About this item
"The Color of Money" meets "The Big Lebowski." Pin Action is an inspiring and improbable story of transcendence, redemption, survival and one of the greatest, forgotten sports legends in New York City sports history.Most of us think of bowling as a "sport" in quotation marks, and bowling alleys are places with disco balls, matching shirts, and funny shoes. But in the 1960s, New York City was the center of "action bowling", a form of high-stakes gambling in which bowlers -- often teenagers -- faced off for thousands of dollars every night. When money like that is changing hands, you can bet the pressure is on (and the balls are rigged), and losses come with dire consequences. But for a few kids, the world of action bowling would turn out to be a ticket off the mean streets and onto the Professional Bowlers Association Tour.
About the Author
In addition to being one of the world's foremost action bowling historians, Gianmarc Manzione is the most recognized writer in the bowling industry today. He has written on the subject for the New York Times and all of the bowling industry's highest-profile publications--BOWL.com, PBA.com, Bowlers Journal International, Bowling This Month, and Bowling Digital. Much of his work as a journalist and creative writer can be found on his website, http://gianmarcmanzione.com/.
Manzione fell in love with bowling as a kid growing up in Brooklyn--first in Bensonhurst and later in Bay Ridge--where he spent so much of his childhood in local bowling alleys that he was virtually raised in them. Some of the stories he tells in his book, PIN ACTION: Small-Time Gangsters, High-Stakes Gambling, and the Teenage Hustler Who Became a Bowling Champion, are those he heard the old guys talk about in the pro shops and bowling alleys around town when he was a kid.
Later on in Manzione's life, bowling took a backseat to his love of literature and creative writing, but the stories lingered with him. He graduated from Manhattan College with degrees in both English and Philosophy in 2002. Two years later, he acquired an MFA in creative writing at The New School in New York City and published parts of his thesis manuscript in The Paris Review, The Southern Review, Raritan, and other journals.
After publishing his debut collection of poetry, THIS BREVITY (Parsifal Press, 2006) , he decided to combine his passion for writing with his passion for bowling and learn more about the tales of gamblers, gangsters, and guile that colored his childhood. In 2009, while working as Visiting Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Tampa, he embarked on a furious pursuit of the many men and women who were witnesses to this overlooked and colorful corner of American cultural history. Manzione tracked them down all over the country, from New York to Florida to Texas and California, and he recorded hundreds of hours of interviews with them.
Additionally, Manzione himself has been a bowler for more than twenty years. He has bowled several 300s and 299s, he bowled a high three-game series of 834 (with scores of 289, 267 and 278) on October 12, 2004 in a league at St. Lucie Lanes in Port St. Lucie, FL, and the highest average he has recorded for the duration of a league season is 214.
In addition to teaching English and creative writing at several colleges and universities over the years, including the University of Tampa, the University of South Florida, and College of Central Florida, Manzione also is Editor of the Chicago-based publication, Bowlers Journal, which is the oldest monthly sports magazine in the country.
Manzione lives in the Tampa Bay area with his wife, Brittni, his daughter, Ellianna, and two terrible felines, PhiPhi and Cleo.
