Louis Zavakos built Sports Bowl and it opened on Aug. 25, 1956, as an 18-lane house, but expanded to 32 lanes the following year. It was the king-pin in the bowling business, the pin palace, offering the area’s first automatic pinspotter, underlane ball return, baby-sitting service, pro shop and trophy engraving business. It also featured the Driftwood Room, a full-service restaurant and bar.
Nothing compared to Sports Bowl.
Under the leadership of Richard “Davey” Davidson, the owner from 1971 until his death on Dec. 1, 2010, the Sports Bowl attracted state and national tournaments, which boosted the economy.
The lanes, at different times, were owned and operated by Zavakos, Jack Frisbie and the Davidsons.
Recently, the bowling alley on South Main Street — like many businesses in town — was hit hard by the struggling economy. Davidson said he noticed a drop-off in leagues during the 2006 lock-out at AK Steel. When the local economy tanked, and the statewide smoking ban passed, it was too much for Davidson to withstand. He wanted to close the lanes last year, but — out of respect for his father — he kept the doors open, sometimes financially supplementing the business.
As he sat in his trophy business, he looked to his right at a large picture of his father — standing at Sports Bowl with a smile as bright as his outfits — resting against a wall. He called his father “a real dandy ... a great, great man.”
Davidson, 60, a 1969 Middletown High School graduate, was raised at Sports Bowl. It was home to him, like a classroom is to the son of a teacher. He started bowling when he was 5, and rolled about 30 perfect games, 90 perfect of them at Sports Bowl.
Fifty-five years is enough.
“It hate to see it close,” he said. “But I’m worn out with it.”
He said his parents, both in their late 80s, worked in the bowling alley every day. Now that his father is gone, he said: “I can’t do it all.”
Then he added: “I had no money, no choice. It’s a sad situation.”
For years, he operated Steve’s Trophies and Awards inside the front door of Sports Bowl. As his business grew, his interest in the bowling alley rolled into the gutter. Every minute he spent repairing the aging equipment was less time he spent making trophies.
Davidson has moved his business to Central Avenue in a space next to Stefano’s Italian Cafe.
He said several people were “dying to buy” Sports Bowl and remodeling it back to its glory, but no one was able to secure the necessary money. So Davidson has started selling off the bowling equipment.
Once all the equipment is gone, he said the property will be sold. Either that, or it will be another empty building in town, another reminder of the city’s glory days.
Middletown now has one bowling alley, Eastern Lanes on Coles Road. Eric Jayjohn, shift manager there, said he has seen an increase in business recently, and expects most of the fall and winter leagues to transfer to Eastern Lanes.
Jayjohn, though, doesn’t feel like celebrating.
“It’s sad because people don’t understand what Davey Davidson meant to this town,” Jayjohn said. “He put this town on the map.”
He paused, then added: “It’s really sad that it ended like this. It’s never a good thing when a business closes.”
Kevin Mathis, who worked at Sports Bowl for about 20 years, some as a head mechanic, called the closing “a great loss” for the city. He said Davey Davidson was like a grandfather to him, and he’ll cherish the friends he met at Sports Bowl.
“It’s a sad day,” the 45-year-old said.
Contact this reporter at (513)705-2842 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com.
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