Glenn Gerstner introduced himself to me electronically when he was working on Andy Varipapa: Bowling’s First Superstar, a fabulous book I reviewed here.

In the wake of that book being published, Gerstner offered to write an occasional bowling history story for 11thFrame.com, an irresistible offer considering my love for bowling history.

Gerstner’s first story educated me on something I had no clue about: who invented Bowler’s Tape.

I have never used bowler’s tape — I am old school, buy rolls of black electrical tape and cut it myself — but I found the story fascinating.  

I hope my readers will too.

The story of Chris Keller, the inventor of Bowler's Tape

By GLENN GERSTNER

Despite the growing popularity of the two-handed delivery, most bowlers still grip their ball using their thumb and two fingers. Among competitive bowlers, having the proper fit in those holes is crucial. For anyone under 50, adding or removing a piece of tape to get that perfect fit is routine. Reach in your bag, peel off a piece of tape, and go. However, until 1984, tape explicitly designed for bowling did not exist. This article explores how “fitting tape” came to be.

Primitive forms of bowling arrived in the United States with English and Dutch settlers of the 1700s, but it was more akin to lawn bowling or bocce than modern tenpin bowling. When popularized by German immigrants in the early 1800s, bowling balls were still the size of a shot put, like those used in duckpin or candlepin bowling. As balls approached their modern 27-inch circumference near the end of the 19^th century, gripping holes were needed. Those balls had two oversized holes about 3-4 inches apart, one for the thumb and another for the middle finger. They were aimed directly at the center of the ball because the concepts of pitch and offset were of no consideration.

Not long after holes appeared in balls, so did sore thumbs. An 1889 article in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle lamented that Mr. J.J. Martin could not compete in the National Bowling Tournament at Fulton Street Lanes due to a sore thumb. In their bowling tips columns, Jimmy Smith (1925), Joe Wilman (1960), and Dick Weber (1980) wrote about the importance of thumb care. Once the second finger hole appeared in the 1930s (thanks to Sully Bates) and the fingertip grip was popularized in the 1940s (thanks to Connie Schwoegler), precise grip specifications became more critical than ever.

The paradox that bowlers face is that to have a relaxed arm swing, the thumb needs a snug fit. The definition of “snug” varies from bowler to bowler, but every competitive bowler understands that a too-lose or too-tight thumbhole is problematic. Andy Varipapa traveled with several balls — all Brunswick Mineralites, all 16-pounds, and all with the same grip specifications — except one. Each ball had a slightly different-sized thumbhole. Even in the 1930s, with his prehistoric conventional two-finger ball, Varipapa knew the value of a proper fit. However, since most bowlers could not access several bowling balls, they started using tape to make micro-adjustments to their thumb and finger holes.

Bowlers generally had two choices for tape. Those who liked a rough texture used white surgical tape, and those who preferred a smooth texture used black electrical tape. These tapes solved the fitting problem but were far from ideal solutions. Tape came in rolls, so each piece needed to be custom cut for length and sometimes width. Adhesives often left residues, or the tape itself broke down quickly and had to be replaced after a few games. These tapes were designed to protect wounds and splice electrical wires, not adjust the size of a thumb hole. Another problem was that tape was unavailable in pro shops or bowling centers, so if you ran out during a tournament, you were out of luck until you could get to the nearest pharmacy or hardware store.

Enter Chris Keller. Born in 1961 and raised in Wantagh on the south shore of Long Island, New York, he began bowling at age 12 and soon spent every day practicing after school at Wantagh Lanes. His bowling prowess was such that while still in high school, Long Island USBC Hall of Famer Al Jacobs invited Keller to join the V. Loria and Sons team in the famed Seaboard Classic League at Garden City Bowl. In 1979, while attending Hofstra University, Keller partnered with Bob Brust (another LIUSBC Hall of Famer) and bought Ray Bellofato’s pro shop in Sunrise Bowl in Bellmore. He later owned and operated the Long Island Bowling Supplies pro shop inside Woodbury Lanes.

In the summer of 1982, Keller and his friend Mike Sparacino borrowed a motor home and drove to Amarillo, Texas, to attend PBA Tour School, which was mandatory for all new members. They bowled several tournaments as the tour headed back towards New York. At the Waukegan (Illinois) Open, Keller looked around the paddock and saw the hundred or so players registered for the rabbit squad furiously cutting tape. He recalled fellow Long Islander Tom Laskow cutting pieces of various sizes and sticking them on his shoe so the tape was ready when needed. Remnants of cut tape littered the paddock floor. It was a mess.

“Right there, it hit me,” said Keller. “Why don’t we have something that will do the same thing as the black or white tape, but you would just peel it off a backing and put it in your thumbhole rather than this whole routine of cutting tape.” When Keller returned to his pro shop in August to prepare for the fall season, the idea of bowling-specific tape was still on his mind.

“Bowlers began to ask if we carried tape in the shop. We did not — I didn’t know of any pro shops that did — but I bought a few rolls of surgical and electrical tape and stocked them in the shop,” said Keller. “I tried to buy it wholesale but couldn’t since I wasn’t in the health care or construction industries. So, I didn’t make much money selling tape. It was more as a convenience for my customers.”

“But even if you had a roll of tape, it was a hassle. You had to cut each piece length and make the half-moon at the top so it wouldn’t roll back in the hole. I knew there was a demand for something better.” Keller began designing his new product.

He hired an attorney and applied for a patent and a trademark. Keller originally planned to name the product “Pro Tape,” but a New Jersey manufacturer of packing tape had already applied for that trademark. In retrospect, it was fortuitous, because a much more appropriate name would emerge after a chance meeting one of Long Island’s best-known tournament promoters.

Jim Lustig stopped by Long Island Bowling Supplies, and Keller told him about his idea. Chris lamented that the name Pro Tape was unavailable and that he needed something different. Upon hearing this, Jim looked up and told Keller, “Why don’t you call it the bowler’s tape? That’s what it is, right?” Just like that, Keller had his name, and Bowler’s Tape was born.

Keller met with product designers from Permacel (white tape) and 3M (black tape) and presented his idea. He emphasized that the adhesive needed specific properties only a serious bowler would understand. “The tape couldn’t leave a residue when removed and had to stand up to heat and friction of hundreds of releases,” said Keller. “They were very helpful but suggested I get back to them after I had the patent, and they would work with me on the design and production process.”

Armed with a patent, Keller returned. The machines used to produce the tape were custom-tooled, and Keller needed to commit to pay for them. The timing turned out to be perfect. “My dad [Clint] just retired. He sold the three delis that he owned and was willing to invest in my new company,” said Keller.

As a young man with few assets, it was doubtful that any bank would lend him money to start a company that sold a product no one had ever seen. “I was very fortunate to have the support of my family,” recalled Keller. “Dad put up the bulk of the money, and my brother and sister helped out in the early days of the business. But my father, most of all, had confidence in me. He put his life savings at risk.”

In the beginning, Bowler’s Tape embodied a mom-and-pop operation. “After the tape was die-cut and the back printed with our logo, they shipped it out. The runs from the factory came in ‘mil-rolls,’ which were the size of a truck tire,” said Keller. “I was still living with my parents in Wantagh, and one day, this pallet load of tape was in our driveway.” Once again, the timing was on Keller’s side. Two weeks later, the PBA Tour rolled into Garden City Bowl for the 1984 Long Island Open.

“A couple of friends and I went to Garden City for the practice sessions and rabbit squads and started handing out tape,” recalled Keller. “All we had was black or white one-inch tape, and players grabbed it by the handful. I remember Johnny Petraglia asking me, ‘Where did you get this? It’s unbelievable.’ The reception among the pros was positive, and whatever fears I had about starting the business disappeared that week.”

Early on, Permacel and 3M delivered the product to his parents’ home, where boxes were packed in the basement for shipping. Bowler’s Tape quickly outgrew the Keller basement and moved to a warehouse in Bohemia. Keller bought the production machines outright and installed them in the warehouse, where tape was produced, packaged, and shipped all over the world. Most major U.S. bowling suppliers — Ace Mitchell and Universal Bowling Supply (acquired by Classic Products in 2004) among them — carried Bowler’s Tape. He also sold directly to pro shops and individuals at different price points.

Bowler’s Tape grew exponentially. Keller bowled PBA Regional tournaments, and when he traveled to Leisure Lanes in Fairfield, New Jersey, he discovered how popular the product had become. “Teata Semiz owned the pro shop there. I packed up the car with Bowler’s Tape and got there early to see if he wanted to carry it,” said Keller. “I walked into the pro shop with an armful of displays and boxes, but he already had a gigantic display in the middle of his shop. I said, ‘Wow, thanks, Teata,’ and he told me, ‘This stuff is great, my customers love it.’ I remember it like yesterday — Teata Semiz thought my product was great!”

“Bowlers asked for different sizes, so we began manufacturing ½ and ¾-inch widths,” said Keller. “We sold tape in bulk rolls of 500, but most was sold in boxes of 30 for display in the pro shop. Later, we packaged it in 6- and 10-packs for vending machines.” By any measure, the business was a rousing success. He sold his pro shop at Woodbury Lanes to Kathy Cavicchi (yet another LIUSBC Hall of Famer) and focused all his attention on Bowler’s Tape. Orders continued to flood in, forcing Keller to move to an even larger facility in Hicksville.

Bowler’s Tape became Keller’s professional life. “The tape kept us busy. We eventually came out with a carrying case, a dispenser, and a tool to remove and insert the tape, but the products were always related to tape,” said Keller. “In 1988, Bowl Expo was held at the New York Hilton. We decided to get a booth. That was my first, and I’ve been to every one since — 37 in all.”

At the 1992 Bowl Expo in Las Vegas, Chris waited for an elevator at Bally’s. “A guy walked up to me and said, ‘Are you Chris Keller?’ I said yes — I had no idea who he was — and it turned out to be Phil Knisely, the President of AMF Bowling,” said Keller. After exchanging pleasantries, Knisely got right to the point: “We want to buy your company.” Keller was not completely caught off guard. He always thought that one day, one of the “big boys” would see the value in Bowler’s Tape and want to take over the company. Keller was just surprised that it happened so quickly.

“Two weeks later, he invited me to the AMF offices in Richmond for a meeting,” said Keller. “We had a little back-and-forth negotiating, but my main concern was after they added Bowler’s Tape to their product line, Chris Keller would be out the door. Once I became convinced they wanted me as much as I wanted them, we struck a deal. What was most rewarding was that my father more than doubled his original investment. He could retire comfortably after working hard his whole life.”

Keller moved to Virginia and ran AMF’s accessory line for several years. Backed by AMF’s marketing clout, sales of Bowler’s Tape continued to grow each year. But eventually, AMF decided to leave the retail equipment category. Keller transitioned to sales, moved back to Long Island, and eventually rose to the position of Northeast Sales Manager. “Anyone who wanted to build a new bowling center, AMF gave them my number,” said Keller, who also coordinated capital equipment sales. He retired from QubicaAMF in 2022 after 30 years with the company.

The patents on Bowler’s Tape ran out in 2003, but Keller did not have many problems with competition, even when the patents were active. “The adhesives on our tape were expensive. It was tempting for a company to manufacture tape and save a little money using a cheaper adhesive, but getting the correct formulation was tricky.” Other brands hit the market, but Bowler’s Tape remained the market leader because of its high quality and name recognition. Like Xerox, Jell-O, and Google, the brand name Bowler’s Tape became a euphemism for the product itself.

Always the entrepreneur, Keller partnered with Rob Eggert and purchased Patchogue Lanes in 2008. They updated the center and changed its name to Bowl Long Island. In 2010, he was inducted into the LIUSBC Hall of Fame for superior performance. Keller sold his share of Bowl Long Island in 2016 and opened Long Island’s first new bowling center in three decades, The All-Star. He continues to own and operate the Riverhead center today. The All-Star is a mix of the new and the old: It has a full-service restaurant, an arcade, and a 6-lane VIP room with all the bells and whistles, but it hosts competitive leagues in the evening and senior citizens during the day.

In 2021, the All-Star received national attention when it was selected to receive a Barstool Fund grant. When the All-Star closed in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Keller continued paying all his 28 employees. His father, Clint, succumbed to COVID at age 92 in April, and his mother was hospitalized soon after that. It was shaping up to be a rough year, and Keller wondered if the All-Star could survive.

Businesses applied for the Barstool grant by submitting a video. Chris’ video got the attention of “El Presidente” Dave Portnoy, who awarded the All-Star $30,000 a month to cover his costs, enough to tide him over until he reopened in August. Once worried that he would lose a day’s business due to a snowstorm, the Pandemic put things in perspective. Keller said, “I can’t believe we are still here . . . I love the business of bowling. I love what I do, my employees, and my customers. That love is what keeps me going. I take nothing for granted.”

Today, fitting tape is part of a much larger segment of bowling accessories, including protection tape, finger grips, and interchangeable thumbs. Coupled with more precise drilling techniques and increased knowledge of how pitch and offset affect a bowler’s grip, a bowler with sore thumbs and fingers has many options to find relief. One wonders how Mark Roth’s thumb would look if he and his ball driller Bob Simonelli had access to the products and knowledge of today’s pro shop operators.

So, the next time you peel off that piece of tape — now available in dozens of colors, textures, and sizes — think about the days when that product did not exist. And consider how Chris Keller and his revolutionary product Bowler’s Tape left an indelible mark on the bowling industry.

Glenn Gerstner is a sport management professor and the author of Andy Varipapa: Bowling’s First Superstar. He welcomes your questions and comments at glenn.gerstner@gmail.com.

Notes

·         Except where noted, all of Chris Keller’s quotes were from his discussion with the author on July 10, 2024.

·         Newspaper articles cited in the paragraph about sore thumbs: “National Bowling Tournament,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 14, 1889, p. 4; Jimmy Smith, “Jimmy Smith Tells How to Care for the Hands While Bowling,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 29, 1925, p. 21; Joe Wilman, “How to Treat Sore Thumb to Prevent Infection,” Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, February 27, 1960, p. 13; Dick Weber, “Bowling Tips: The Sore Thumb,” Scrantonian (Scranton, PA), January 20, 1980, p. D8.

·         More about how professional bowlers dealt with sore thumbs back in the day: Robert Mayer, “Spit and Pickle Brine,” Newsday (Garden City, NY), May 3, 1968, p. 1A; Dick Evans, “Today’s Menu: Potatoes,” Miami Herald, July 3, 1979, p. 4BW.

·         A profile of bowling’s most famous thumb: Chuck Pezzano, “Roth Shreds His Thumb . . .  and Bowling Pins,” Courier-News (Bridgewater, NJ), February 18, 1978, p. B-27.

·         Evidence that Andy Varipapa used a three-ball arsenal: “Strikes to Spare,” Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader, October 21, 1942, p. 8.

·         The quote about Keller’s love for bowling and the Barstool Fund Grant details: Sheryl Nance-Nash, “Hear the Pins Drop,” Newsday (Melville, NY), May 17, 2021, p. A22.