Hall of Famer Mark Roth relocates to area
Cleveland has its Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and Canton has its Professional Football Hall of Fame.
But now, Ellwood City has its own Hall of Fame, as in Mark Roth's Hall of Fame Lanes.
Born and raised in Bronx, N.Y., Roth was instrumental in getting professional bowling where it is today and now hopes to put Ellwood City on the map. He was residing in Wall Township, N.J., but is looking for a home in Ellwood City.
Roth and six other investors have purchased the former 20-lane Park Lanes/Ellwood Fun Center on Woodside Avenue and hope to turn it into year-round entertainment center with a theater and fitness center on the seven-acre site .
A local coffee shop has already established itself inside the center. Roth will be the general manager.
“We've looked at other sites, including one near Philadelphia, but this one has the most potential. It's time to get on with my life. My fiancé, Denise MacIntyre, will be the lane manager and promotion director," Roth said.
Denise, a former business manager and program director for Brunswick, has ideas of starting learn-to-bowl programs to help juniors and Seniors get the feel for the game, and who better to be the star instructor than Roth.
“I'll handle the beginners, Mark, the advanced players," she said.
Roth started bowling at age 11 after watching a center being built where he lived.
“I didn't know any better and just started throwing the ball, but I did it every day. The real trick in increasing your skill level is to practice and teach your muscles how to behave.”
Judging from his three Sporting News Player of the Year honors (1977-79; 84) and his 34 PBA titles, which is third all-time after Walter Ray Williams Jr. passed him last week, and over $1.5 million dollars in earnings, you can say his muscles learned their lesson well.
In 1976, he won a title at North Versailles Bowl, and in 1977, he tied a record of winning three straight titles. His biggest year in earnings came in 1978 when he won $134,500, including a record eight titles. He was inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame in 1987.
He'll be one of the 32 bowlers in this year's Tournament of Champions in Connecticut in mid-December, earning his berth by winning the Senior World Open and $20,000 at the Gold Coast Lanes and Casino in Las Vegas. A copy of the check hangs in the lounge at the lanes along with a large picture of the International Bowling Tournament in Madison Square Garden (not the ABC tournament) in 1909. Ironically, the American Bowling Congress tournament was held in Pittsburgh in 1909.
Last year, he was named Senior Rookie of the Year in his first year on the Senior Tour and is the leading money winner this year on the tour.
Talking about the new PBA, he said they are going in the right direction.
Some of the antics may be a little tacky, but that's what the new regime wants. He hopes it doesn't come to any more type emotions. If it does, it'll probably be a mild-mannered bowler going off the deep end and snapping from others' actions or comments.
“We had a lot of high stakes pot games in the Bronx and the East Coast when I was growing up, but in lieu of what others say, we didn't dare act up. If you won, you shut up, took your money and left. We didn't know who was carrying a gun,” he said.
A word of caution to autograph seekers: Roth believes bowlers deserve the same amount of respect as other athletes do. If you ask for an autograph — and he'll sign them until he's blue in the face — just don't say: Give me an autograph. You may find that not only are his bowling muscles well-trained, but his facial muscles aren't too bad either.
At times, Roth wears a Port Authority of New York jacket. Some say it's because he worked for the Authority before moving to Ellwood City.
“Heck no”, he said. “A few of my friends work there and gave the jacket to me as a gift. After all, some say I look a little like a miniature Jackie Gleason who played a bus driver in the Honeymooners. Hey — maybe I can get the Bus, Jerome Bettis, to visit the center for an exhibition match. They say he's pretty good.”
Hall of Fame Lanes will have its junior bowlers join the Western Pennsylvania Scholarship Program, so look for him at some of the local tournaments when he's not on the Senior Tour.
The site came to Roth's attention through fellow Professional Senior bowler Ross Zeigler, who formerly had owned the center before going out on tour. Investors with Roth include real estate broker Joe Mazzant, Nino Riccio, Joe Tomon, Allen Hamilton, Bob Weihaus and Larry McKean.
The PBA has been promoting Pete Weber with his — “I'm PDW moniker and I'm back.”
But Ellwood City can now say — “we have MSR and he has more titles than Weber."
Hall of Fame Lanes will continue to hold its Boogie Bowl from 10 p.m.-2 a.m. on Saturdays and will start best-ball competition on Sundays, starting tonight. In addition, a New Year's Eve party is scheduled for adults, and a Seniors party during the day will be held. Busloads of Seniors are already making trips from New Castle, which is only 11 miles away, in order to bowl in the legend's center.
To make reservations or get additional information, call (724) 752-1631. Tentative plans are in works to bring in some professionals and have an exhibition, in conjunction with the local radio show, Talks & Tips, on December 28. Prizes will be awarded.
