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Bowling

Pins a blur, but down they go

Bowler doesn't let blindness keep him from competing.

By VINCENT THOMAS
Published August 28, 2005

Henry Svetina counts off all the media outlets he's been profiled by. "Let's see, they did something on me for CNN. All the New York stations came to film me. I know the lady at ABC personally. Man, I tell you, everybody, man. They all want to come watch me bowl," Svetina said last week in a thick Long Island, N.Y., accent.

While he was saying all this at Mariner Lanes, an ESPN cameraman was packing up his equipment. He had just finished shooting Svetina for a future segment.

Most of the attention came in the 1990s. Svetina, 43, was bowling in pro-am tournaments, rubbing shoulders and shaking hands with some of his favorite professionals. He was in Long Island leagues, too, knocking down strike after strike.

But that's not what drew all the attention. It's that Svetina did all this despite being legally blind. Unless you're standing right in front of him or sitting across the table from Svetina, he can't see you. Even close images are blurry. Still, he can slide his fingers through the holes of his bowling ball, take about five steps and hurl it through the pins that he says look like a gray cloud.

"I think it's awesome," said Cliff Barnes, owner of the pro shop inside Mariner Lanes.

Barnes is a 23-year-old professional bowler, and he's amazed with what Svetina can do. "Bowling is a lot about feel," Barnes said. "(Svetina's) able to rely on his instincts and overcome the visual impairment and just trust himself."

Barnes said pros often are taught to practice with their eyes closed to get a better feel. Svetina, Barnes said, "is probably one of the best players ever," at using his instincts.

Svetina started losing his sight in 1991 after an industrial accident at his job involving a tank filled with sulfuric acid.

"Some days I'd wake up and it'd be totally dark. It was the scariest thing ever," Svetina recalled. "Man, let me tell you, I was so depressed. I couldn't drive no more, couldn't read no more, nothing."

That's when a friend dragged Svetina to Bay Shore Bowl in Long Island and taught him to bowl despite his failing sight. It's not easy. Svetina lines up on certain floor boards based on the pins that are left standing. Initially, he will line up on the middle board and go for a strike. If pins are left, he has someone tell him the numbers of the pins and adjusts his starting point accordingly.

On Wednesday, Svetina was getting in a practice set. He started off well. Spare, strike, spare. Then he failed to pick up two spares. One ball plunked the back of the lane, failing to hit either pin on an 8-10 split.

"See, usually I have someone here who can tell me the right pins," said Svetina, whose average was about 180 at his peak in the mid 1990s. "You know, like before, you told me the wrong pins. That's why I didn't pick up that spare."

Not to worry, Svetina bowled a strike on his next turn. Svetina said it has been about 10 years since he's been in a tournament. The last pro-am he can recall was the one in which CNN came to shoot footage. One of the things that jumps out at Svetina from that piece, after a transcript is read to him to refresh his memory, is the way the network characterized him.

"I ain't no amateur," he said. "I'm a lot better than those amateurs. I consider myself a semi-pro. I hate that, you know, when people call me an amateur. Hey, look, I've been to them regional tournaments and won. I got a couple of trophies out of it too. I guess I should have never thrown that stuff away, huh?"

Svetina has tons of stories detailing his accomplishments and media prowess, but not much hardware to back it up. No newspaper clippings, no trophies. He threw everything out in a fit of frustration and disappointment. It all goes back to a story he doesn't like to tell, probably the only story he doesn't like telling. The irony is, it stems from the day he was perfect. His voice-pitch gets higher. "It's because of that lady, because of that 300," Svetina said. "I don't know. I guess I just lost it." According to Svetina, he recorded a perfect game, but it never was recognized by the American Bowling Congress because the woman running the league bolted town with the fees and the competition wasn't sanctioned. Svetina said he can't remember the year, and Brentwood Bowling in Long Island, where it supposedly happened, is shut down. Verifiable or not, Svetina uses this slight to explain why he hasn't been in a tourney in so many years and hasn't kept any signs of his former success.

"I just didn't want to be bothered with it anymore," he said. "It's like, I'd be telling people about it and they weren't even listening to me because the ABC didn't recognize it. It was like catching a big fish that nobody was around to see. I just didn't want to do it anymore."

Though Svetina hasn't been in any events lately, he bowls twice a week, mostly at Mariner Lanes. While most of his time is spent running Henry's Hauling, a small trash and furniture removal business, and caring for his aging parents, the sport is among the few things he looks forward to. Svetina said he sometimes regrets moving to Spring Hill last summer.

"You know, I just can't believe how many things went wrong since we moved from New York," Svetina said, stuttering out of frustration and pushing his soda away. "I mean, this is crazy. People said it was going to be cheaper down here, but it's the same thing. Gas isn't that much cheaper. Taxes aren't that cheap. Put it like this: It ain't like what people said it was going to be like."

Svetina said he made most of his friends in Long Island through bowling leagues. The season at Mariner starts next week, according to general manager John Leverock. Svetina plans to enter some leagues, not only to make new friends but get ready for some pro-ams. He said all the pros used to know him and that now he will be back in his element, getting ready to pick up the spare.

"In the tournaments, those pros, they'll tell me which ones are still up," Svetina said. "That's all I need. After that, it's all me."

Vincent Thomas can be reached at vthomas@sptimes.com or 352 848-1430.

[Last modified August 28, 2005, 01:14:15]