The PBA Honors Pezzano - Chuck Pezzano receives Eddie Elias Ambassador of Bowling Award - Brief Article

PBA HALL-OF-FAMER CHUCK Pezzano, a contributing editor at BOWLING DIGEST since its founding in 1983, was selected as the recipient of this year's Eddie Elias Ambassador of Bowling Award. Pezzano received the award February 20 during the second annual PBA Awards Dinner at Tangier Restaurant in Akron. Pezzano joins previous recipients Elias, Dick Weber, the late Darold Dobs, and Chris Schenkel.

"My first reaction was that Eddie, Dick, and Chris were three of the past recipients, and they are all close friends of mine," says Pezzano, a native of Clifton, N.J. "People say you are known by the company you keep, and that's pretty good company. It's a great honor to receive this award."

Pezzano has enjoyed a storied career in the sport of bowling. Not only was he honored in the inaugural PBA Hall of Fame induction class in 1975 for Meritorious Service, but he is also a member of the ABC Hall of Fame. In fact, Pezzano has been inducted into a total of 10 Halls of Fame (five for bowling performance and five for meritorious service/outstanding service).

As a collegiate bowler at Rutgers, he became the sport's first collegiate champion in 1950. While he continued to bowl after college, Pezzano began to earn his living as a general sportswriter. He wrote for the Patterson (N.J.) Morning Call and later for The Record, a paper that serves Hackensack, N.J., and suburban New York City, for whom he still writes a bowling column today.

His career as a bowling writer and historian is well chronicled. Pezzano has authored or co-authored 13 books, written more than 500 magazine articles and more than 6,000 columns; his work has appeared in publications all over the world. He has won more than 50 awards for his writing talents and is a past president of the Metropolitan Bowling Writers, Bowling Writers Association of America, and World Bowling Writers.

His career with the PBA dates back to the formation of the organization in 1958. A charter member of the PBA, he was instrumental in the formation of the tour. With the help of fellow PBA Hall-of-Famer Frank Esposito, Pezzano created the PBA's regional program and served as a regional director from 1968 to 1997. He served as PBA Secretary from the early '70s to the mid-'90s, sat on the PBA's executive board for a number of years, and is still a member of the PBA Hall of Fame board.

Pezzano was also very involved in making the PBA tour a staple of network television. Pezzano used his experience from his days of working on bowling shows such as "Make That Spare" and "Jackpot Bowling" to help mold the look of the PBA tour on TV. All in all, Pezzano helped coordinate more than 1,000 bowling telecasts (PBA and otherwise).