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Obituary

Champion on the lanes and in life

He was leading a life many would envy: a dream job, a wonderful wife, loving children and an avocation both satisfying and profitable.

By MARTY CLEAR
Published December 16, 2005

JAY L. BANGSTON, 1962-2005

VIRGINIA PARK - On Thanksgiving Day 2004, Jay Bangston's life was idyllic. He was 42 years old and just about to start a dream job. He and his wife had a blissful marriage, and his teenage daughter was following in his footsteps as a champion bowler.

But that Sunday, he found a lump under his arm. He figured it was a cyst.

Two days later doctors told him that cancer had already spread through his internal organs. He had between six and 18 months left to live.

It turned out to be a little more than a year. Mr. Bangston died Dec. 10. He was 43.

He spent his last year doing the things he loved most: reading, spending time with his family and coaching young bowlers at Oakfield Lanes in Brandon.

"He was fabulous," said his wife, Nancy Bangston. "He was very intelligent, and very caring. It broke his heart when he saw a homeless person on the street."

Mr. Langston was born in New York and joined the Navy shortly after high school in 1980. When he left the service in 1990, he settled in Tampa.

"He had been in Tampa while he was in the Navy and he liked it," his wife said. "And his parents had retired to Bradenton so he decided to move to Tampa. It was close enough to mom and dad, but it was far enough away, too."

He met his future wife at a pub in Carrollwood a few months later. They knew instantly they were destined to be together.

"Even on that first night, we were finishing each other's sentences," she said. "We were soul mates. We got married six months later, and we never had an argument in all our years together. Not one."

The couple built a house in Valrico, where they lived with Mrs. Bangston's young son, Chris Slusser. Two years later, their daughter Kellie was born.

Mr. Bangston and his wife liked to spend as much time with their kids as possible. One evening about eight or nine years ago, they decided to have a family bowling night.

He had bowled a few times before. But that night he discovered that he really loved it. He was good at it, too.

He got serious about bowling quickly and within months was winning tournaments. He turned professional and spent most weekends traveling around the South with his family, entering PBA competitions.

Although he had a nice side income from the sport, and bowled more than a dozen perfect games, he was never able to quit his day job at Bank of America.

His wife and daughter also became avid bowlers. Kellie Bangston won state and local championships, and Mr. and Mrs. Bangston coached youth bowling leagues for many years at Oakfield Lanes.

The family moved to Virginia Park eight years ago, but Mr. Bangston continued to train young bowlers in Brandon until cancer forced him to stop three months ago. Over the years, he helped guide hundreds of bowlers, some of whom became serious about the sport.

His shortened life left him with many unfulfilled dreams: He was seriously interested in climbing Mount Everest and traveling in the Arctic. But he realized a longtime goal of becoming a cross-country trucker for a few months. He was scheduled to start with a new company the day before he was diagnosed.

"He found the lump, which we thought was a cyst, and he called the company and said he had to see a doctor and asked if he could start one day later," his wife said. "That was it. He never worked again."

[Last modified December 15, 2005, 17:47:48]