Catching Up With Local Bowling Legend Larry Lichstein

When a professional bowler boasts a resume that includes a national tournament victory, a Rookie of the Year award and election into the Professional Bowlers Association Hall of Fame, he would be hard-pressed to single out the biggest thrill of his career.

For former Windsor Locks and West Suffield resident Larry Lichstein, however, that was an easy call to make.

"I've been able to present my son Michael into two Halls of Fame," Lichstein said in a recent telephone interview from Florida. "I was the first Hall of Fame father to present his son into the Connecticut Bowling Association Hall of Fame, and I was just as proud to sit at his table and be with my grandchildren as I was at my own induction. The sport of bowling keeps giving me these wonderful moments to cherish in life."

Michael Lichstein, a Suffield High School graduate, was inducted into the Suffield Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010.

The wonderful moments of Lichstein's bowling career began on April 8, 1967, during his senior year at Windsor Locks High School. On that day, at age 17, he became the first person to fire a perfect 300 game in the Connecticut state tournament at the Bridgeport Bowlarama.

"At that time, the bowling proprietors of Connecticut offered a $6,500 bond for a 300 game or an 800 series," Lichstein recalled. "I shot the 300, and someone else had an 800, so I got $3,250."

Later that year, after his graduation, the PBA Tour came to Connecticut for the Plainville Jaycees Open. Lichstein found out there was one spot open in the 96-man field, and a friend who owned a local business put up the $100 entry fee for him.

The young amateur lefthander surprised the veteran pros by placing 11th in the qualifying rounds. "I lost the first round of match play, then won my next 11 matches and wound up leading the tournament against legends like Dick Weber, Don Carter, Dave Davis, Dave Soutar and Nelson Burton, Jr.," he said. "I ended up finishing second, the highest finish ever by an amateur."

In 1968, Lichstein married his high school sweetheart, Anne Cencak, and his son Michael was born later that year. After being named the New England Bowlers Association Player of the Year, he joined the PBA Tour full-time in 1969. He made the finals three times in his first season, placing second in Rochester, N.Y., third in Cranston, R.I., and fourth in Portland, Ore. He was selected the PBA Tour Rookie of the Year at the conclusion of the campaign.

Lichstein reached the pinnacle of his career on Feb. 6, 1971, when he won the Ebonite Open in San Jose, Calif., taking home a $10,000 check as a result. The victory was significant in two ways: it was the first time in PBA history that all 16 finalists were lefthanders, and it was the first national tour victory for a bowler from New England. Two weeks later, Lichstein placed second in the Winston-Salem Classic, and he ended the year ranked among the top 10 bowlers in the world.

By the age of 25, however, Lichstein realized he needed to think about his long term future. "By 1974, I decided I couldn't make enough money by just bowling," he said. "What I needed was a steady income."

That security came in the form of a job with the PBA. As Director of Player Services, Lichstein singlehandedly operated a "rolling pro shop" for tour professionals. "I asked PBA commissioner Joe Antenora if I could innovate," he recalled. "By 1980, I had a four-man crew; by 1981, we had two 18-wheelers; and by the early 1990s, we were drilling 15,000 balls a year. Little by little, I became one of the most famous men in bowling, not for my ability but for what I did for the players."

Lichstein gave up the post in 1996, after 22 years. "My wife died in my arms in January 1993, and I began to lose my desire," he said. "I married Kathleen Costas of Enfield in 1995, and two years later we had a son, Larry. He's 13 now, and a fantastic bowler."

Four different Halls of Fame have recognized Lichstein for his accomplishments. In 1996, he was elected to the Central Connecticut Bowlers Association Hall of Fame, and the PBA honored him for meritorious service. He made the Connecticut Bowling Association Hall of Fame in 1997, and was elected to the Windsor Locks Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007.

He said his most cherished honor was being enshrined alongside longtime friends in his hometown Hall of Fame.

"I was around greatness as a teenager," he fondly remembered. "Windsor Locks won the Little League World Series in 1965, and the high school soccer teams won state championships in 1963 and 1964. Those teams brought championship caliber to the town of Windsor Locks, and everywhere you went in town, whether it was eating at Friendly's in Dexter Plaza or shooting pool at Bradley Bowl, there was a champion. Those guys I looked up to called me the best bowler, which gave me the inner confidence and desire to continue."

Lichstein sold his home in West Suffield and moved to Fort Myers, Fla. in 1999, where he opened Larry's Precision Pro Shop at the Coral Lanes in Cape Coral. After surviving a recent eight-month battle with prostate cancer, he said he is thinking about entering semi-retirement next summer.

"I had a storybook start for a young man, and it's given me a 40 year gift," he concluded.