Q: How long have you been in this job?

A: Call it six years, which it will be in January … I feel as if I’m applying for a loan! Actually, I bought the business recently, on Dec. 6. 

Q: Congratulations! How much for? 

A: A little under $1 million. 

Q: What brought you here? 

A: Well, my computer job, in Massachusetts, was “semi-retired” eight years ago, when I was vice president. So I walked away from corporate America.

My dad (Dick) and I owned harness horses and actually managed a racehorse stable at Scarborough Downs, right across the street from the Big 20. I was looking for something to do, so I just walked in the door one day and told them that I was a bowler, and asked if they were looking for part-time help.

My dad had been a pro bowler in the ’60s and ’70s, and I had been in the ’80s. In fact, my first pro event was at the Big 20, in 1982. I’d bowled in high school and college and been around the business all my life.

Before entering hi-tech, I held three positions at bowling centers in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. I knew the machines, and the business, and I knew of Mr. (Chris) Anton, the longtime owner, and he hired me. 

Q: How’d that first pro event go for you?

A: Not very well. I was 22 years old and nervous as hell. … I still bowl, yeah. My average right now, I don’t know — 102? …  At my peak — 126, when I was young and full of energy.

So after that league season ended in April, Mr. Anton asked me if I wanted to run the place. I started as manager in June that year, and became general manager when Mr. Anton passed away in May 2007. 

Q: The business goes back a ways … 

A: We opened on Nov. 30, 1950, so it’s been 60 years. Mr. Anton’s dad, Mike, built the place in 1950, and in 1977 he purchased it from his dad. Mr. Anton was a pro bowler, too. He’s in the (World Candlepin Bowling Council) Hall of Fame. The Big 20 was inducted into the Hall in 1980. We held a big birthday party here on Nov. 27, and rolled back the prices to 1980s prices, 60 cents a game and 60 cents for shoe rentals. 

Q: How’s business? 

A: Like most businesses, it ebbs and flows. It’s not like it was in the early ’90s, when you could put up a building with lanes, open the doors and people would flock to you.

We have to work hard and we appreciate every customer who walks through the door. We’re one of four candlepin places within 20-25 miles. In the late ’80s there were four places in Portland alone, and 38 in Maine. I think there are 18 now. 

Q: How much is a string now? 

A: We charge $3 a game, and have lanes for little kids, with bumpers to keep the ball from going in the gutters. The hourly rate is $19.50. 

Q: So leagues are a big part of the business?

A: Yes, we have two seasons — fall starting right after Labor Day, and then spring. Plus a summer session from mid-May to the end of August.

We have leagues every morning, with the largest 16 teams of ladies from St. John’s Parish in South Portland — they’ve been bowling here for 57 years. In the afternoon, a senior men’s league. Most people are retired or work nights. At night we have men’s and ladies’ and couples’ leagues, and on Saturday a youth league for ages 4-18. 

Q: How do you spend your days?

A: Well, let’s see, I’m here for all of our leagues in the morning, and back at night. I do all the bookkeeping, payroll, vendor relations, community relations. Basically, chief cook and bottle-washer. I do what everyone else does. Work in the restaurant and lounge area, run the counter, fix machines. 

Q: Spray shoes … 

A: Yeah. 

Q: How many people work there?

A: We have 10 employees, including myself. 

Q: No issues with people drinking and misbehaving?

A: No. We make sure people have a good time, without getting what I would call ridiculous. This has always been a family business, with definite family values. If families are bowling, we keep them away from the serving area. As Mr. Anton used to say, “we run a clean joint.” 

Q: With retro character — 

A: We still have the original Maine white pine paneling, and wall board. We recently found a bunch of old signs and posters and hung those up – 30 cents and 50 cents a game. In 2007 we started modernizing a bit, with a sound system and a lighting system and what some people call “galactic bowling.”

We named it “rock ‘n’ bowl.” It uses lighting effects and a wide variety of music, from the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s. 

Q: But, you’re purely candlepin.

A: Absolutely. It’s the New England thing. Have you seen that McDonald’s commercial, where the guy takes the girl to a 10-pin house and she looks around and says, “This isn’t bowling! I want a challenge. Let me take you to a REAL bowling center.”? I love that commercial.