TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hernando Today

Ciaccio Finally Notches 800

Staff photo by BOB EAST III

Spring Hill’s Phil Ciaccio prepares to bowl a round at Mariner Lanes.

ADVERTISEMENT

By CHRIS BERNHARDT JR.

Hernando Today

Published: October 15, 2008

Some nights, everything just comes so easy. Phil Ciaccio had one of those nights Sept. 29 at Mariner Lanes.

Bowling in the Coca-Cola Classic, Ciaccio performed a feat impressive even by the high standards of the 32-team league.

The 55-year-old retired detective from Brooklyn, N.Y., a resident of Spring Hill the past 15 years, rolled a 300 game as part of an 826 series.

"After the first four (strikes) in a row (in the third game) I knew I was going to hit 800," Ciaccio said. "I was so locked in. There was no way in the world my ball was not going to hit the pocket."

LAST AWARD

Ciaccio got into bowling 45 years ago through his father. He said he had several achievements in New York and won some money in various tournaments.

However, as far as his personal record keeping, he only likes to count his time in Florida.

He had already rolled a sanctioned 300, plus a few 299 games and games with 11 strikes in a row. The one thing he lacked was an official 800.

Ciaccio's average reached 223 last year in this same league. He also bowled in the Joni Classic at Spring Hill Lanes, averaging 213, the number he has generally averaged around the past four seasons.

This season he is currently only participating in the Coca-Cola Classic and had to take the summer off because he required surgery unrelated to bowling.

It didn't hurt his performance during the first month of the league. Prior to his 800, he had held his 223 entering average. His average ballooned to 231 thanks to the 800.

"I just got out of the hospital a couple months before that," Ciaccio said. "I was only bowling five weeks since the surgery."

His 826 began in relatively modest fashion, with a 247 in the first game. The 300 followed in the second and though he had done that before, the final ball came with some trepidation.

"I told Lou Angello 'if I bowl a 299 game I'll kill myself,'" Ciaccio said. "I said (after the final strike) 'about time that 10-pin went down.'"

The 10-pin would come into play in the third game, in which Ciaccio rolled a 279. In the sixth frame he left that pin, forcing him to pick up a challenging spare with which he admits he has struggled.

"I said to myself 'you better make that 10-pin' and I had to be really focused on making that 10-pin," Ciaccio said.

He finished the night with 31 out of a possible 36 strikes, and had already sealed his 800 going into the final frame. He said surpassing 820 really didn't matter to him, as long as he had an 800.

"I felt like Dave at the moment looking for his first 800 in a league," said Ciaccio, referring to Dave Mannello, the late Mariner employee and bowler who took several years to accomplish the feat.

"It was the only award I really haven't had. It was nice to have that one, too."

Sports writer Chris Bernhardt Jr. can be reached at (352) 544-5288 or cbernhardt@hernandotoday.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT