Celebrating 50 years of family ownership

“Bowl For Your Health”Do you remember where you saw those famous words?Think back to those cold winter days, the ones when we ran out of things to do or the weather for skating, sledding and skiing became too harsh.Where could a boomer kid burn off some excess energy?Head on down to the Ely Bowling Center for some indoor exercise and if you demonstrated some dexterity and drive, bowling was a sport that passed more than time, but gave you an almost life-long activity. Who filled our need? John R. and Leona (Pecha) Perushek, better known to the community as Pecksy and Lee.This columnist had the chance to visit with the Perusheks recently. We spoke of the good old days, some history, the present and the future.And unbeknownst to me, I couldn’t have chosen a better time to get the Perushek clan together to reminisce because The Ely Bowling Center’s celebrating 50 years of family business in 2005.You have to talk history if that many years are invested. So where do you start?First off, the Ely Bowling Center is housed in one of Ely’s oldest and finest buildings - the old Opera House. Boomer parents can tell you that’s where Ely’s first community plays, concerts and assorted recitals were held. The building held the first moving pictures, complete with piano sides and later the “talkies” - provided kids brought in Empress coffee cans toward discount admission.As theaters evolved and the big screen cinema shows became the norm, the old Opera House folded and sometime in the mid-’30s or so, a guy named Ray Phillip from Eveleth decided the site would be perfect for Ely’s first bowling alley. He started with four lanes, and I suppose thought miners could spend some time rolling the ball between shifts, form a team and get together. It was a totally American culture arriving in the Northland.Pecksy, a youngster, in 1937, landed a job as a pinsetter. Great pay at two cents per line. But the boys thought it was time for a raise and decided to strike. They received another cent per line and bowling resumed.During WW II the Peteks took over the bowling alley and added two lanes. Surely it was a time when many, accustomed to the newest sport, left Ely, to go to places where bowling became a fond memory.In 1955 Pecksy and Lee became the new owners and operators. And that’s when most of us Boomers came into the picture.They remodeled and expanded by adding two lanes and soon pinsetters (top pay 15 cents per line) were replaced by automation.Just about every one of us tried to bowl. Maybe some had parents already in adult leagues or we just figured out it was social and a way to fit in. When I say try to bowl, I mean try. Not all of us are created equal in that respect. Kids could file in on a winter Saturday morning coached by Pecksy, the pro. Now, if you were a kid looking at Pecksy - you wondered how he could aim and throw that ball straight down the alley, knock all the pins down and make it look like fun. He was having fun. And how he could tolerate some of us dorks - aimless, unbalanced, limp-handed or backward throwers, I don’t know. And all those gutter balls probably drove him nuts. But that tall, lanky, ever-grinning, patient guy seemed to totally enjoy our presence. He knew many of us would never make the junior league, but he gave us bowling tips, helped with the tabulating score process and made us feel welcome just doing our thing. Including pop and snacks. All priced to fit a kid’s budget.Even if you didn’t turn out a great bowler, Pecksy gave you some incentive. You could hang around on Saturday or Sunday afternoons to throw the ball around; pretending you could bowl like a pro. He and Lee made us feel at home, let us have fun and I guess a Boomer kid could say it was like visiting a favorite aunt and uncle.Not only did they turn us on to bowling, but they offered something none of us, I’m sure, had the opportunity to experiment with anywhere else. That was the pinball machine. If you weren’t the greatest bowler, one could always stop by the bowling alley to play some pinball. Just like bowling you could get better at that with practice or try your hand at shooting pool.Pecksy and Lee saw lots of Boomer kids come and go. They saw a lot of changes in the bowling alley too. Gone are pinball machines, replaced once with arcade type games. Gone is all that due to home computers. The couple who devoted so much of their life and time to the business decided to gradually phase out and let in the new. Not outside owners, but the new generation of family. Their son Kerry and wife Tammy Perushek own and operate the Ely Bowling Center and have been in that capacity since the early ’90s.And for a Boomer kid, apologizing that I never did get the bowling bug, returning to the place I had a lot of fun winter week-ends in, I still felt the same warmth and welcome. I almost felt I could toss a ball, but, for fear of embarrassment, decided to stay put.I still envisioned the now gone hand painted slogan running across the eight lane back wall: “BOWL FOR YOUR HEALTH” done by my uncle, Albin Zaverl, many years ago.Thanks Pecksy and Lee for all the fond memories many of us carry of the “bowling alley.”Good luck to Kerry and Tammy in creating a new generation of customers who will remember you as my generation remembers your parents.Happy 50th anniversary to all of you for maintaining a local keepsake!