FROM THE ASHES OF 9-11: A PROPRIETOR STEPS UP

This is the last in a series of “what’s right with bowling” features that originally appeared in the “Karma” section of the November issue of BCM.

BY BOB JOHNSON

The horrific events of October 7 in Israel couldn’t help but conjure memories of September 11, 2001, in New York City; Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. After the scope of the massacre at a music festival and elsewhere in the Gaza Strip became clear, it didn’t take long for Israeli officials to label the attack “Israel’s 9-11.”

John LaSpina, a multi-center operator in New York, remembers the morning of 9-11 well. He was driving to Maple Lanes in Brooklyn, and while crossing the Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge remembers thinking to himself, “I don’t remember there being a chimney in front of the World Trade Center.”

By the time he got to work, things had become clearer. His brother Peter told him that a second plane had flown into the Trade Center’s north tower. Maple Lanes was about a seven-mile drive from the Trade Center but closer if one drew a straight line between the two sites. Before long, a giant dust ball floated over the bowling center. LaSpina’s dark blue car was now ashen gray. 

“The city was paralyzed,” LaSpina recalls. “Nobody knew what to do except try to get as far away from Lower Manhattan as possible — except for the first responders, of course. I try not to think about that day so much anymore. I stay away from television on the anniversary.”

Still, it’s tough for him to shake certain aspects of the tragedy. One of the center’s most avid bowlers worked at Cantor Fitzgerald, which occupied five floors in the North Tower. He didn’t go into work that day; 658 fellow employees who did lost their lives. He has suffered tremendous survivor guilt ever since.

Maple Lanes had been scheduled to have new lanes installed, but because of the city’s and country’s paralysis, the installation crew had to go home. Home was Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

In the days and weeks that followed, LaSpina attended numerous funerals — with no bodies.

Time passed. Slowly, things began to return to normal. It was a new normal, to be sure, but people were going back to work, planes were flying again and bowling centers had become even more important as the community meeting places they’ve always been.

Even so, LaSpina says something was grating on him.

“I just felt that our centers should be able to have more impact on each community,” he says. “Something more meaningful than just profit.”

Eventually, he settled on an idea: “Let’s do a tournament for BVL.”

BVL is the Bowlers to Veterans Link, originally known as the Bowlers Victory Legion and later as the BVL Fund. Founded in 1942 to support American troops during World War II, BVL (as it’s more simply known today) evolved over time to become a non-profit that provides recreational therapy opportunities for veterans.

The LaSpinas owned four New York-area centers at the time. Qualifying was held at each center, finalists converged on a single site and $25,000 was raised for BVL.

“It proved that you could run your business, make money and still do something else, something helpful,” LaSpina says. “That has turned into $600,000 over the years from our company.”

While local bowling associations had long supported BVL with annual fundraising tournaments, those events began to wane as the number of associations decreased following the founding of the United States Bowling Congress and as league participation continued its steady decline. So, after his company conducted successful fundraisers on their own for a few years, LaSpina was asked to join the national BVL board. In 2014, he became the chair.

A number of successful initiatives would follow.

LaSpina spoke directly to proprietors and asked them to follow his company’s model and conduct their own fundraisers. If that meant there were two or more such events in a given area each year, so much the better.

He has worked with major manufacturers to have a “round up” option added to the POS systems they sell to centers.

It’s now possible for bowlers and others to make direct contributions to BVL online at bvl.org.

LaSpina has managed to fill the seats of several long-serving board members who could no longer participate with individuals who are motivated and passionate about spreading the good word about BVL.

And he has gotten his lifelong friend and bowling hall of famer Johnny Petraglia involved as a spokesperson. The Vietnam veteran can speak from the heart about how much the work of BVL means to his fellow veterans.

“We’ve gotten extremely close,” LaSpina says of Petraglia, “and if I could have a second brother, I’d want it to be him. BVL brought us back together and tied the knot tight. What I see today is a man who can be introspective and not concerned about himself. When I talk about him to groups, I think about how I went to a cushy liberal arts college and he went to war. Dedicating this year of BVL fundraising to him is part of my making up for that.”

While proprietors are urged to raise money for BVL throughout the year, November is designated as “BVL Month.” LaSpina says he hopes every proprietor will set the goal of doing just a little bit more than they did last year.

“We can live our everyday lives because of veterans,” LaSpina notes. “We can run a business and people can play a game because people paid a price — some the ultimate price and some an emotional price. There are scars you can see and scars you can’t see.”

Adds LaSpina: “BVL has given me a voice that I can be proud of, and being chair has given me the opportunity to put together a great team that will take care of it in the future. I’m so glad that something good came out of something so terrible.”