COVER STORY
Lenny Nicholson Larry Lichstein
By Jim Goodwin
BOWLING INDUSTRY PIONEERS AND PERSONAS Legends Larry Lichstein and Lenny Nicholson reflect on their life-long friendship
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f you happen to have a Who’s Who in Bowling book handy, look up the word character, and you will find photos of Larry “Lichy” Lichstein and Lenny “Len” Nicholson. And for all who know them as well as we do, you also know that there was no shortage of material for this story. In Lichy’s case, one question usually generated a 20-minute response; Lenny couldn’t quite keep up that pace. However, our friends Larry and Lenny, affectionately known as Lichy and The Phantom, are much more than colorful characters telling bowling stories; both have made significant contributions to the game and to the careers of almost all of the greatest bowlers of our time. Some may not be aware that these two worked side-by-side on the PBA tour from the 1960s through the ‘80s and beyond. Both men are enshrined in the PBA Hall of Fame. Lichy was also inducted
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COVER STORY into the USBC Hall of Fame in 2019. Len Nicholson, Their combined efforts and standing, and Sam dedication to excellence in providing Baca, kneeling, fair and consistent lane conditions developed lane maintenance into and drilling state-of-the-art balls has an exact science had a direct effect on hundreds of the best bowlers in history. Yes, this story has been told many times, sometimes by the subjects themselves, but we hope our readers will come away this time with a more complete picture of these two iconic figures after reading this story. We decided to link the two because they have been close friends for over 50 years, and it is almost impossible to talk about one without mentioning the other. Lichy was the player services director on the PBA tour from 1974 through 1996. The week that brought Nicholson and him together happened in San Jose, CA, in 1971. That week, there were 19 lefthanders in the PBA tournament. When the cut was made to the top 16 for the matchplay finals, all 16 were left-handed. “The only non-cashing lefty, a poor guy named Joe, was last seen headed toward a bridge,” joked Lenny. Lichy won the 1971 tournament — his first and only PBA national title. We have heard people say Lichy won only because he was a lefty, but Lenny has a different view. “If you think about it, Lichy beat all of the best lefthanders in the game that week,” Lenny said. “It was not like a normal week where most of the finalists were right handed. He had to beat Davis and Foremsky and all the rest because all of them were on his side of the lane. It might have been the toughest week ever for a lefty to win.” Shortly after that milestone event, the PBA commissioned Sam Baca and Lenny to start the first organized lane maintenance program. “Sam saw it coming because problems had been building, and he had asked me the year before to learn as much as I could about how the lanes were being done. So I spent a whole year taking notes and reporting to Sam,” said Lenny. “When they would ask me why I was there, I told them I was Billy Hardwick’s manager and they would let me stay. Then, when the disaster hit in San Jose, Sam was hired and he hired me, and we were off and running.” That was about the time Skee Foremsky dubbed Lenny ‘The Phantom’ because he worked in the wee hours of the night, and it stuck.
Lichy Learns Drilling from an Engineer Lichy was a respected player from the day he hit the tour. He averaged over 200 as a teenager after he switched from a 14 to a 16 pound ball and learned the fine art of drilling from his friend Len Sexton in his hometown of Hartford, CT. Sexton
was an engineer and machinist for the Pratt & Whitney Corporation who designed fuel systems for the P-38 aircraft during World War II. He became an avid bowler and opened a little hole-in-the-wall shop to drill bowling balls very near the Pratt & Whitney plant. “It was called the Bowlers Pro Shop,” said Lichy. “It was dirty and smelled like burned rubber, dust everywhere. It was like a coal mine.” With Sexton as his mentor, Lichy’s average went from the 160s to over 200 in a very short time. It was in that little shop that Lichy learned the importance of accuracy and detail in the art of ball drilling. “Sexton always used a compass for layouts and scribed the measurements. No grease pencils,” said Lichy. “I took that knowledge to the tour, and never changed. [Sexton] drilled like an engineer, and it was a valuable lesson. The only thing I didn’t like [about his method was] he would take an hour and a half to drill a ball. I didn’t have that luxury on tour.” When Lichy went into the PBA Hall of Fame in 1997, Sexton proudly shared the moment with him. Sexton died a few years later. “He taught me a lot about bowling, drilling, and about life. I loved him,” remembered Lichy. With his new-found knowledge and confidence, Lichy began bowling along the East coast, winning a few city and state titles. In his second state tournament, he won doubles, team, and allevents, and rolled the only 300 in the history of the event. When the PBA tour hit Hartford, he finished second to Don Helling as an amateur. “I was 18, only six months out of high school, and I knew I was ready for the tour,” he said. He was, indeed, ready and in 1969, he won the title in San Jose and was named PBA Rookie of the Year.
Getting It Together It took Baca and Lenny a couple of seasons to stabilize IBI
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COVER STORY Lichstein receiving his USBC Hall o f Fame plaqu e from USBC president K arl Kielich
In those days, tour lane conditions. There were no the tour players state-of-the-art computerized lane and staff really were machines in those days, so Lenny a band of brothers. did the best he could with a spray When not on the gun on wood lanes that were very lanes, there were unpredictable, with challenges like card games at the humidity. Topography was not yet hotels, golf outings, even a baseball on the radar. team. In the bars, a few guys loved In a very short time, Lenny went to play a mind game called Golly from errand boy to one of the most Golly. “That game got the girls important people in the lives of the every time,” said Lichy. “I didn’t greatest bowlers in the world. After play much, but the G Squad guys Baca left the job, he was on his own. and Lenny were really good at it.” “When I decided to follow the Long-time tour director Harry tour with my best friend Billy Golden loved to play cards, Hardwick, I didn’t have a job, but a especially pan, and he would group of guys took me in and let me arrange hotel hospitality rooms stay in their room,” said Lenny. “It for the activity. It was not unusual was Butch Gearhart, Don Glover, and ll es as Bill Hall drills a ba Larry Lichstein watch to see pan and poker tables every Jim Godman. We called them the G week with 20 to 30 players. “I think it was his way of keeping Squad. I was their gopher. I would run an eye on his boys,” said Lichy. “And it did keep them from errands and do whatever they needed. They would give me spending too much time in the bars. I sat in on - no exaggeration twenty bucks a week and I was happy. I loved sports and it was - over 200 games with guys like Don Johnson, Sam Flanagan, fun just being around them. Billy and Lichy were good friends, Jimmy Certain, George Pappas, Roy Buckley, Dave Frame, and so I became friends with [Lichy], too.”
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COVER STORY many more. They were good gamblers. They were very patient. I always lost because I was too emotional.” There were a few times when the games lasted all night. “I remember once when someone from the group fined himself for being late to roll call because he had been up all night playing cards,” said Lenny. Lichy confirmed that this was a true story. “We also had a really good baseball team,” said Lenny. “We played against local celebrities and we won every game. I was a catcher and Lichy played outfield. I remember Mike Berlin at third base. He was so good he could have played pro baseball.” “I helped manage the nd ng meticulously by ha team, and we were undefeated until one year we showed intenance, did everythi ma e lan of er ne pio a Nicholson, as up in Tucson and they brought in a semi-pro team to get us back because we beat them so bad the year before,” said Lichy. as The Year of the Soaker, and a fellow “I think they wiped us out, 17-3, and after that we didn’t play as much.” named Don McCune inadvertently Lenny got a reputation for being very good at another game – pitching quarters. changed the tour in a significant way. “I was the best until Earl Anthony came along,” joked Lenny. “Earl was so good he Lane conditions seemed to be stabilizing insisted that we pitch into an ashtray instead of the wall; and when we pitched to the after the ‘71 San Jose event, but in ‘73, wall, he made a rule that the coins could not touch the wall. He was unbelievable, and Lenny and many others were baffled when the only guy I could not beat like all the rest.” they saw McCune out hooking Mark Roth. In 1972, they added a product called STP, made famous at the Indianapolis 500, to the lane oil, and according to Lichy, the lanes were the tightest they had Lichy’s final full year as a bowler on the tour was a bizarre one. It later became known ever been. Everybody was forced to play in the track area within a board or two of the second arrow. In the eighth week of the ‘73 winter tour, McCune won his first title in Winston-Salem, NC. The following week in Milwaukee, he was getting a lot of attention. “We saw McCune bring the ball from five or six boards inside, swinging the ball to the track,” said Lichy. “Mark Roth was the leader, and McCune won the tournament playing inside of Roth, which we all knew was impossible with a flat wrist, and frankly he was not in the same league with Roth. That is when we knew for sure that something very odd was happening.” Lenny knew it as well, but no one knew what it was because McCune did not tell anyone that he had been experimenting with soaking balls in a chemical called Toluene to soften the ball surface. By the time McCune won three more titles halfway through the year, everybody knew what he was doing and all hell broke loose. The real problem was that some people got the idea he was using a much
1973: Another Turning Point
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COVER STORY icholson being
N stronger chemical called Methyl Ethel e inducted into th Keytone (MEK), and it turned into a PBA Hall of Fame in 2011 dangerous situation. “I tried using MEK and my ball hooked off the lane,” said Lichy. “With Toluene, it was a slow process that took a week or two. I’ll never forget when Bo Burton took a favorite Crown Jewel and put it in MEK. He left it in too long and it ate the cover completely off the ball. He went nuts! He brought what was left of the ball into the locker room and said ‘Here! Weigh this in ! I’m quitting!’ ” Don McCune won six titles in 1973 and was named Bowler of the Year. The following year, after the PBA outlawed the soakers, he struggled a little, and one day made the mistake of verbally assaulting Lenny in the locker room after a bad block. Lenny was helping Lichy check casher’s balls after the last squad. “I remember Lenny almost jumping over the table going after him,” said Lichy. “I didn’t catch him because of all the balls in the way,” said Lenny, “It was a good thing, because if I had, I probably would have squeezed his head and Lichy would have lost me as an employee.” According to Lichy, there were a few other times when players would badmouth Lenny, known then as The Lane Guy, but not too many. “Lenny was 6’5”, 260 pounds, and agile,” said Lichy. “It wasn’t a requirement for the job, but it was a real asset.” Lenny confirms that Lichy always was there for him.
Lichy Changes Direction Halfway through 1974, Lichy heard that player services director Clyde Scott was leaving the tour, and since he knew he was a pretty good ball driller, he told Harry Golden he wanted the job. “I remember driving to Denver with Bill Spigner and Pete Couture in a terrible snow storm, and we got in at 3:00 a.m.,” he said. “That morning, Goose (Harry Golden) told me I had the job if I wanted it, and after training for a couple of weeks, I got a two year contract for $72,000.” When Lichy signed the player services director contract on June 1, 1974, he thought that it would be a two year job. “My goal was to save $20,000 a year, and return to bowling in 1977,” he said. “I did not take the job to become the ball driller for the pros. I took it to make enough to bowl.” Lichy did become the ball driller of the pros, but it started slowly. When he first got the job, only the lefthanders Johnny Petraglia and Dave Davis would trust him to drill their equipment. Finally, after a few bad weeks, Jay Robinson asked Petraglia and Davis if Lichy was good on layouts, and when he got the thumbs up, he took a chance. “After missing the cut for several weeks, Jay brought me a ball he got from 30
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Nicholson perfe cted his craft
John Jowdy, and he led the tournament that week,” said Lichy. “He lost the last match to Don Helling, but when Bo Burton interviewed him and asked what had changed, he said ‘Two words – Larry Lichstein.’” The next week, Dick Weber allowed Lichy to drill him a ball, and the same thing happened; Weber led the event and lost the title to Gary Dickinson. But for Lichy, the floodgates had opened and everybody wanted his services. Most of the results were good, but not always. Lichy recalls, ”I drilled an orange pumpkin [Ebonite ball] for Earl Anthony and he shot 289 with it the first game on TV and he got a big contract the next week. But I also drilled a ball for Don Carter. He shot 144 his last time ever on TV. So we always laughed when he told me I put him into retirement.” Drilling for the top pros became an important part of Lichy’s business, but it was the ball companies that turned his relatively small operation into a big business, requiring two 18-wheelers, a fancy RV, and a couple of trailers to get from one event to the next. When the PBA Senior Tour started in 1981, that added more work and more income. “What a thrill it was to see all of those guys together,” said Lichy. ”Bluth, Kowalic, Allison, Strampe, Lillard, Weber, Carter, Beach, Salvino, Bordeaux, and all the rest. They still had that style and charisma that we remembered from when we saw them as kids. It was amazing.” “I was making about $1,100 a week from the PBA for ball
COVER STORY Lichstein in the early days of his bowling ca reer
drilling and transport and cleaning player shirts. Roger Zeller comes to me and says he wants me to move 80 Columbia Yellow Dots in the truck, and pro-am every week, and drill for the Columbia pro staff,” said Lichy. “Yellow Dots were the best ball made at the time and I sold every one every week for $50 a ball. My income went from $1,100 to over $5,000, and let me tell you, that was a lot of money for a 25-year-old boy living in a bus just trying to survive. I was in orbit!” A few months later, all of the other big ball companies figured out what Columbia was doing and matched it, and Lichy’s operation took off like a skyrocket. “When Harry Golden asked if I would renew my player services contract in April of 1976, the answer was easy. I had planned to resign, but I ended up resigning, and I thought it would be my job for the rest of my life.” “And that is how Lichy became the tour’s leading money winner for many years,” jokes Lenny.
Life After the Tour Lenny may have started his involvement in bowling simply as a friend of great bowlers like Hardwick and the G Squad guys, but he has been a big part of taking what started as a simple task with a spray gun in the early days of the PBA and turning it into a science that is in demand everywhere on the planet where bowling is played. Lenny is quick to label the guys he has associated with, like Lichy and John Davis, the founder and CEO of Kegel, as geniuses, but both of them and many of us who know Lenny never discount his knowledge and contributions. Lenny worked on the tour several times in the glory years. He spent time at home coaching and learning the bowling business from his close friend Ted Hoffman. He also helped Hoffman run the PBA Western Region for a few years. “I really loved Ted,” Lenny told us at Bowl Expo. “He was a friend, a mentor, and just one of the greatest gentlemen I have ever known.” Hoffman and John Davis were also very influential when Lenny decided to start his internet radio show in 2002. “I had so many stories to tell, and they thought it would be a good way to share some of them with the industry,” said Lenny. Davis stepped up to have Kegel sponsor the show, and today, Lenny has interviewed more than 500 guests on over 1,100 weekly shows. Somehow, Lenny also found time to write three books about his tour adventures, and he has become one of the most important journalists in bowling. It hardly seems possible, but Lichy has now been more years away from the tour than he spent traveling America’s highways chasing the world’s greatest bowlers. He spent many of those years in the pro shop business, and he bowled on the senior tour for a year in 2000. Recently, he has settled down in southern Florida where he is working in a small center doing whatever needs to be done. “I do a little league coordination, promotion, consulting with the owners, learn-to-bowl clinics. I really enjoy it,” he said. “I live with a beautiful woman, I’ve got a boat and an old Jaguar that I fool with every day, and guys like you are still writing stories about me. I am the happiest man in the world.” Lichy cherishes old friends like Lenny and tries to stay in touch. “I absolutely love Lenny and what he has done for bowling,” said Lichy. “We live on opposite coasts so we don’t see each other much, but we are friends 32
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all of Fame into the USBC H ed ct du in as w Lichstein as he
for life. He has had a tough time losing all of the guys from the G Squad. It was really tough when he lost Billy and Ted, but he just keeps going. You have to admire him for everything he has done.” Lenny has very fond memories of his lifelong friendship with Lichy as well. “I’ll never forget some of the times we had together, doing our act for the players in the locker rooms, playing on the baseball team, card games with the guys, sitting in the grandstands for hours watching and talking about the greatest bowlers in the world,” said Lenny. “And [Lichy] is the greatest story teller in the world. When I went into the PBA Hall of Fame, he called me and we both cried on the phone. Most people don’t know it, but he is very emotional. He is a deep thinker, and his memory for places and dates is unreal. I love him and would do anything for him. He is a true character and a real genius.” ❖
Jim Goodwin is the founder and president of the Bowling News Network and a former president and life member of the International Bowling Media Association.