RePlay Podcast host Randy Chilton recently took a trip down memory lane with his friend of 45 years, the bowling industry maven Frank DeSocio, in the 13th episode of the show.
Speaking following a spectacularly successful Bowl Expo in Nashville, the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America (BPAA) executive director discussed his decades in the industry, which includes a dozen years as the top man at BPAA, time as president and CEO of Strike Ten Entertainment and periods with Brunswick Bowling and operating his own bowling centers.
DeSocio detailed opening his first FEC in 1983 – Frontier Lanes. (This, of course, was before “FEC” was even a thing.) It was a 20-lane bowling center with another 20,000-sq.-ft. adjacent. That extra space led to him installing indoor mini-golf, eight billiard tables, ping-pong and 20 arcade games. Eventually, he added eight horseshoe courts, slow-pitch softball and fast-pitch baseball batting cages.
“That’s what gave us the idea for Northrock,” he said, talking about the bowling center he started in Wichita, Kansas. “We had the big game room – almost 4,000 sq. ft. – and then we had redemption.”
Those early years of learning the business equipped DeSocio for a lifetime in bowling and entertainment. Head on over to YouTube to watch the whole podcast.