John Spadaro, a 54-year resident of Westbury, was recently inducted into the New York State Bowling Association Hall of Fame. At the age of 91, Spadaro still bowls two days a week and provides bowling lessons to juniors and seniors four days a week at Garden City Bowl and Sheridan Bowl.

Spadaro's love for bowling began in 1926, at the age of 16, while working as a pin boy at the Patterson Recreation Center in New Jersey. He joined the Pin Boy League and held an average of 183 for two years. In 1933, Spadaro moved to Brooklyn where he bowled in the Brooklyn Eagle Travel League championship team for seven years and maintained a 198 average for five years.

In 1948, Spadaro moved to Westbury and joined several Long Island leagues in addition to the Republic Aviation Varsity Team. His dedication to promoting bowling began two years later when he began working as director of the Hempstead Bowling Association - know today as the Eastern Long Island Bowling Association.

From 1951 to 1996 Spadaro was a delegate to the National Bowling Congress Convention. He bowled in 46 National Bowling Congress Convention tournaments. In 1951, he attended the American Junior Bowling Congress (AJBC) School for Instructors in Chicago. The school was headed by Milton Raner, AJBC founder. Spadaro became a certified instructor and promoted the Junior Bowling program by reaching out to various organizations, schools, and community centers. During his first year as an instructor, Spadaro established 35 sanctioned leagues consisting of 1,400 children.

In 1953, he became the regional supervisor of AJBC. For 35 years Spadaro traveled throughout Long Island and other areas of New York, conducting junior clinics and certified instructor schools. In 1960, the Long Island Junior Bowling Association, with the help of Spadaro and several of his colleagues, became the largest sanctioned junior bowling program in the nation. In 1977, Spadaro was involved in forming the Junior Leadership.

From 1965 to 1990, Spadaro, a former pin boy, waiter, truck driver and mechanic, was a proud proprietor of Bowlerland in Lake Ronkonkoma. When he retired in 1990, Spadaro worked for 10 years as a volunteer at Central General Hospital in Plainview where he received numerous volunteer awards, one being for 13,728 hours of service.

In addition to the NYS Bowling Association Hall of Fame, Spadaro was inducted into the Nassau & Suffolk Bowling Council Hall of Fame in 1978; the Long Island Junior Bowling Association Hall of Fame in 1983; and the Eastern Long Island Bowling Association Hall of Fame in 1988. In May 2000 he received the Fifty Year Distinguished Service Award from the Eastern Long Island Bowling Association.

Spadaro and his wife, Josephine, have been married 54 years. They have three children and six grandchildren.

- Victoria A. Caruso