Pictured At Left: USBC Director Mike Cannington Of Southwest Florida.
'There Is Only One Ft. Myers, And 90 Million People Will Discover It'
By Michael Chip Begg - Managing Editor The Ten Pin Express. Com - Director Mesa Metro Association
Las Vegas, NV. - - - A famous inventor, named Thomas Alva Edison once said:
'There is only one Ft. Myers, and 90 million people will discover it'. (At the time, the population of the US was 90 million people. Edison was sure they would all eventually move there.)
He should know. That's because in the early 1900's, he and Henry Ford where neighbors when they lived on McGregor Blvd in downtown Ft. Myers. Throughout the years, these two houses have become tourist attractions in the area.
Mr. Edison would be happy to know that in December of 1976 my family: father Pete, mother Elizabeth, and myself became one of the '90 million people' who discovered this Southwest Florida community. The current population of SW Florida is more like 3 million, but migration to warmer climes continues.
In 1977 our family built a house in Principia in the Myerlee Square area off of Winkler Road. One note on our move to Florida; my dad wanted to move to Arizona, but my mother to Florida. Guess who won this argument. But, I still filled my dad's wishes when I moved to Mesa in August of 2016, after a career with Dollar Rent-A-Car on the East coast. Looking back, I don't have any regrets.
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, I was not sure how I would react to moving to Florida to begin a new chapter of my life. But, as it turned out, living in the Sunshine State created a whole bunch of new opportunities for me and opened a lot of doors as well. To this day, I am still thankful that my parents waited until I graduated from Swissvale Area High School in June 1976, before they retired and headed south. Swissvale Area High School's most famous athlete was Dick Groat. He went on to become a basketball star at Duke University, and a baseball star with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Our athletic director in 1976 was Arnold Koepka. His great-nephew, Brooks Koepka, is a 3-time Major winner on the PGA tour.
I was always interested in sports, and in particular the game of bowling. I learned at the start of my freshman year in high school that a Division I athletic scholarship to a major university would not be in my future. So, I got the idea that getting better in the sports world for me would be learning how to write about them. It ended up being the right choice for me. I had a friend and his father in Pittsburgh, who both at one time worked for the Associated Press. Seeing the success they both had at the AP was what got me going into the journalism field myself.
I lived in the Ft. Myers area at a time when weekly newspapers were still flourishing, and that is how I got my break into the journalism business. During my freshman year at Edison Community College, I got enough courage to visit the offices of the Iona-Mcgregor Reporter which was near my house. I figured if I told them that I would help them out for free, in exchange for someone tutoring, this would be my ticket in getting my foot in the door. And it worked. Howard 'Corky' Voight was the editor of this paper at the time, and he must have seen the potential I had. Thankfully, he took me under his wing. I learned a lot from him in that year and met a lot of interesting people along the way. I also spent a year with the Ft. Myers Beach Observer still learning and growing as a reporter. I lost contact with 'Corky' since then, but would still like to thank him for all he did for me.
Ft. Myers is also where some of the journalists of today got their start in the business. Among them are: Hoda Kotb (WINK), The Today Show on NBC; Kerry Sanders (WBBH), NBC News; Craig Sager (WINK), TBS and TNT Sports; and Shepard Smith (WBBH), Fox News Channel.
Bowling has always been a part of my life. When I was a kid in the late 60s/early 70s, bowling in junior leagues in Swissvale, PA was my favorite passtime. I bowled in two junior leagues on Saturday mornings. One at Swissvale Arcade Lanes and one at Swissvale Bowl-A-Rama. I bowled in both centers on Saturday morning, so I would not favor one over the other. But, is was at the Swissvale Bowl-A-Rama where I wanted to learn more about the bowling business. Proprietor Frank Palangio was only too happy to teach me how a pinsetter functions and how to make repairs on a pinsetter. It would lead me to working for him during my senior year of high school as part of a work study program. And eventually lead me to the AMF pinsetter school in Shelby, OH where I would earn a certification on the AMF 82-70 pinsetters in August of 1979.
After my family got settled in Ft. Myers, the first bowling center I visited in looking for a job was Friendship Lanes on Delprado Parkway in Cape Coral (now Head Pinz). I was hired there as a part-time pin chaser in December of 1976. Head Pinz is a 24 lane Brunswick center owned by Bowland Bowling Centers.
Mike Cannington
"Southwest Florida has grown in the last 25 years," said Mike Cannington, who is the Director of Marketing/Sales for the Bowland Bowling Centers. The small chain of eight centers is owned by Pat Cinello. "Bowling still thrives in Southwest Florida because its something for families to do. The game of bowling is fun. Everyone from a child to their 90s can still come out and bowl. Bowling is still a great way to promote family fun time on Sundays."
The Bowland Bowling Centers consist of the following establishments: Bowland Beacon; Bowland Cape Coral; Head Pinz Cape Coral; Bowland Lehigh Lanes; Bowland Pt. Charlotte; Head Pinz Ft. Myers; Head Pinz Naples; and Bowland Woodside, Naples.
When I left Ft. Myers for a job in Palm Beach in 1993. The following centers were still around: All-Star Lanes in North Ft. Myers; Beach Bowl (Ft. Myers Beach); Englewood Bowl in Englewood; Galaxy Lanes in Ft. Myers (now Pinstreet); Gold Crown Lanes in Ft. Myers; Lehigh Lanes in Lehigh; Miracle Lanes in Ft. Myers; and Treasure Lanes in Port Charlotte. I was a lane man at Gold Crown Lanes from 1983-87. I rolled my highest scratch series there in November 1985, a 709. I also bowled in leagues at Galaxy Lanes and Miracle Lanes. All-Star Lanes was lost to a fire in October 2015, and Miracle Lanes was sold and became a shopping mall. Pinstreet in Ft. Myers was just sold recently also, but it will remain a bowling center.
"I think All-Star Lanes in North Ft. Myers, is the bowling center that is missed most by the bowlers," said Mike, of the loss of the two centers. "It served the North Ft. Myers and North Cape Coral areas well. It was a niche in this area, so the older population could come out and bowl. Pat was never interested in buying Pin Street. We've been downsizing our portfolio of centers over the past two years. No. Pat will not build another bowling center in North Ft. Myers to replace All-Star Lanes.
As part of his duties as the Director of Sales and Marketing for the Bowland Bowling Centers, Mike has to be creative when it comes to promoting events at the establishments. He thinks he has a unique way of doing this.
"All of us who work in sales in the bowling business have to work hard to get the message out. And the message that I try to get out, is that its cool to go bowling," he said, of how he promotes the game. "Three of our six centers are hybrid bowling centers. We have to deliver the entertainment we offer to our customers at a high level every day. We also have to find new ways to get people to come out and bowl. A serious commitment to quality is the key to our success. We are always on the lookout for what's new and exciting for our customers."
He feels the Bowland Bowling Centers do this by offering great incentives for its league bowlers to join a league. Incentives he offers are special tournaments for adult and youth league bowlers at the end of the year. Youth bowlers have a shot at winning $2,500 in smart scholarship money. A high school bowling league in Southwest Florida has also been formed since 2012. The league started out with no teams, but now has 16 high schools participating. The kids earn a letter for bowling for their respective schools.
"We have a loyalty program for our league bowlers where they earn free dollars based on their spending in the center," he says, of other incentives which Bowland offers. "We offer exclusive events for our league bowlers, too. We just completed a series of qualifiers to send two people from each of our six centers to the XTRAVAGANZA event at the Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas (a fundraising event for the International Bowling Museum/Hall of Fame)."
But, the Bowland centers could not do this without the support of one key ingredient.
"The game of bowling is still a business that is driven by leagues," he says, of the importance of leagues. "We are still very busy with leagues at our centers. We also have to adapt to change that the game of bowling throws our way. I also get the message out, that our bowling centers are the easy choice when it comes to finding a league and bowling center because of what our bowling centers have to offer league bowlers."
Mike was also a journalist himself, as he was a sportscaster at WEVU-TV, Channel 26 in Bonita Springs, an ABC affiliate, from 1983-1992.
"I loved what I did," he said, of his nine years at the television station. "Ever since I was 14, it was a goal of mine to become a sportscaster. After graduating from USF, I was extremely fortunate to get a job in television in Ft. Myers. Chris Barnes, (sports director), taught me to focus on local sports and let the ESPNs of the World cover the national news. Times on my segments varied. It depended on the other news of the day, but on average my segments lasted four minutes a show."
He said his best segment he did was an interview with former WWF now (WWE) superstar Randy 'Macho Man' Savage before a WWF event.
"By far and away, it was the best interview ever that I did. I departed WEVU after a decade of fun," he said, to start a career in marketing with the Hooters Restaurant group. "I left TV with Zero disappointments. I've always said, I like to look forward and not backward in all that I do."
Mike has been a member of the USBC National Board of Directors since 2016, and he previously served as a board member in the Southwest Florida Bowling Association from 2007-2014. If you were one of the delegates who attended the convention this year, you may have noticed that he was the one on stage interviewing the candidates who were on the ballet for election to the national board this year.
"I have given my life to the game of bowling," he says. "When I got the call from the USBC that I was chosen as a finalist to become a national board member, it was a big honor for me to receive. It will be an even bigger honor for me to serve on the national board for three terms. I'm sure that on my resume to the national board, it stated my past positions. I think, honestly, that I go do the interviews because I'm an outgoing/ loud personality type. Not afraid of being on stage."
Mike is also the holder of 12 perfect games, and one 800 series. He rolled his first 300 at Florida Lanes in Tampa, and his 800 series at Pinstreet in Cape Coral.
"I would love to be competitive at the Open Championship just one more time," he said, of the one remaining thing he would like to accomplish in bowling. "I'm afraid at almost 61 years of age, that is simply a dream!".
I was also fortunate to have some breaks come my way. From Edison Community College, I went on to attend Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. While I was at FAU, I was the sports editor of the school paper, The Atlantic Sun, and wrote a bowling column for the Palm Beach Post south edition. I was also a high school sports writer for the Miami Herald's Palm Beach edition for one year. After finishing school at FAU, I published a monthly sports newspaper in Ft. Myers, called the Athletic Times.
Being a journalist is tough sometimes. I found that people will complain when they don't like something you write. And, they rarely compliment you about the good stories you do. I would like to think that during the time I lived in Florida, the good stories out-weighed the negative ones. And the goal of mine was always to give the sports organizations that never got publicity in the area, publicity. But, thanks to all of you in Southwest Florida for giving me the chance to prove myself as a journalist and remembering me. I put my heart and sole into everything I did; I hold my head high knowing I did the best I could and have no regrets. And I will always appreciate your kindness.
Southwest Florida Bowling News - May 13, 2019
Editors Note: I got my start in Journalism in Ft. Myers, Fl., in 1978. It was the beginning of opening a lot of doors for me in this field. Southwest Florida will always hold a special place in my lifetime, because of the experience as a journalist that I was able to gain and the great people I was able to meet.
'There Is Only One Ft. Myers, And 90 Million People Will Discover It.'
By Michael Chip Begg - Managing Editor The Ten Pin Express. Com - Director Mesa Metro Association
Las Vegas, NV. - - - A famous inventor, named Thomas Alva Edison once said:
'There is only one Ft. Myers, and 90 million people will discover it'.
He should know. That's because in the late 1800's and at the start of this century, he and Henry Ford where neighbors when they lived on Mcgregor Blvd in down town Ft. Myers. Through out the years these two houses have since become tourist attractions in the area.
Mr. Edison would be happy to know that in December of 1976 my family: father Pete, mother Elizabeth, and myself became one of the 90 million people who discovered this Southwest Florida community. Although now the number of people who have visited the area has probably doubled in size to 180 million, keeps on growing.
When I lived there from 1976 -1993, my family first lived in an apartment on Panther Drive which was near Cypress Lake High School. And after about eight months into 1977, our family built a house and lived in a sub division called Principia in the Myerlee Square area off of Winkler Road. One more note on our move to Florida. My dad wanted to move to Arizona, but my mother to Florida. Guess who won this argument. But, I still filled my dad's wishes. I moved to Mesa in August of 2018, after a career with Dollar Rent-A-Car. Looking back, I don't have any regrets on retiring when I did.
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, I was not sure how I would react to moving to Florida to begin a new chapter of my life there. But, as it turned out, living in the Sunshine State created a whole bunch of new opportunities for me and opened a lot of new doors for me as well. Till this day, I am still thankful that my parents waited until I graduated from Swissvale Area High School in June 1976, before they retired and headed south. Swissvale Area High School's most famous athlete was Dick Groat. He went onto become a basketball star at Duke University, and a baseball star with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Our athletic director then was Arnold Koepka. His grandson, Brooks, is a star on the PGA tour.
I was always interested in all sports, and in particular the game of bowling. I learned at the start of my freshman year in high school that a Division I athletic scholarship to a major university would not be in my future. So, I got the idea that getting better in the sports world for me, would be learning how to write about them. It ended up being the right choice for me. I had a friend and his father back in Pittsburgh, (Rudy and John Tessitore), who both at one time had worked for the Associated Press there. Seeing the success they both had at the AP, was what got me going into the journalism field myself.
I lived in the Ft. Myers area at a time when weekly newspapers were still flourishing, and that is how I got my break into the journalism business. During my freshman year at Edison Community College, I got enough courage to visit the offices of the Iona-Mcgregor Reporter which was near my house. I figured if I told them that I would help them out for free, in exchange for someone tutoring me, this would be my ticket in getting my foot in the door. And it worked. Howard 'Corky' Voight who was editor of this paper at the time, saw the potential I had in this business and took me under his wing. I learned a lot from him in the year that I helped out, and met a lot of interesting people a long the way who I did stories on. I would also spend a year with the Ft. Myers Beach Observer as well still learning and growing as a reporter. I lost contact with 'Corky' since then, but wanted to somehow thank him for all he did for me.
Ft. Myers is also where some of the journalist of today got their start in the business. Among them are: Hoda Kotb (WINK), The Today Show on NBC; Kerry Sanders (WBBH), NBC News; Craig Sager (WINK), TBS,TNT Sports; and Shepard Smith (WBBH), Fox News Channel. I think I can include myself in this bunch, too.
Bowling was always a part of my life since I was a kid in the late 60s and 70s by bowling in junior leagues in Swissvale. I bowled in two junior leagues on Saturday mornings. One at Swissvale Arcade Lanes and one at Swissvale Bowl-A-Rama. I bowled in both centers on Saturday morning, so I would not favor one over the other. But, is was at the Swissvale Bowl-A-Rama where I wanted to learn more about the bowling business and proprietor Frank Palangio, was only too happy to teach me how a pinsetter functions and how to make repairs on a pinsetter. It would lead me to working for him during my senior year of high school as part of a work study program. And eventually lead me to the AMF pinsetter school in Shelby, OH., where I would earn a certification on the AMF 82-70 pinsetters in August of 1979.
After our family got settled in following our move to Ft. Myers, the first bowling center I visited in looking for a job was Friendship Lanes on Delprado Parkway in Cape Coral (now Head Pinz). I was hired there as a part-time pin chaser in December of 1976. Head Pinz is a 24 lane Brunswick center.
"Southwest Florida has grown in the last 25 years," said Mike Cannington, who is the Director of Marketing/Sales for the Bowland Bowling Centers. The small chain of eight centers is owned by Pat Cinello. "Bowling still thrives in Southwest Florida because its something for families to do. The game of bowling is fun. Everyone from a child to their 90s can still come out and bowl. Bowling is still a great way to promote family fun time on Sundays."
The Bowland Bowling Centers consist of the following establishments: Bowland Beacon; Bowland Cape Coral; Head Pinz Cape Coral; Bowland Lehigh Lanes; Bowland Pt. Charlotte; Head Pinz Ft. Myers; Head Pinz Naples; and Bowland Woodside, Naples.
When I left Ft. Myers for a job in Palm Beach in 1993. The following centers were still around: All-Star Lanes in North Ft. Myers; Beach Bowl (Ft. Myers Beach); Englewood Bowl in Englewood; Galaxy Lanes in Ft. Myers (now Pinstreet); Gold Crown Lanes in Ft. Myers; Lehigh Lanes in Lehigh; Miracle Lanes in Ft. Myers; and Treasure Lanes in Port Charlotte. I was a lane man at Gold Crown Lanes from 1983-87. I rolled my highest scratch series there in November 1985, a 709. I also bowled in leagues at Galaxy Lanes and Miracle Lanes. All-Star Lanes was lost to a fire in October 2015, and Miracle Lanes was sold and became a shopping mall. Pinstreet in Ft. Myers was just sold recently also, but it will remain a bowling center.
"I think All-Star Lanes in North Ft. Myers, is the bowling center that is missed most by the bowlers," said Mike, of the loss of the two centers. "It served the North Ft. Myers and North Cape Coral areas well. It was a nitch in this area, so the older population could come out and bowl. Pat was never interested in buying Pin Street. We've been downsizing our portfolio of centers over the past two years. No. Pat will not build another bowling center in North Ft. Myers, to replace All-Star Lanes.
As part of his duties as the Director of Sales and Marketing for the Bowland Bowling Centers, Mike has to be creative when it comes to promoting events at the establishments. He thinks he has a unique way of doing this.
"All of us who work in sales in the bowling business have to work hard to get the message out. And the message that I try to get out, is that its cool to go bowling," he said, of how he promotes the game. "Three of our six centers are our hy-bird bowling centers. We have to deliver the entertainment we offer to our customers at a high level every day. We also have to find new ways to get people to come out and bowl. A serious commitment to quality is the key to our success. We are always on the lookout for what's new and exciting for our customers."
He feels the Bowland Bowling Centers do this by offering great incentives for its league bowlers to join a league at them. One of the incentives it offers, is a special tournament for adult and youth league bowlers at the end of the year. Youth bowlers have a shot at winning $2,500 in smart scholarship money. A high school bowling league in Southwest Florida has also been formed since 2012. The league started out with no teams, but now has 16 high schools participating. The kids earn a letter for bowling for their respective schools.
"We have a loyalty program for our league bowlers, where they earn free dollars based on their spending in the center," he says, of other incentives which Bowland offers. "We offer exclusive events for our league bowlers, too. We just completed a series of qualifiers to send two people from each of our six centers to the XTRAVAGANZA event at the Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas (a fundraising event for the International Bowling Museum/Hall of Fame)."
But, the Bowland centers could not do this without the support of one key ingredient.
"The game of bowling is still a business that is driven by leagues," he says, of the importance of leagues. "We are still very busy with leagues at our centers. We also have to adapt to change that the game of bowling throws our way. I also get the message out, that our bowling centers are the easy choice when it comes to finding a league and bowling center to bowl in, because of what our bowling centers have to offer league bowlers."
Mike was also a journalist himself, as he was a sportscaster at WEVU-TV, Channel 26 in Bonita Springs, and ABC affiliate, from 1983-92.
"I loved what I did," he said, of his nine years at the television station. "Ever since I was 14, it was a goal of mine to become a sportscaster. After graduating from USF, I was extremely fortunate to get a job in television in Ft. Myers. Chris Barnes, (sports director), taught me to focus on local sports and let the ESPNs of the World cover the national news. Times on my segments varied. It depended on the other news of the day, but on average my segments lasted four minutes a show."
He said his best segment he did, was an interview with former WWF now (WWE) superstar Randy 'Macho Man' Savage before a WWF event.
"By far and away, it was the best interview ever that I did. I departed WEVU after a decade of fun," he said, of his time at WEVU. "To start a career in marketing with the Hooters Restaurant group. I left TV with Zero disappointments. I've always said, I like to look forward and not backwards in all that I do."
Mike has been a member of the USBC National Board of Directors since 2016, and he previously served as a board member in the Southwest Florida Bowling Association from 2007-2014. If you were one of the delegates who attended the convention this year, you may have noticed that he was the one on stage interviewing the candidates that were on the ballet for election to the national board this year.
"I have given my life to the game of bowling," he says. "When I got the call from the USBC that I was chosen as a finalist to become a national board member, it was a big honor for me to receive. It will be an even bigger honor for me to serve on the national board for three terms. I'm sure that on my resume to the national board, it stated my past positions. I think, honestly, that I go do the interviews because I'm an outgoing/ loud personality type. Not afraid of being on stage."
Mike is also the holder of 12 perfect games, and one 800 series. He rolled his first 300 at Florida Lanes in Tampa, and his 800 series at Pinstreet in Cape Coral.
"I would love to be competitive at the Open Championship just one more time," he said, of the one thing he would like to accomplish in bowling, that he has not yet. "I'm afraid at almost 61 years of age, that is simply a dream!".
I was also fortunate to have some breaks come my way as well. From Edison Community College, I went on to attend Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. While I was at FAU, I was the sports editor of the school paper, The Atlantic Sun, and I wrote a bowling column for the Palm Beach Post south edition. I was also a high school sports writer for the Miami Herald's Palm Beach edition for one year as well. After finishing school at FAU, I published a monthly sports publication in Ft. Myers, called the Athletic Times.
Being a journalist is tough sometimes. The only time I found out that people will complain, is when they didn't like something that you wrote about. They never complimented you about the good stories that you did either. I would like to think that during the time I lived in Florida, the good stories out weighed the negative ones. And the goal of mine, was always to give the sports organizations in the area that never got publicity, publicity. But, thanks to all of you who lived in Southwest Florida when I did, for giving me the chance to prove myself as a journalist and remembering me. It will always be greatly appreciated. I put my heart and sole into everything I did. I could hold my head high now, knowing I tried and did the best I could and have no regrets.
Here are some more fond memories of people and places when I lived in Ft. Myers:
1. Chuck 'How Are You' Ross. President of the Southwest Florida Sportsmans Club.
2. Edison Community College Men's Basketball Coach Hugh Thimlar.
3. Edison Community College Athletic Director Bill Zalay.
4. Cypress Lake High School Mens Basketball Coach Elmer Tremont.
5. Playing Golf At Eastwood And Ft. Myers Country Club.
6. Having The Winshield Of Your Car Cracked By An Errant Drive, While Driving Past Ft. Myers Country Club. Holes 2 And 3.
7. Bowlers Rick And Andrea McCarraher.
8. The 10 Game Marathons For Charity At All-Star Lanes.
9. Being A Lane Man From 1983-87 At Gold Crown Lanes.
10. All Of The Bowlers Who I Bowled In Leagues And Tournaments With.
National Bowling News - May 13, 2019