Andy Varipapa

[5] He first bowled at the Fraternity Hall alleys in Williamsburg in 1904 and practiced by emulating the game of a local up-and-comer, James Melillo.

[8] Varipapa was hit by a truck whilst riding a bicycle during one of New York's many transit strikes in 1919, preventing him from pursuing baseball and boxing any further.

[9] While working as a switchman on the Brooklyn Bridge, Varipapa took night courses at Pratt Institute and became a machinist.

After working briefly at Remington UMC in Hoboken, he landed a job at the Brooklyn Navy Yard just as the U.S. entered World War I in 1917.

In 1926, brothers Ed and Jim Lawler hired Varipapa to manage their new bowling business in Stuyvesant Heights, and over the next several years, became one of the top bowlers in New York City.

[13][14] In late 1930, Joe Falcaro invited Varipapa to compete in a doubles match against Jim Murgie and Charley Reilly, two of Philadelphia's top bowlers.

Varipapa was the star of the match, averaging 233 over 42 games and leading him and Falcaro to a dominating 1,626 pin victory.

[16] With few avenues to earn a living as a professional, Varipapa turned to learning the trick shots that would catapult him to national prominence.

[17] Varipapa was considered to be "the greatest one-man bowling show on Earth"[18] because of his jaw-dropping displays of trick shot artistry.

In 1946, at age 55, he won the prestigious BPAA All-Star competition (predecessor to the U.S. Open) in a grueling 100-game format, making him the oldest winner.

His health was such that after gallbladder surgery in 1956, his surgeon remarked that Andy's "blood pressure, vital capacity, muscular reflexes, and pulse rate were those of a younger man.