If anyone still remembers this thread from earlier this year, current owner of Herrill Lanes/Bowl 360 New Hyde Park Danny Mohabir promised that he would do everything he could to make sure that the biggest league Herrill had, the Thursday Night Sportsmen League, would stay at his center. Well . . .that didn't last very long.
Secretary of the league Jackie Delawski made an announcement yesterday in the Thursday Sportsmen League Facebook group saying that the league will be moving to AMF Garden City this coming September. Upon reading the comments, it seems the league agreed with the decision due to recent poor conditions at the center.
One member of the league (who will remain anonymous) told me personally that there was "no mechanic to fix the lanes, the league was spread out from [lanes] 11 - 36 because a lot of the lanes [were] down . . . [one lane was] setting 6 pins on 1 side and had to be manually re-racked on the other when someone threw a strike." Another member said that the prior week, half of the center was not functional and there were no remaining mechanics on staff to fix the lanes. Apparently the machines weren't "keeping score correctly" and the league was only saved by Dennis "Mailman" Baptiste showing up and helping the employees out to get some of the lanes working.
It seems that everyone's worst fears were realized and ownership, while not technically kicking anyone out, was more focused on open bowling and not league play. And, based on their track record, this doesn't seem to come as much of a surprise to many bowlers, who assumed this would happen just as it did at other Bowl 360 centers in the area.
For those of you still interested in joining the Sportsmen League, the first night will be 9/7/2023 at 8:30PM at AMF Garden City Lanes. Please reach out to Jackie Delawski on Facebook with any questions or inquiries.
