STRIKE KING
Megna passing on art of ‘feel’ in fitting bowling balls
Give John Megna a hand. No, literally, give him a hand and he’ll measure it, study it and drill a bowling ball that fits it precisely and comfortably, the better to throw strikes.
When it comes to fitting bowling balls, a skill that is equal parts feel and science, Megna is as good as they come. Four decades of experience have taught
him what cannot be learned from a manual. He has worked his magic for generations of Milwaukee bowlers out of his pro shop in a strip mall on S. 92nd St.
It’s hard to find a top bowler in the city who hasn’t had a ball drilled by Megna at one time or another. You want your ball to hook more or less, earlier or later? Go to Megna. Your thumbhole doesn’t feel quite right? Go to Megna. You have arthritic fingers? Go to Megna.
“John is what bowling is in this area,” said Chad Kloss, who competed on the Professional Bowlers Association tour for three years and recently rolled his 100th career 300 game. “Besides being a great ball-fitter, he’s just a great person. He’s a legend in the local bowling community.”
Megna, who turns 69 on Thursday, recently sold his John Megna Pro Shop, but he will stay on
for at least three years to teach Kloss and Eric Fritton — running the business for new owner Steve Jaeger — the art of fitting a ball to a hand.
“I want them to be able to fit the way I can,” Megna said. “That’s going to take a lot of time, and that’s why I’m on for three years. Everybody congratulates me on my retirement. I’m not retiring. I’m selling my business, but I’m not retiring.”
Can Kloss and Fritton teach him anything?
“They can teach me enthusiasm,” Megna said, looking around the gutted pro shop, which is undergoing a top-tobottom renovation. “I haven’t remodeled this place in 30 years. They’re completely refreshing the place.”
Kloss and Fritton have a lot of ideas about how to reinvigorate the local bowling community. They’re on top of current equipment trends. They’ll use video to analyze a bowler’s form and apps to market their business — stuff that is foreign to Megna,
who got his education in another era, in smokefilled bowling centers, in quarter pot games against Milwaukee’s best.
Megna grew up on the east side and at 13 rolled his first bowling ball at the old Oriental Lanes (now Landmark Lanes).
He was hooked instantly, and it wasn’t long before he was bowling 200 games a week.
“My thumb looked like hamburger,” he said. “The pro shops I went to could not fix it. Every shot, it would just bleed. It was ugly. And I thought, ‘There’s got to be something I can do.’ ”
Frustrated that no one could help him, Megna educated himself in the art of ball fitting, learning largely by trial and error, and started his own pro shop in 1974. That business was shortlived, but he opened a second shop with Don Ciardo. He bought out Ciardo in the early '80s and has been at it ever since.
Along the way, Megna became one of the area’s top bowlers, kicked a drug and alcohol habit
and won the 1984 USBC national doubles title with Chris Cobus.
“Chris shot 743 and I shot 640 and, boy, that 640 was incredible because I was bowling so bad going in,” Megna said. “I had a bad drug and alcohol problem. I was a mess. I went into DePaul for 30 days in October of ’83. I got out Thanksgiving of ’83, and we won the doubles in May of 1984.
“I have a glass of wine now and then, but I haven’t had any hard booze or drugs since ’83. So 34 years. Best thing I ever did.”
Megna drilled rubber balls back in the day and adapted to plastic, urethane and resin as ball technology advanced. He’s seen many other changes in the bowling industry, most notably the decline in league bowling.
“I think the industry has changed to more of a party atmosphere, which I don’t like,” he said. “I mean, we need that party atmosphere, but some of the centers have gone to open bowling only, no leagues. I didn’t grow up in that
kind of environment, and I hate to see the serious league bowler vanish.”
The other big change is that, more and more, people are buying equipment and accessories on the internet.
“The internet is killing pro shops,” Megna said. “People buy shoes and bags online for less than I can buy them. Fitting is the only benefit we have, but if we don’t sell enough product pretty soon there won’t be any pro shops.
“Then what are people going to do?”
It’s one thing to spend $180 on a reactive resin ball. But if you want it to come off your fingers and thumb in a way that gives you the best chance of knocking down 10 pins with the ideal entry angle, Megna is your guy.
“John’s not going anywhere,” Kloss said. “We’re hoping he can lend us his expertise on the fitting. We know the equipment. We can go to seminars. He’s got the feel part. We’re going to pick his brain.
“We want to keep John’s legacy going.”