Maple Lanes Celebrates 65th Anniversary With Free Bowling

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, NY — To celebrate its 65th anniversary in style, Maple Family Centers is offering free bowling for the next two weekends.

The family-owned business based in Rockville Centre plans to celebrate throughout the year to raise $1 million for veterans' programs and services.

On Aug. 23-24 and Aug. 30-Sept. 1, every other game is free at all Maple Family Centers, including Maple Lanes RVC in Rockville Centre and Coram County Lanes in Coram.

The bowling industry is "upside down, compared to where it was," Maple Family Centers president John LaSpina told Patch. "The core benefit is that people enjoy it. That's never changed."

Another way the bowling experience has changed, or been enhanced, is through technology.

"When you're looking at your score, I'm looking at how many games you bowled and how much money we should collect," LaSpina said.

What hasn't changed, though, is their commitment to giving back to the community, and in particular to veterans. While the business marks 65 years, it is also reflecting on its two-decade association with Bowlers to Veterans Link (BVL) and raising $900,000 for the largest bowling charity.

The business' strong connection to veterans was cemented after 9/11. At the LaSpina at their (now-defunct) Brooklyn location in Bensonhurst, they were showered with paper and pieces of Ground Zero, which blew across the East River.

One of the regular bowlers, who worked at the World Trade Center, found out that all of his Cantor Fitzgerald colleagues died.

"That got me thinking," LaSpina said. "'What have we done for our community'"?

Inspired by the heroics of first responders, the LaSpina family decided to commit themselves to doing more for their neighbors, who put themselves in harm’s way to safeguard our freedoms.

"We are grateful for the generosity of our team members and customers, who have helped make a positive difference in the lives of countless heroes, and who have helped put us in striking distance to achieve the $1 million milestone in our 65th anniversary year,” LaSpina said.

Maple Family Centers has set a lofty goal of eclipsing $1 million in funds raised for BVL with its "One Small Company, One Million Dollars" campaign.

“If every small company raised $1 million for charity, the world would be a little bit better,” LaSpina said.

The Maple Family Centers was founded in Brooklyn by Peter LaSpina, Sr. Since 1960, it has been run by three generations of the LaSpina family, and today, the company includes five bowling centers in New York and Florida.

"In my day, when my dad opened the first place, it was all about competitive bowling and learning how to bowl," LaSpina said. "It's still a percent of what we do. It's just not the dominant percentage of what we do."

The Maple Family Centers has said they value staff and customers like their own extended family, one of the reasons for the longevity.