Bowling has always been a part of Marvin Sontz’s life.
At the age of four, an uncle who owned a bowling center in Vermont began to teach him how to play the sport. A few years later, Sontz would be bowling on a league with his peers and in his teens, would land his first job at Del Lanes in Bethlehem.
Sontz never left, and 39 years later he is a co-owner of the facility.
“I guess this is just what I wanted to do,” said the 56-year-old. “I went to college for physical therapy. I went for four months and I was doing so much here, I couldn’t keep up. I then decided to focus my life on this business and here I am.”
Sontz and his family bowled at Del Lanes for years and the owner, John German — who had opened the facility in 1962 in the golden age of league bowling — had become friends with the Sontzes. When Marvin was in his final year of high school at Cardinal McCloskey in Albany, his father’s scrap metal business failed and the family was unable to pay his tuition. German paid for Sontz’s schooling, on the condition he would make it up by working at Del Lanes.
“If it wasn’t for my father losing his business, who knows what I would be doing now,” said Sontz.
German eventually sold the bowling center to his nephew, Ken Ringler, who made Sontz a manager. In 2003, Sontz bought the business with his friend Bill Cornell.
Now, as Del Lanes marks its 50th anniversary, attitudes toward bowling may have changed, along with the technology needed to keep a bowling alley up-to-date, but Sontz’s feelings about the sport are steadfast.
“Bowling is a sport that anyone can participate, from ages 4 to 104,” he said.
Bowling alleys have evolved over the years from being a weekly recreational hangout for men playing on leagues to entertainment centers for the whole family to enjoy. Along the way, ball returns were installed. So were computerized scoreboards and machines to reset the pins. So were arcades, off track betting systems and karaoke machines.
Attendance at bowling facilities jumped as knowledge about the scoring system was no longer needed to play.
According to Sontz, the boy-club stigma of bowling as an activity began to erode in the mid ‘80s around the same time bumper bowling was introduced for kids. Those in the business began holding children’s birthday parties and about a decade later, “rock-a-bowl” nights with pop music and flashing lights were common.
“In the beginning I was looking after pin-setter equipment, where now I’m a full-fledged computer technician,” said Ron Beardsley, who has been a bowling alley mechanic for 36 years and has worked at Del Lanes for 15.
Beardsley taught himself about the majority of the equipment in the facility. Del Lanes has two computer networks systems, with 12 computers networked together to control the alley’s 24 scoreboards. The lane conditioner also has a computer in it.
“It’s highly technical,” said Beardsley of the $35,000 machine. “I was lucky that they did send me to Florida for training on that one.”
The alley recently completed a $100,000 remodel of the snack bar and lounge areas. Within the next two years, Sontz and his partners plan to spend thousands more to upgrade the bowling area to make it “one of the best facilities in the area.”
“Bowling today is a very different business to survive in,” said Beardsley. “It seems like every year there is a bowling center closing in the Capital District. The approach here is, they are very proactive in looking for new ways to promote their business.”
Sontz said as people have less money to spend and increasingly hectic schedules keep families from spending time together, bowling is still an inexpensive, year-round activity that large groups can enjoy collectively.
In celebration of its 50th anniversary and National Bowling Day, Del Lanes will hold its annual Community Day on Saturday, Aug. 4. Participants will get free food, 1-and-a-half hours of free bowling and additional activities outside for the children like face painting and a magician. The day is meant to give back to the community, but it also serves to get a new generation interested in the game.
“You need to get a new generation coming in,” said Beardsley. “Kids today have so many choices as far as sports … that when I was a kid we just didn’t have. You have to generate interest any way you can.”
Sontz said his goal remains to provide a clean, safe and fun family experience.
Del Lanes’ seventh Annual Community Day will be held on Saturday, Aug. 4 from noon to 7 p.m. at 4 Bethlehem Court in Delmar.
