Grafton Bowling Center demolition proceeds; fond memories shared

GRAFTON — Decades of memories were being brought down in the village as the Grafton Bowling Center was razed following a fire this year. Demolition crews were taking down the Grafton Lanes building on Main Street months after an Aug. 26 fire that heavily damaged it. Bowling leagues were set to start the following month, but the building, with multiple decades of history and hundreds of fond memories inside, instead saw its end this week. Crews from Complete Reclamation Services of Valley View were performing the work Wednesday and Thursday, making quick work because of incoming winter weather and landfills closing for the holidays. Grafton native Adam Sukey, now living in Elyria, recalled going to Grafton Lanes as a kid with his late father, Walter Sukey Jr. While the elder Sukey bowled in Wednesday classic competitions, Adam would watch or play video games in the bowling center. As he grew older, Adam Sukey's skills improved and he eventually found himself rolling in the league himself, at one point bowling his first 300 game and returning the next week to bowl another. "Me being there, finally being able to compete with some of these bowlers was a good atmosphere to me," he said. Elyria resident Christine Burtze said she met her husband, Brian, at Grafton Lanes more than 20 years ago, when they were bowling on lanes one and two. When they married, the bowling alley was considered as a wedding venue. With news of the impending demolition, many others shared memories on The Chronicle-Telegram's Facebook page of youth tournaments and midnight bowling on weekends, first perfect games, bowling with family and the folks they met at league nights. There were all-you-can-bowl for $10 nights, birthday parties, Saturday morning leagues and arcade games that children saved their coins to go play, people remembered. They bought pop and candy and watched family members and friends bowl the night away. Christopher Smith wrote that he and his brothers would go watch his father, uncle and grandfather bowl for The Miller Builders team. His uncle's style of bowling, he wrote, was "for the ball to be airborne for half the trip down the alley." The boys would get a pop and a Peppermint Pattie and try to listen in on the adults in the bar, he wrote on Facebook. As a kid he thought the ball polishing machine was fascinating technology, Smith said. Marc Ervin, who grew up in Eaton Estates and attended Midview Schools through ninth grade before moving to Florida, said family was a large part of his memory of the lanes. "I used to go to Grafton Lanes when I was a very young Eaton Estates blonde-headed boy who had dreams of being a professional baseball player," he wrote. While he was more into baseball, and had his name in The Chronicle for his exploits on the diamond, he said his memories of his grandparents Jim and Maxine Ervin taking him to the lanes "just about every weekend" to watch his grandfather bowl were treasured ones. "Well as a young boy, I really went for the arcade games, chase girls, eat a lot of junk food and run up and down looking at the groovy colored carpet," Ervin wrote, with his grandfather sneaking him quarters under the table for arcade games. Now living in sunny Tampa, Florida, Marc Ervin said his grandfather died this year. "I shared this memory when I spoke at his funeral which was super hard for me but I knew I needed to be strong for my family," he wrote. "A memory I'll never ever forget." Chief photographer Bruce Bishop contributed to this story. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on Twitter. Contact Dylan Reynolds at (440) 329-7123 or dreynolds@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @drey1357.