WECKBA would like to congratulate Brenda Fazio-Roehler, Guy Taylor, and Jason Kovack for their induction into the Windsor-Essex Chatham-Kent Bowling Association Hall of Fame during our Annual Awards Banquet on Sunday November 10, 2019. We also do a special recognition to a past bowler and this year the Awards Banquet honoured Kay Stanko.

Brenda Fazio-Roehler, was inducted in the Star of Yesteryear category. Brenda only bowled for 15 years but had a long list of accomplishments in that short time span.

• Highest Average: 196 (1988)
• High Single: 279
• High Series: 702
• Won WAWBA Annual Team Scratch in 1980
• Won Women’s 550 Scratch Tournament at Golden Mile (1983 & 1985)WAWABA 1st All Star Team 8 years (between 1979 thru 1992)
• Highest Average for Crescent Bowlerettes League from 1978/79 to 1983/84 Won Molson Master tournament in 1988, was 3rd in 1989 and 4th in 1990 Was secretary of Crescent Bowlerettes League from 1979 to 1987
• High Series for WAWBA in 1978/79

Throughout her bowling career she was influenced by several people. One of those influences was her mom, who was a Kitchener-Waterloo Bowling Hall of Fame Member. She was her coach Brenda’s inspiration. She revealed that “I started bowling in Waterloo at the age of 4. My mom, along with Sid Marsden were my coaches.They laid down my foundation for who I would become as a bowler.”

Later in her career husband Ray Fazio, better known as Hammer, became her bowling coach and mentor. She and her husband moved to Windsor to work at Crescent Lanes where Brenda would bowl in several leagues facingmany bowlers of different calibers. She said “Ray was my rock and would always push me to become better. My favourite experiences were bowling in tournaments with Ray such as Hamtramack, Bay City and the Hoinke in Cincinatti. These all led up to the Molson’s Bowling on TV which was a fantastic opportunity but nerve-wracking at the same time.” Brenda qualified for the Molson’s in 1988 with her first 700 series and then went on to win theMolson’s that year.

Brenda said that even though her bowling career ended sooner than she had expected, she has many fondmemories. She indicated “Looking back I bowled with many wonderful bowlers and legends such as Kay Stanko, Evelyn Slobasky, Marg Cartier, Carol Kelly Mielczarek, John Pavicic, Scotty Laughland, Ken Hussey, and Wayne Dubs with too many more to mention.”

Brenda wished to thank her family and friends for supporting her; the Hall of Fame Committee and Hall of Fame Members and wished to congratulate the other Hall of Fame inductees. Brenda also gave a short memorial tribute to her late husband Ray who passed away many years ago.

Guy Taylor was inducted into the Hall of Fame for Meritorious Service. Guy has been a proud member of the WECKBA (ECJBA, WEKCBA, WECKBA) for 32 years. Guy has dedicated much time to youth bowling with the following list of accomplishments.

• Youth coach 17 years
• Youth Tournament Director for Saturday and Sunday programs for 14 years WECKBA Board Member for 13 years
• WECKBA 2nd Vice-President 2 years
• WECKBA 1st Vice-President 4 years
• WECKBA Life Member
• WECKBA Youth Committee for 13 years
• WECKBA Hall of Fame Committee Member for 10 years
• WECKBA Audit Committee Member for 7 years o Current Youth Committee Chairperson for 3 yearso WECKBA Youth Tournament Director for 2 years
• Vice-President Sunday Night Rock & Bowl League for 4 yearso Composite Average from 2003-2018: 201.6
• Highest League Average: 210
• Highest Series: 790 (2010-11)
• WEKCBA Team High Triple: 3403 & Team High Single 1223 (1992-93)o 300 Games: 2 (1989-90, 1992-93)
• 290Games:1
• 280Games:1
• 700 Series: 66

Guy’s daughter Paula began with a brief synopsis of how Guy became involved in coaching. When Paula was young, she spent a great deal of time with her dad while he was injured and unable to work. Her father would watch an instructional video from one of the PBA bowlers. It would show different angles of how to properly throw the bowling ball to get the perfect strike. One day when Guy was playing the video Paula asked her dad“Why don’t we go bowling?”. They went to Windsor’s Super Bowl, and Paula instantly fell in love with the sport. Paula was having so much fun that she did not want to leave the centre. Guy came up with the idea of putting his daughter into a league. Paula confessed that “Slowly Dad started to fall in love again with the sport in a way he never used to. Dad would bring me to bowling every week, he would sit and watch me throw every shot, and hewould cheer me on and give me a high five for every spare, strike, miss, or gutter ball I threw.” As bowling wenton Guy met Richard Taylor (no relation), and Richard decided to offer Guy a position as a coach in the league which opened the door to so many more opportunities. Soon he was coaching pee-wees, bantams, juniors, seniors and other adults. Paula observed that “Once coaching started, it then led to Dad becoming the Tournament Director for Super Bowl, which evolved into him sitting on many different Boards so he could have avoice for all of us.” As a coach Guy never pushed youth bowlers past their limits. He believed that bowling should never be a chore, bowling should never be something kids resented, and bowling should never be something to get mad over. Bowling is supposed to be fun, it is supposed to have a lot of high fives, it is supposed to have a lot of laughter, and a lot of smiles. Paula says “If my dad caught you in an upset mood when you were bowling, hewould do everything in his power to make sure you laughed before your next shot because his greatest joy wasseeing us have fun and succeed in this sport.”

The first time Guy ever picked up a bowling ball was when he was 18 years old. Guy related that “My Dad was bowling Sunday mornings with a few of his friends for some fun and a little kitty money. One of his friends could no longer bowl so they were short a bowler, so he asked me to bowl with him.” Paula noted that “My Grandfather paid for Dad’s bowling, but any kitty money would be Grandpa’s. I don’t know if Grandpa wanted another bowler or just someone to calculate the kitty, but my Dad didn’t care. He wasn’t going to pass up theopportunity to hang out with his Dad.” Since that time Guy has been hooked on bowling.

After Guy injured his back he did not know if he would ever work again or be able to continue to enjoy the sport of bowling. Guy maintains that with the love and support of his daughter and his wife he made a great recovery. Guy knew he could never bowl as much as he did before or do tournaments, but he was just fortunate enough to be able to bowl. Guy noted that “At that time my daughter wanted to bowl so I just couldn’t say no, but I told her bowling is just a game, go out have fun and make lots of friends.” Guy said his daughter taught him a lot abouthimself, she showed him that he always could find the time to love and help kids.

Guy’s greatest feat in bowling was his first 300 game that his Mom and Dad witnessed. His greatest accomplishment in bowling is all the relationships that he has developed with youth bowlers. Guy claims “With all the kids I got to know over the years whether it was Paula’s school friends or youth bowlers, I got to enjoyseeing them become young men and women and to all of you, you’re not kids — you’re my kids that I love dearlyand am very proud of you all.”

Guy wanted to thank Richard Taylor for giving him the opportunity to become involved with the youth bowling program and for showing him that there is always more you can provide for youth bowlers.

His family is very important to him. His daughter was his initial inspiration. He thanked his wife Nancy for always putting up with his antics. She always supported him no matter what he was doing. Guy said “You have alwaysbeen there for me through my recovery. You knew when to support me, nurture me and when to give me the boot I needed when I got down on myself. I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for Paula and Nancy. You both gave me hope, desire, passion and patience.”

Every week Guy still gets up on Saturday and Sunday mornings, puts on his shirt that says COACH, gets his duffle bag and heads to the bowling alley. Beat the Coach is Guy’s favourite day of the year because he loves nothing more than all the kids beating him on that day. Paula explained “My father is a man of great spirit, amazing drive,compassion, and nothing but love especially when it comes to this sport, the kids that bowl in this community, as well as the individuals he has seen grow from a young age to adulthood.” Guy has really found his calling as a bowling coach.

Jason (Jay) Kovack, was inducted into the Hall of Fame for Superior Performance. Jason had been a proud member of the WECKBA for 23 years. Jason has competed in league play, locally and internationally. During his bowling career he earned the following list of accomplishments.

• 300 Games: 14
• 299 Games: 10
• 298 Games: 2
• 11 in a Row: 8
• 800 Series: 12
• Highest Average: 226 (2002) o Highest Series: 824 
• Composite Average: 217.26
• WEKCBA Bowler of Year: 2001
• WEKCBA & WECKBA 1st All Star Team: 5 times (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007)
• WEKCBA & WECKBA 2nd All Star Team: 2 times (1999, 2005)
• Molson Masters: Winner (2010) and Runner Up (2006)
• WEKCBA Tournament Doubles Champ (2002) with Len MacLelland: 1504
• WEKCBA Tournament All Events (2002): 2231
• WEKCBA Tournament Team Scratch Champ (2003)
• WEKCBA Team High Triple & Team High Single (2003)
• WECKBA Tournament Team Handicap Champ (2005)
• Represented Canada Internationally
• Team Canada Member: 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010
• Competed in World Tenpin Team Cup: Denmark (2003)
• Competed in Men’s World Championship: 2003
• Competed in Canadian National Championship: 2006, 10,321 pins (48 game record)
• Competed in Men’s World Championship: Korea (2006)
• Competed in Pan Am Games: Rio De Janeiro (2007)
• Competed in Men’s World Championship: Thailand (2008)
• Competed in Men’s World Championship: Germany (2010) 

Jason started bowling at 8 years of age. He bowled in the Club 240 youth program at Rose Bowl Lanes and then as a teen in the Shoppers Drug Mart Travelling Classic. Jay started working at Rose Bowl as a teenager, first as a porter, then a pinsetter and eventually became the head mechanic. After his time working for Rose Bowl, he moved on to working at Chrysler where he still works today.

Once Jay finished his youth bowling, he started competing with his dad in the Rose Bowl Major Hdcp League on Thursday night. Wendy Aqwa observed that “It did not take long for everyone to realize that he had somethingspecial and that he would go on to do some great things which is exactly what happened.”

Jason stated that “Bowling was his life for most of his life. All my jobs, my friends, my relationships and of coursethe relentless work on the sport itself, was all 100 percent bowling all the time. When you have a passion for anything, especially a sport, to attempt to become great involves a lot of sacrifice and obviously hard work. I canhonestly say I put my all into this sport and I don’t regret one minute of it.” Some days he would work midnightsat Chrysler and then go straight to Rose Bowl and practice for 2 hours, sleep, then get up and bowl in his league.

On weekends Jason and Dan Aqwa would leave at 7am and drive wherever they were headed to bowl in a tournament, talking about bowling on those long drives. He found that to become great at something, putting the hard work aside also means being humble and willing to always learn. You need to take in as much as you can andthen use that information to your advantage. Jason said “Mr. John Pavicic, one of my heroes, said to me afterleague bowling one night, in his booming voice. Kid, you’re getting a little cocky. Trust me when I say this, youneed to learn how to lose before you’ll consistently win.” He thought to himself after, what the heck was hetalking about? It turned out it was the greatest lesson Jason ever learned. He said he uses that philosophy today still in life and it has helped shape him into the person that he has become today.

In any successful career, there are many people that influence your career along the way, so it is never a one man show. Two of the most influential people that helped Jason in his early teens were Wayne Dubs and Jamie Morand. Wayne and Jamie were always willing to share their knowledge and time to help the junior bowlers. Wayne would stay after the league play on Thursdays and put on clinics for free. The proprietors, Dave Rose and Doug Clarke at Rose Bowl, gave Jason full run of the place to practice. Jason noted “Years later, Randy Churchilland Rick Falkner at Super Bowl, not only gave me a job when I was laid off, but they too supported me in everything I needed. I am very grateful to them getting me through that difficult time so I could focus on my Team Canada events.” Len MacLelland, who was his teammate was also a mentor, took care of drilling his equipment, gave him his friendship, and taught Jason a great deal about life. Steve Scherle helped Jason understand the pro level and what it took to succeed at that level. Jason remembered that “Steve taught me how to drill and lay out equipment and really helped launch me to the next level.” Two dear friends to Jason were Wendy and Dan Aqwa who believed in him before he ever believed in himself. Jason stated “Wendy and Dan really are family to me andhave supported me in life and in bowling for 25 years now. You would be hard- pressed to find two greater peopleand they are both still giving their all to the bowling community today.”

His parents and brother, Bill, Donna and Jeff, leant their support to Jason not just through bowling but in life. Jason recalls that, “When I was bowling, you could always find one of my parents lurking in the background somewhere just being there to support me and go through all the ups and downs with me.” One of Jason’sproudest moments in his career was the day he won the Molsons. He got to bowl his best friend, Dan Aqwa in the final. Jason wished to thank his kids and his wife for supporting him. Jason explained that “His wife never got tosit in a bowling centre for hours and hours watching me bowl squad after squad. That’s probably why we are still together. I can honestly say I would not be standing here the person I am if it wasn’t for her. She has shown methat there is life after bowling.”

Jason found that he was so fortunate to travel the world with Team Canada and visit places and cultures he never would have been able to do ever in his lifetime. He said he would not give up any of it and that he is so grateful and appreciative to now be a member of the Hall of Fame.

After 23 years of bowling and competing at such a high level, injury, work and raising a family eventually took Jason away from the game. Wendy Aqwa understood “His priorities changed, he had more important things in hislife that needed his attention. No matter what he always loved the game and has always said that one day when the time is right, he would return.” Years ago, while working at Rose Bowl together, Wendy Aqwa would often joke with Jason about how they would be bowling together until they were old and grey. Jay would help Wendy to the line in her walker because she was so much older than he was. Wendy indicated “Myself and everyone else are anxiously waiting for the day that you make your triumphant return to the game. That picture in my head ofyou helping me to the line with my walker is getting clearer and clearer so I really hope that you don’t leave us hanging for much longer.”

Kay Stanko is a bowler from the past that we honoured before the Hall of Fame inductee presentations. Thanks to Dan Corchis for writing this portion of the article.

Kay Stanko was one of Windsor’s finest bowlers for three decades. She won a number of titles during the 1950’s, ‘60s. and ‘70s, including the Canadian Singles 10-pin Championship and the Canadian National Bowling Proprietors Association Singles title, both in 1965.

Kay was born in Ceshan, Yugoslavia, on September 6, 1921. She came to Windsor six years later, where she enrolled at St. Angela Elementary and later W.D. Lowe High School.

Her bowling career began in the early 1940’s at the Royal Bowling Lanes, also known as Steve’s Rec. In theensuing years, she regularly competed at the Palace Rec (which later became Crescent Lanes), Golden Mile, and Rose Bowl Lanes.

Stanko was a three times High Qualifier for the Molson Masters Singles Match Play Tournament in 1962, ’64 and ’71.

Arguably, 1965 was the strongest year of Kay’s bowling career. She reached national prominence after winning the Canadian Singles TenPin Championship, in Alberta, and the Canadian National Bowling Proprietors Association Singles title, in Montreal. She also competed on the international circuit, finishing 7th at the Tournament of theAmericas Amateur Bowling World’s Tournament in Miami.

In the years that followed, Stanko continued to excel in local competition. She was a three-time Molson MatchPlay Champion (1966, ’68, and ’69) and City of Windsor High Average Champion (’66, ’67, and ’68). The latteraward was computed over a sixty-six-game league season. Kay was also a two-time City of Windsor SinglesTournament Champion (1971 and ’74) and Windsor Doubles Tournament Champion (1974 with Barb Swegles and1979 with Barb King).

In 1973, Kay returned to the Tournament of the Americas in Miami, this time as part of a doubles team with Evelyn Slobasky where they captured a silver medal for Canada. Kay was named to the WAWBA (Windsor Area Women’s Bowling Association) All-Star Team in 1974, ’76, ’77, and ’78. The team was comprised of five area bowlers with the best per-game averages calculated over sixty-six league games.

While accurate records were rarely kept until the early 1970’s, we know anecdotally that Stanko won several other awards in the first two decades of her career, which she spent bowling for the Windsor Ladies in the Detroitchapter of the Women’s International Bowling Congress. Windsor entered the Canadian Women’s BowlingAssociation in 1973, meaning that the accomplishment of elite area bowlers has been preserved for posterity since then.

Kay Stanko passed away on February 27, 1982. Submitted by Catherine Wilbur.