FAGAN PURCHASES TENPINS & MORE

Numbers simply can’t be ignored when discussing Steve Mackie’s career in the bowling business and his quarter-century as the owner, with wife Dana Miller-Mackie and brother-in-law Mike Miller, of Tenpins and More in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.

Take the New Mexico Open tournament, as an example. Mackie, a high-level bowler in his native Australia, founded the tournament not only to give competitive bowlers a platform on which to display their skills, but also to fill lanes and generate linage during the traditionally slower summer months. Over the 20 years he conducted the tournament, $925,000 in prize money was paid out.

While that statistic is impressive, Mackie would tell you he’s much prouder of the monies raised in the 14 ARCA fundraisers hosted by Tenpins and More (see the November 2024 issue of BCM for a feature on that effort). ARCA offers programs that assist those with intellectual or developmental disabilities, and the organization benefitted by $1.2 million through Tenpins and More-hosted bowl-a-thons.

Through bowl-a-thons, other special events, tournaments, league play and open play, Mackie estimates that the 24-lane center generated 6 million games during his family’s 25-year stewardship, making it perhaps the highest-grossing center of its size anywhere.

Now, the family has passed the baton to two-time PBA major champion Michael Fagan, who took possession of the keys in late April and named Rob Ballog, a veteran of Bowlero operations in Southern California and Denver, as general manager.

In a statement, Fagan said, “It is a privilege to carry forward [the Mackie and Miller families’] legacy while bringing new energy and investment into Tenpins and More. I am thrilled to return to the bowling industry and look forward to what’s ahead.”

Plans call for new pinsetting machines to be installed — understandable, given the center’s high linage over the past 25 years — as well as an upgraded scoring system. Fagan also said the center will continue to place an emphasis on league and tournament play, adding that the 2025 New Mexico Open will be held, as scheduled, Aug. 14-17.

In 1999, Mackie was winding down his career with AMF Bowling Centers — an executive position that took him all over the world — and looking for an ownership opportunity. An ad in an industry publication described a bowling center in “northern New Mexico.” That center turned out to be Fun Lanes in Rio Rancho, which he and his family purchased and rechristened Tenpins and More. Mackie was 50 at the time.

Now 76, he told the Rio Rancho Observer that he’d been thinking about selling the center for a while. The deal with Fagan ultimately was brokered by Ken Mischel and Martin Mischel of Mischel & Company, an affiliate of The Hansell Group.

Although he said he’s looking forward to traveling, Mackie added that he will miss the people aspect of the bowling business, from the league bowlers to the tournament players to the staff.

“Bowling is a good business if you like people,” he said.

Mackie crafted a letter to his customers, noting that change could be challenging for some but urging them to embrace it because good things were ahead for the center, given Fagan’s plans to reinvest in its infrastructure.

As he handed the letter to patrons, Mackie displayed his signature dry wit.

“I said, ‘Thanks for your business. If you’d been here 20 years ago, I might have been able to retire earlier.’”