FLHS Boys Bowling Team Strikes Out Against Hunger

Fair Lawn High School boys varsity bowling coach Tony Villano has devised a fun and creative way to support the Fair Lawn Food Pantry.

When Tony Villano started coaching the Fair Lawn High School boys varsity bowling team in 1999, he set out to repurpose a booze-infused bowling tradition for the greater good of the community. Fourteen years later, he estimates the high school team has delivered some 2,000 items to the Fair Lawn Food Pantry as a result. In beer-guzzling bowling circles, Villano explains, the captain of a team sometimes buys his fellow bowlers a round when every member of the team strikes in the same frame. If all but one bowler strikes, that bowler foots the bill for the next round of brew. "I determined a need to put a positive spin on this old tradition," Villano explained. "Therefore, we changed the 'beer frame' to a 'soup frame' and, instead of buying …

•  1 Comment
• Photos (4)

Stuart Pace

1:09 pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2013

great work Tony and the team!!! That's what's right with this town.   more ›

Fair Lawn Sophomore Bowls 300 Game

Sophomore Cory Heitler, whose family owns Metro Bowl on Broadway, bowled a 300 game on Dec. 6 in his first varsity match for the Cutters

Fair Lawn's Girls Bowling Squad Is Rolling For Respect

The team finished last season with a 13-3 record and was undefeated in the Big North-National Division.

High school jocks are sometimes revered and sometimes reviled, but their athletic prowess tends to at least earn them a modicum of respect with fellow classmates. That is, of course, unless they’re a bowler. “All my friends just make fun of me, like, 'Hah, you’re bowling? Wow. Varsity Bowling,'” said Ellie Schuckman, co-captain of Fair Lawn’s Girls Bowling squad. Last season, the team won its third league title in four years, but even that sustained success hasn’t been enough to persuade outsiders that the girls are legitimate athletes. “[People] are like, ‘Oh, you bowl? That’s not a sport,” senior co-captain Chelsea Lawlor said. “I’m like, ‘You try it.’” “It’s not easy,” Schuckman added. Both team captains picked up the sport from older …

• Photos (1)