- if more people kept bowling- it had to be good for me. I never, ever once took a whole league from another center that wanted to move. Yes- some individuals and teams moved to our centers. I always felt that if people were so unhappy with where they were bowling- they were more likely to quit than go through the process of moving. So- I always called the proprietor of the center that was where the league was from and told them about their unhappy league. I felt good about this. We stayed full and busy- but again- it goes back to helping others. I liked that feeling.

In the mid 2000’s- I got the bright idea to close my then very successful 16 lane center doing over $1.5M..... yup.... in the middle of the cornfields of Nebraska..... and build my dream center- an 86,000 sq. ft. FEC right up the street. Me and my new partners (2 of my best friends and another guy who i thought was my friend... and had all the money.... and ended up being the guy that caused it’s demise) designed a beautiful place going towards the new FEC model. We kept all of our league play- then 20 plus years of good will in our area- and moved it about 1.7 miles and $7 million dollars right up the street. We even won the Bowlers Journal Best New Center award for 2007-2008. Bad news? Don’t go into partnership with your best friends. And don’t bring on a partner with lots of money with basically a handshake agreement. I still love my 2 friends like brothers- but learned a valuable lesson. Sometimes even though your are in servitude- you can’t please everyone. Our partnership failed (even though we opened 6 months late and STILL did over $4M...) But it renewed my desire to serve other proprietors in their centers and helping them.

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