06/11/2023
What a great story! If you are going to the U.S. Women’s Open this coming week you all are in for a treat when you see how well this bowling center is run by Kelvin, Russ and their staff!
Best wishes to all the competitors!
Meet the faces behind why we are ABC Gates Bowl.
They are on a mission to make every experience a memorable experience.
ABC Gates Bowl is 48 lane bowling center. We are the 2nd largest independently owned bowling center in Western New York. Our goal is to be a premier center that provides a high-quality experience to a family’s first bowling outing to a professional bowler looking to excel at their craft. We pride ourselves on having a pristine center, with an exceptional team that provides top of the line customer service. We were founded in June of 2020 during the pandemic.
Little did co-owners Russell Vallone Jr and Kelvin Parker know that during what the happiest days of their lives should be they would be facing a worldwide pandemic. To better understand the roots of ABC Gates Bowl you will need to better understand the owners and their journey’s.
Russell (Russ) Vallone Jr started his competition journey at the age of nine in the Youth Bowling Program at the former North Park Lanes, which opened in Rochester NY in 1956. With the support of his father (Russ Vallone Sr), Ray Lecesse Jr, The Lecesse Family, and friends at the center it did not take long for Russ to become an outstanding local youth bowler. Russ knew at a young age he had talent and enjoyed working with his hands. At the age of 15 years old, Russ started his first job at North Park Lanes as a porter. He continued to work for the center until his college years, by this time he was a lane mechanic. During his youth career he won several youth tournaments while carrying a 209 average in the Rochester City Catholic Highschool competition. Russ attended Monroe Community College and majored in computer technology, but he always knew deep down after taking auto body course in highschool that he wanted to work with his hands. At the age of 22 Russ turned professional and within two seasons he became an exceptional regional professional. Russ decided the professional route was not the future he wanted and he decided to take a step back to compete at the amateur level as a part time activity. After having his pro card from 1995 to 1999, he worked as a clintech at Strong Hospital in the CT Dept. while working part time in a bowling proshop. As a part time proshop operator Russ began to learn from Ed Stewart at the Bowl A Roll Proshop. After ten years he decided to make a change and become a full time proshop operator at A Better Choice Proshop working closely with Kelvin Parker and David Werner. With 38 years of experience in the bowling industry as both an employee and competitor Russ enjoys each and every day as he creates a bright future alongside his partner Kelvin Parker.
Kelvin Parker started bowling at the age of five and it did not take him long to realize how much he loved the sport. He participated in the local youth bowling programs and at the age of fifteen years old he began to work at the former Olympic Bowl, which opened in 1956 in Rochester Ny. Kelvin went on to bowl collegiately for the prestigious Erie Community College (ECC) under founder, coach and mentor Mr. Kerm Helmer. While at ECC Kelvin studied Bowling Management, which provided him a well-versed background on every area of a bowling center. After college he began to compete at the amateur level where he had much success. For 19 years Kelvin worked for Anheuser-Bush as a salesperson, while still managing to stay as involved as possible with the bowling industry. During the fall of 2004 Kelvin and Dave started the annual Bud Light Challenge, which has grown to be one of the biggest amateur scratch tournaments on the East Coast. Around 2009 Kelvin became involved with A Better Choice Proshop alongside David Werner where he continued to follow his bowling career. At this point in his bowling career, he knew his passion was not on the competition end, but on the management side. In the fall of 2010 Kelvin began to see his bowling success through the win of his mentee Brittni LaGeorge (Hamilton) when she won Junior Gold and named him as her coach and ball driller. With over 40 years of experience in the bowling industry as both an employee and competitor Kelvin enjoys each day as he creates a bright future for bowling alongside his partner Russ.
Russ and Kelvin continued their “bowling” lives over the next several years as until one slow day during the Lilac City Tournament. That day would forever change both of their lives. Kelvin Parker blurted out of dead silence, “we need to get our own center, we can do better than this!” Kelvin being an extremely ambitious person motivated Russ and himself to roll up their sleeves and start building that dream into today’s reality. From that day on, with the help, guidance and support of Ray Lechase and the Lechase Family the journey began that has led to the now established ABC Gates Bowl!
