Bowling History, The Bowling Memoirs of Johnny Petraglia
A Fun Story from My Time as President of the PBA – Bowling Memoirs of Johnny Petraglia
My tournament (Johnny Petraglia Open) ran for eleven years until the new group bought the PBA and decided to put the U.S.Open there. They also made a new rule that you couldn’t have your name on a tournament while you were still alive. They have since changed that rule.
The first year of the tournament I was also President of the PBA. We had a great first year, over 2,500 bowlers in the pro-am. Carolier lanes has a huge parking lot. Normally it can hold all the cars for a tournament, but this year they were overflowing. There is a service road that goes around the lot before you get on the main road. You must stop at the edge of the lot before turning onto the road. Because of the overflow, cars were parked on the service road.
As the pro-am was ending my wife Pat left a little early to beat the traffic. Because of the cars parked on the service rd. instead of stopping in the lot she pulled out onto the road so she could see around the cars. She didn’t go more than 100 ft. and a cop pulled her over. He asked for license and reg. and asked if she knew why she was being pulled over. She said no. The cop told her you didn’t stop before pulling out onto the road. She said I’m sorry I could see around the cars, it’s never this crowded. The tournament drew a lot of people… my husband is a member of the PBA. The cop said,
“Your husband is a PBA member?” She said very confidently, “my husband is PRESIDENT of the PBA!”
The cop looked at her license and back at her and said, “Okay Mrs.Petraglia, sorry for the inconvenience, please try and come to a full stop before pulling out on the road in the future.” He handed her back the license and reg. and said goodnight. She said thank you and left. It took her about a mile to realize that the PBA she was talking about was not the PBA the cop was talking about. She’s thinking Pro Bowlers Assn. and he’s thinking Policemen’s Benevolent Assn.
I guess the current PBA president at that time had a similar name to mine. But even if he didn’t… who would be stupid enough to tell a lie like that to a policeman!!!! I always felt that cop walked away saying I think that’s our PBA president’s name… it has to be… who would lie about that and expect me to believe them? You can’t make this stuff up!!
cento anni’…Johnny Petraglia
Hi John, Many cops knew of the bowler Johnny Petraglia and I bet that cop knew exactly what your wife meant. Either way she did not get a ticket. By the way thanks for being at the lanes and presenting me with an award for running the NYS Police & Fire Games for 38 years. Keep on knocking down those pins. Best regards