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© St. Petersburg Times, published October 29, 2001
HOLIDAY -- Picture this: You're standing at the edge of your bowling lane, having just knocked down nine pins. You're going to whack down the remaining pin that's wobbling to a standstill, just as soon as you get your ball back.
But your ball isn't coming back.
You wait, wait and wait, and finally press the reset button over and again. The ball still doesn't come back, until you get someone in charge to rescue it.
This is what's known in bowling parlance as a "ball call."
And this is where New Port Richey's very own J.R. Lanzetta comes in.
The 47-year-old New Jersey native grew up working at the bowling centers his father managed, watching ball calls and bowlers' frustrations mount. He was determined to find a way to beat the system. And in 1999, he patented a device that does just that.
Ball calls have been irking bowlers for decades -- ever since the 1970s, when synthetic materials started replacing wood as the material of choice for bowling lanes.
The lanes require conditioning oils for protection and to help control the curve of the balls. But the balls soak up so much oil that they slip from the grip of the machines that are supposed to return them to bowlers. The balls just sit and spin.
Hence the flood of ball calls.
In 1997, Lanzetta, who at that time was repairing machines at bowling centers, created the Humpback 300. It's a rubber belt inside the ball return that wedges the ball against the uprails that bring the ball up, and keeps the ball from slipping no matter how oily the ball is.
Lanzetta takes the 152-inch belt in his palm and chuckles.
"This is what I got a patent on. Can you believe it?"
Even harder to believe is that the business that revolves around that belt -- Lifelong Engineering and Development Inc. -- grosses nearly $1-million in annual sales out of a 5,000-square-foot warehouse in Holiday.
The company's parts are installed at bowling centers in 46 states and 10 countries, everywhere from Tennessee to Tokyo. (In the bowling biz, one bowls at bowling "centers" -- alleys are the spaces between buildings.)
Business is going so well that Lanzetta and his partner Cassandra Cassetta are moving corporate headquarters to a location three times their current space and planning to double the 12-person staff.
"You just have to find a niche, find something that you can improve on," Lanzetta said. "All you have to do is do something better and smarter."
Lanzetta's company is one corner of the $10-billion bowling industry, which includes everything from shoe rentals to ball sales. About 91-million people bowl at least once a year -- about 3.5-million of them bowl in sanctioned leagues. There are about 6,200 bowling centers in the United States, down from their peak of 11,000 in the early '60s. A few hundred of them close each year, and they're replaced by a few hundred of the newer ones.
Once Lifelong Engineering and Development settles in its new space, Lanzetta plans to expand his product line -- he already has patents pending on two other parts for ball returns. Eventually, he plans to build bowling center seats.
Lanzetta concedes that although he always was brainstorming to figure out how to make his big break, he never imagined that this would be it.
Same goes for Cassetta. She has sold everything from tennis shoes to water conditioners. She attributes their success to hard work, a good staff, and lots of good advice from SCORE (Service Core of Retired Executives) on everything from how to get financing to how to handle overseas orders.
"Things really took off," Cassetta said. "But when I tell people what I do, they say, 'You do what?' But then they think about it and say, 'Well, I guess somebody has to make that.' "