Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Louie's, where fun is a falling pin away

A Brooksville bowling center remakes itself into a destination where customers let the good times roll.

By LOGAN NEILL
Published July 31, 2006

	[Times photo: Edmund D. Fountain]
	Spring Hill resident Mindy Pond, 21, takes her turn at Louie's Bowling Center in Brooksville on Saturday night. The center's new owners say they will continue to cater to customers who have been coming to the center for years while working to attract new and younger ones as well.

BROOKSVILLE - Over on Lane 9 Tom Rivers is having a good night for a change. He's already up about $3.50 on the weekly Jackpot Bowling, and as he eyes his ball rolling toward its destination he's hopeful that it hooks just a little more to the right.

As the last pin falls he's greeted with cheers from his fellow bowlers who stand to offer high-fives as he passes. His first strike of the night has earned him another $1.50.

"I'm just getting warmed up," jokes the 71-year-old Rivers to his friend, Lonnie Trenton, who waits his turn. "A couple more like that and maybe I can retire."

At 9 o'clock on a Saturday night the action at Louie's Bowling Center is in high gear. In fact, business is so brisk that there's a waiting list to get on one of the 14 available lanes. It's not just the regulars who have turned out. There are a plenty of new faces.

For owners Ken Hagert and John Peloro, who took control of the bowling center in June, it's a sweet sight to see.

"We really didn't know what to expect when we bought the place," offered Hagert as he busily kept tabs on the Jackpot Bowling payout. "All we knew is that there were people who've been coming here for years that didn't want to see it end. This place is special to a lot of folks in Brooksville."

With its ancient wooden lanes, 1960s vintage ball lockers and black-and-white screened scoring monitors, Louie's is something of a throwback to its origins some 45 years ago when Louie Backlinie decided to build the first bowling center in Hernando County. The original eight-lane facility located on the eastern fringes of Brooksville attracted clientele as far away as Homosassa and Dade City, necessitating an expansion in 1967.

Even after Backlinie sold the business to his daughter and son-in-law, Charlene and Ronnie Pitts, in 1976, the facility continued to attract legions of bowlers from fast-growing Spring Hill.

"You'd come on league nights and the place would be completely packed," said Brooksville resident Ginger Rivers, who along with her husband, Tom, began bowling at Louie's in 1978. "Probably everyone in town bowled here at one time or another."

The good days lasted up until the mid-1980s when more bigger and more modern facilities such as Mariner Lanes and Spring Hill Lanes opened across county ultimately siphoning off much of Louie's business.

Although they continued to host weekly men's, women's and mixed leagues, the Pitts were unable to do much in the way of attracting younger clients. They sold the center in May to Hagert and Peloro, who immediately initiated a makeover that included new carpeting and ceiling tiles, as well as installing several rows of black lights and a sound system for hosting youth-oriented "cosmic" bowling nights.

"We're a work in progress," said Peloro, taking a break from his stint at the snack bar. "The good thing is, we're starting to see more and more kids come in. It's nice to be able to give them a safe place to come for entertainment."

The Saturday crowd at Louie's got noticeably younger toward the 10 p.m. start of cosmic bowling, where for $10 kids can bowl until 1 a.m.

"It's pretty cool even if you can't bowl real good," said 12-year-old Adam Stevens who has been a weekend regular most of the summer. "We usually come down and play some video games and do some bowling. It's fun and it doesn't cost a lot."

For four members of Hernando Christian Academy's 1998 graduating class the bowling center offered a fun, even nostalgic place for an impromptu class reunion Saturday.

"We used to come here during P.E class," said Leah Statkus, 25, who joined former classmates Geoff Rutzen, Jolene Weikel and Shannon Campbell at a table behind the bowling lanes. "We decided this was a lot better than going to a bar."

Hagert and Peloro say they will continue to do more to attract younger bowlers, including the addition of weekend youth leagues. And of course, they want Louie's to continue to be a destination for older bowlers.

"These people are like family to me," Hagert said.

[Last modified July 30, 2006, 21:47:38]