Originally featured in the Oct. 2023 edition of Bowlers Journal 

Inside the familiar confines of Orange Bowl Lanes in Lakeland, Florida, longtime local John Janawicz was the hometown favorite at the 2023 PBA50Johnny Petraglia BVL Tournament of Champions on August 30. He earned the fifth seed in the final event of the season, which clinched a goal he began chasing before he threw his first ball of the season— winning the 2023 PBA50 Rookie of the Year award. But his work, on this day, was far from finished.

Having been introduced to the crowd as the senior circuit’s Rookie of the Year, Janawicz, in the congenial manner for which he has been known by the legions of  friends he has collected around the world over the decades, smiled and waved at the crowd. His peers on the lanes know better than to let that congenial manner fool them, though: In the heart of this intractably humble champion is a killer instinct few of those peers can rival. It was with that dimension in his character that he turned his attention to the challenge before him.

While sporting a custom jersey covered in passport stamps, this world traveler, world-class person and bowler, and world-renowned lane man knew his look on the fresh, 46-foot Johnny Petraglia oil pattern was pretty good. It would be a matter of execution against some impressive competition. 

He defeated three PBA Hall of Famers in a row as he climbed the stepladder. He struck on his first ball in the 10th against Bryan Goebel to win in a shootout, 263-259.He closed out his match against Parker Bohn III with six straight strikes, which helped earn him the 244-238 victory in yet another high-flying battle; and he delivered a double in the 10th against Chris Barnes, winning 256-247, as the strikes continued to pile up. He punctuated his ascension by defeating No. 1 seed Tom Adcock, 228-170. 

“This is something I always dreamed of doing when I was younger,” Janawicz said. “To have this opportunity to live this dream out at the age of 50, I’m very grateful for that and wanted to try to do my best to take full advantage of every opportunity I had.”
 
“I got off to a good start in the first game and was just able to keep the momentum going,” Janawicz said. “I made a couple of good decisions on what to do through transition and they transitioned about three times or four times over the course of those four games.” 

Throughout the week of this final tournament of the season, Janawicz had coworkers from nearby Kegel, along with close friends, cheering him on. Even his biggest fan stopped by too.

“My mom actually came to watch for the first time in over 20 years,” of his 82-year-old mom, Maria “That was really nice. It was kind of a nice homecoming to be able to end the tour there.” 

“Incredible first year in the PBA,” said PBA Commissioner Tom Clark, prior to the trophy presentation. “We always wanted you to join, and you did it in style, bigtime. Congratulations, JJ.”
Rookie Campaign

Janawicz’s year began by leading TeamUSA to two gold medals and winning his first PBA50 title at the 2023 USBC Senior Masters. Even the greatest players on today’s legend-laden senior tour will tell you that Janawicz is a unique specimen with an unmatched skillset that leaves everyone impressed. When it comes to tournament play — whether in the U.S. or worldwide — Janawicz is the most requested lane man at Kegel.

“He is the top one percent of the top one percent in a couple of different fields, which is as rare as it gets,” said PBA and USBC Hall of Famer Chris Barnes. “He is the go-to guy for Europe and Asia for any tournament that wants fair and equitable conditions at a specific scoring pace. I’ve rarely seen anyone that is in his class, let alone better than him at all.”

There has never been a doubt he could compete against and defeat the best players in the world. The only question has been what else he could have achieved had he joined the PBA from the beginning. With his ability to throw the ball so many different ways thanks to his willingness to switch hand positions to his keen insight into how oil patterns break down, Janawicz is in a class of his own.

“He’s a world class bowler and worldclass shot repeater, but he’s also been in the environment of watching how lanes change and adapting to those changes and making the right changes over time,” said USBC Hall of Famer Tim Mack said. “Over the course of his career, he’s always showed up and showed that he can compete among the best every time he enters a tournament.”

After finally getting his PBA card when he turned 50 last September, it was time for Janawicz to answer the ‘what if’ question for himself. And it didn’t take long for the man many call “JJ” to win.

Mastermind Gets to Work
Knowing he needed to get a regional or national win to qualify for the PBA50Johnny Petraglia BVL Tournament of Champions near his home in Florida, he accomplished that in his first attempt. He traveled out west and won the PBA50Earl Anthony Classic April 30, which included him rolling a 300 game, for his first regional crown.

He quickly followed that up by winning his rst national title — a major, no less —at the 2023 USBC Senior Masters on June11. He was the No. 18 seed heading into match play, then went undefeated through the double-elimination bracket — which also included a 300 game — to earn the No.1 seed over Lennie Boresch Jr., whom he went on to defeat for the wheat, 204-200.

“This just shows you how talented he is,” said Shirley Hinz Levins, one of Janawicz’s first sponsors and a close family friend. “His mind is always working on if the lanes aren’t working for him what in his game can he do to get to where he can strike.”

“JJ is not afraid to do what his gut tells him,” said two-time PWBA champion Verity Crawley. “If he sees something that others might not see he will always do what he thinks is best for him and he will always commit 100 percent.”

He received close to 200 text messages after the win, taking him two-and-a-half hours to respond to well-wishes from around the globe. An overwhelming experience, sure, but also a good problem to have, he said. And in three tournament wins, he rolled a perfect game at each.

“He finally did what we all knew he could have done 25 years ago,” said Don Agent, Kegel’s Director of Technical Support and Education. “We just finally got to see it. It was very emotional, and I expected no less.”

Learning to be Better
This was all part of a dream that Janawicz deferred so he could gain more knowledge about the technical side of the sport.

Janawicz admits he had “some decent success” as an adult bowler in Florida. He enjoyed competing in option tournaments at the old Kegel Center in Sebring.

Once a month, Kegel founder John Davis would hold 10-game sweepers with different conditions. Janawicz was fascinated by the unique conditions Davis would put out and wanted to learn more.

He wasn’t having the level of success he expected, feeling like he hit a wall in 1997.He asked Davis if he needed another worker so that he could learn about lane maintenance. That led to an introduction to Mike Strainey, who was in charge of lane maintenance for the USBC Open Championships, then the ABC Tournament. Janawicz was part of the lane maintenance crew in 1998 in Reno and worked at the first Junior Gold National Tournament in Reno, which his good friend and 2011 USBC Queens champion Missy Parkin won on the girl’s side. After that six-month learning experience, Davis hired Janawicz at Kegel in July 1998 to take care of lanes on the PBA Tour and he began working with Agent.

“When he decided to work for us, he had the aspirations to go on tour, but he made a conscious decision for this company,” Agent said. “He wanted to pursue helping bowling and put his career on the backend.”
“He had a very prominent position he was developing with Kegel at the time,” Mack said. “I think he was a smart guy. He was young, and he wanted to develop his skillset.”

Janawicz also learned a great deal about lane maintenance directly from PBA Hallof Famer Len Nicholson, who has been a consultant for Kegel since 1995 and previously co-founded the PBA Tour’s lane-maintenance program in 1971. Nicholson also is the first lane man to ever be inducted into a hall of fame. When he was working with Janawicz he learned he was a great bowler and appreciated how studious he was.

“There is an art and science to doing lanes,” the 83-year-old said. “I used to say I was the best lane man, but John Janawicz is the best lane man there is.”

Pursuing his Dream
When Kegel President and CEO Chris Chartrand knew Janawicz was getting close to turning 50, he approached his dedicated longtime employee with an important question. Did he want to bowl on thePBA50 Tour?

“He told me it was on his mind, and he had a goal to be tour Rookie of the Year,” Chartrand said of their conversation. “It was a no-brainer. It was my commitment to him that we will make it happen.”

“We feel pride in his success and anything we can do to help him achieve his dreams,” Chartrand said. “It was wanting to do right by him.”

Chartrand went to Agent, Janawicz’s supervisor, and explained the agreement he had made with Janawicz. Agent was elated, as were all of Janawicz’s coworkers. They were all willing to step up and do whatever was required to show their support for one of their own.

“Chris knew JJ had sacrificed all of these opportunities, and for all we know, JJ could have been a 20-title holder from 1998 to now,” Agent said. “Without Chris’s decision I don’t know if JJ would have pursued it without that leverage of not only that we have your back, but we want you to do this because you deserve it.”

Prior to his conversation with Chartrand, Janawicz was planning to use his vacation days to bowl all of the majors on the schedule admitting he probably wouldn’t have gotten his PBA member card if that was the case.

Excellent to World-Class Bowler
“He went from kind of an excellent bowler to a world-class bowler,” Chartrand said of Janawicz’s progression. “I think that started in the mid-2000s when he won his first Eagle. He continued to impress us with his performance on both the national stage and the international stage.”

That time frame Chartrand cites as the point at which Janawicz’s game took orbit is an appropriate one, as it was April 8, 2004, when Janawicz shot a then-record singles-event series of 858 at the USBC Open Championships in Reno. It was the highest set ever bowled in the tournament’s 101-year history at the time, and it won Janawicz the Singles and All-Events titles that year.

With Janawicz’s vast knowledge of lane play, how oil patterns breakdown, knowledge of equipment and his physical versatility as a bowler, Parkin believes Janawicz is “unstoppable really.”

“When you get to the highest level, it’s all about making the right choices and making those educated guesses. Because of all of his knowledge, he just has that much more of an advantage,” Parkin said. “When he combines that with his physical game —which is very good — that is what makes him so special on the lanes.”
“He is a guy who can throw it a million different ways and you are not ever going to shut him out,” Barnes said. “He can throw it any way he wants. His vast knowledge base adds on a different level. We have known him as a top player forever.”

“He’s incredible,” Team USA teammate Brandon Bohn said. “He knows exactly how things will break down and he is always a few steps ahead of everyone else.”

“From a bowling standpoint, his knowledge and his willingness to learn and get better is inspiring,” Crawley said. “He is always working on his game and trying to find ways to learn more and to improve.”

Agent believes his good friend’s dedication and work ethic is unmatchable. He relates JJ’s ability to repeat shots to PBA Hallof Famer Walter Ray Williams Jr. and feels like Janawicz has a similar philosophy as another Hall of Famer, Norm Duke. With his ability to change hand positions and change ball speeds all based on the knowledge he has to read the conditions like a lane man does, Agent thinks the combination is truly unique.

“He doesn’t have an ‘A’ game; he has A, A-, B+, B, B- and by the time you get to his C game, he has already beat you,” Agent said. “I have done hundreds of tournaments around the world. I have seen the best of the best on all levels on every continent but Antarctica, and the reality is nobody has the ability that he has.”

Agent first met Janawicz in the late ‘80s while bowling options tournaments against the likes of PBA Tour greats Jason Couch and Ricky Ward. Agent saw the talent of Janawicz then, and he has only seen that elevated to an elite level since.

“When you are a bowler that is also a lane man, there is an inherent advantage due to the additional skillset you have gotten on the other side of the foul line,” Agent said. “You see breakdown happen immediately, not three or four shots into it. He has a personal knowledge of lane play that far supersedes any coach or professional bowler.”

“It helps with starting strategies, lane play and what equipment to start with,” Janawicz said of his technical background knowledge. “So it gives you a good framework. But when you start getting deeper into it, you have to adjust to what is out there.”

“Just being a little smarter and being a little more ahead of the moves,” he added. “Being a couple steps ahead of the game has denitely been a big part of my success.”

“When you are the lane man, you have to take everything into consideration,” Nicholson said. “You need to know ball motion and how lanes break down. He studied and learned all of this coming up. He was a good bowler, and he was able to repeat shots, which makes you a good bowler. And by repeating good shots he would put down an oil pattern and if it was consistent, he knew he did a good job.”

JJ’s Versatility
The first time he saw bowling on TV at the age of 2, he told his mom he wanted to bowl. He started with candlepin while living in New Hampshire, then when his family moved to Florida, he tried the real thing. His favorites were Earl Anthony, Marshall Holman and Mark Roth. Those are the three legends that he tried to model his game after.

A few decades later, when JJ felt like he hit a wall in his bowling game progression, he knew there were things he needed to work on. He wanted to improve his mental game and add more tools to his toolbox. While traveling the world, he has had an up-close view of the kind of skills some of the best bowlers in the world use to battle various conditions on the lanes.

“I got to a point where I didn’t like getting beat by some of these people and I needed to learn how to either use those skills or at least find a way within the framework of my game to be able to get close,” he said. “It was kind of an evolution over the last 30, 35 plus years. Trying to add more physical tools to be able to solve problems more than anything. That way I’m in play on most any pattern or scoring pace and the versatility is what also allows me to stay in play.”

His versatility was on display throughout his performance at the USBC Senior Masters. There were times he had to throw it slow, and times he was swinging the lane quite a bit. He also was going back and forth between throwing urethane and reactive resin equipment with ease.

“The Masters would be one of the tournaments where more of my skills were definitely on display probably more than anything,” he said. “I had to be more innovative with more out-of-the-box thinking.”

“He’s an extremely versatile bowler,” Mack said. “He can throw it  super straight, and he could also loft the left gutter and that’s not normal for a guy that has a thumb in it in 2023. It’s impressive.”

Veteran on Team USA
Janawicz is a 10-time member of Team USA. Just before he won the Senior Masters, he earned two more gold medals, bringing his total to 15. He first teamed up with two-handed left-handers Brandon Bohn and Matt Russo to win trios at the 2023 PANAM Bowling Male Championships.

“He just pulled a JJ and out of nowhere he had the first eight in a row in the last game,” Bohn said of Janawicz. “He ended up bowling 279 and brought it home for us.”

At the 2023 U.S. Amateur Champion-ships, Bohn defeated Janawicz 268-212, which ultimately led Bohn to winning the event and earning his spot on Team USA.

“It’s surreal to know how much of an icon he is in the game,” Bohn said. “I don’t usually root for people, but I have found myself rooting for JJ a lot this season.”

“He is like a human robot or a wizard,” Bohn said. “Anything I asked him, he knew the answer. He does things differently than everybody else. He goes about life, bowling and work as an everyday thing. He doesn’t let anything bother him.”

“Both of those guys are great players,” Janawicz said of Bohn and Russo. “I am not sure how much they really learned from me. I would love to bowl a trio’s tournament with them whether it be Team USA or anything else again.”

Janawicz then averaged 222.67 to help lead the way in the team event with Darren Tang, Nick Pate, and Chris Via.

“I had a great experience with Darren, Nick and Chris,” Janawicz said. “They are fantastic teammates and I thought we communicated well and worked well together. It was just another fantastic experience with Team USA and working with the coaching staff.”

“At 51, he is still making the national team,” said fellow Team USA veteran Barnes. “Whether it be strategy or gameplay in the middle or just the tools he is using that opens up somebody else’s eyes to do the right thing. He’s a great teammate.”

Growing the Game
As soon as the Webber International University bowling team started working at the Kegel Training Center, Janawicz would head over after he finished working for the day to see if he could help in any way.

“The Webber bowlers have gleaned a tremendous amount of knowledge, wisdom and guidance from JJ,” Chartrand said confidently.

One of those directly impacted was Crawley, who attended Webber from 2012-2016. She still has notes she took when he would give educational sessions to the team. She has spent more time working with Janawicz since she graduated and credits him with her success. He has educated her on lane patterns, how to play the lanes, and when she sees certain characteristics with her ball motion, what options she has and what she should do. She describes it as an overall champion mindset and a much deeper understanding that has led her to “look at things in a completely different way then I used to three years ago.”

“The last couple of years has been monumental in the amount I have learned from him and how much he has developed my game,” she said. “He wants me to win, and he is giving me all of this information so that I can become better. It’s not often someone who is such a good player would want to share that knowledge because in the end I still compete against him when we bowl over the weekend. He has given me the knowledge and if I put it to the right use, I can beat him.”

This year, Crawley won her second career PWBA title on June 2 and she was thrilled to see Janawicz win his first national title nine days later. While watching the livestream on BowlTV, she was impressed to see him trust his instincts. It’s part of the champion mind-set she also has learned from him.

“I will wholeheartedly say I don’t think I would be the bowler I am today if I hadn’t spent as much time with him; I truly believe that,” Crawley said. “He is always there for me, and he would go out of his way to help me.”

One of the very first things Parkin noticed about Janawicz was how he treated those he met.

“His charismatic personality and how sweet and nice he is to everybody,” she said of her fellow Team USA teammate. “He is just the nicest person you could ever meet.”

Parkin has learned a great deal from Janawicz about bowling balls, surfaces, lane play, and oil patterns. She marvels at his extreme intelligence when it comes to the technical side of bowling. And in the past, when she would fill in the name of her coach on her Team USA resume, she would put down Janawicz because of the impact he has made on her.

“After I switched sponsors, he was huge in helping me to understand my equipment and select the right equipment for what I like to see my bowling ball do,” Parkin said. “He gave me a nice strategy to situate all of my bowling balls, so I know exactly what they are utilized for so there is less confusion when I am on the lanes.”

When Janawicz confided in Parkin that he might get the chance to compete on thePBA50 Tour full-time thanks to the support and encouragement of his employer, Kegel, she admits, she didn’t hold back her thoughts.

“I told him this is something you have always wanted to do, now go out there and show the world what you are capable of,” Parkin recalled. “He has always been that one bowler who did not have a PBA card but was just as good as everybody on tour, in my opinion.”

When thinking about where Janawicz would be in his bowling career had he joined the PBA Tour earlier on, Parkin believes he would already be eligible for the PBA Hall of Fame.

Janawicz has also paved the way for some of his coworkers at Kegel too.

“We’ve got kind of a new group of people that are getting the opportunity to go out and represent Kegel as a professional at tournaments and I know that JJ is definitely the person that they want to emulate the most when it comes to how they handle themselves and how they want to be perceived,” Chartrand said.“ He’s definitely set a great example for a lot of the younger folks.”

Why does Janawicz openly share his experience and knowledge so freely? To him, it’s pretty simple.

“The more that you can share with some of your friends and the people that are close to you and to have them see success faster, especially faster than the rate I had to get to, I think there’s a lot of great joy in that,” he said. “Whenever people can see success quicker, they’re going to want to participate a lot more. They’re going to want to buy more equipment, they’re going to want to practice more. I just feel like it’s good for the industry and it’s good for the game.”

JJ’s Global Impact
When Kegel receives calls from around the world asking for their expertise on lane conditions and oil patterns, the name Janawicz comes up frequently and Chartrand credits that to the strong reputation and individual character of JJ.

“He is just a person of the highest integrity,” Chartrand said. “There has to be a lot of trust and belief in our company and our brand, and he really embodies that at the highest level. When tournament organizers are calling in and they know that we’re coming to take care of the lanes, he’s always the first request.”

One of those frequent requests comes from Viviene Lau with the Asian Bowling Federation.

“We always use him as a technical delegate for all the official championships,” Lau said. “He is very serious about the oiling pattern. Nobody can touch it but him. We all love him because he is so easy to get along with.”

“He actually not only comes as the technical delegate, for example, if we do the Asian Championship or the World Championship in Hong Kong, we ask him to come here to check on the lanes,” Lau added. “He is very fair, and he’s a man of principles.”

“John was actually very instrumental in international bowling and helping it be what it is today,” Mack said.

The Heart of JJ
Agent has traveled to 42 countries and crossed paths with a lot of people in his 28 years working for Kegel, he is convinced Janawicz is one of the last great human beings across the board. His work ethic and dedication are unmatched.

“He sacrifices anywhere between 150to 200 days on the road and a majority of those are outside the United States,” he said. “The average person works2,000 hours a year. This guy works more than that out of the country. Everybody has got a flaw, but I haven’t found one in this guy yet.”

“He always puts friends and family first; it’s a priority to him,” Parkin said. “I think that is why it was so important that I was very vocal that he go out on tour and take this opportunity, so that he put himself first. He is 100% super humble.”

Parkin and Janawicz teamed up at the 2023 PBA/PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles in July, also known as the Luci. They finished in seventh place.

“Being able to bowl with one of your best friends lightens the mood,” Parkin said. “We are both pretty serious when we are on the lanes, but because we have that connection outside of the lanes, we were able to get each other to have fun and laugh.”

His connection and loyalty to his friends and loved ones was evident in between PBA50 Tour stops earlier this year when he learned that his great friend, Charlene Harmon, was in the final stages of her life. He grew up in Merritt Island, Florida, and became close to Charlene’s family. He even worked at Shore Lanes that was owned by Charlene’s parents at the time. Charlene’s mom, Shirley Hintz Levens refers to Janawicz as her adopted son.

“She was so elated that JJ came to see her,” Levens said, of her daughter’s final interaction with Janawicz. “Sometimes, you have to say, ‘Hey, there are going to be other tournaments.’ He made sure to bring his mom to the funeral too. It was really just amazing. He loved Charlene.”

Levens, who was inducted into the USBC Hall of Fame in 2013, and Harmon knew with Janawicz heading out on the PBA50Tour, all of the players had better watch out. They were screaming at the TV when he won the Senior Masters.

“He made us all proud, no doubt about it,” Levens said. “He knows how much he means to us. We love him.”
Nicholson has always been impressed by Janawicz’s work ethic and is thrilled to watch the success Janawicz has had during his 25-year career at Kegel, along with his success on the lanes this year.

“He’s an overnight sensation after over 40 years of hard work,” Nicholson joked.“ John is professional in every walk of life. He is an all-around unbelievable guy, and he is never afraid to learn.”

Back Issues
When Janawicz was 23, he suffered from a bulging disc L5. At the time, the PBA Tour season was 32-36 weeks out of the year with a minimum of 18 games of qualifying and 24 games of match play. Add that to having to drive from stop-to-stop, he knew his back couldn’t handle the strain. It’s a serious issue that he has had to monitor since and it led him to working out.

“Once I started taking the gym a lot more seriously, it got a lot better,” he said. “I  justhave to do better stretching after bowling and warm-ups prior, to make sure I don’t wake up the next morning crippled.”

“His physical game, diet and exercise routine is impeccable,” Agent said. “There are very few people I could compare him to on this platform historically. Tim Mack would be one.”

Parkin describes Janawicz as a gym rat and helped her develop a valuable connection that would improve her physical game, as well.

“He started working with Heather Sterner a while ago and he pushed me to go see her, so she is actually my physical trainer,” Parkin said.

“All they see is he posts these desserts and the sweets, but they don’t see the balancing and the amount of time he spends in the gym,” Crawley said. “That balance of lifestyle has definitely been something that he has ingrained in me. He taught me that I should listen to my body and how important that is.”

From Fashion to Food and Beyond
In addition to his bowling skills, Janawicz is known for his love of sweets, fine cuisine and high-end clothing. He credits his sweet tooth to his mom, who enjoyed chocolate and pretty much anything sugary. He has even been known to bring sweet treats to his countless friends. Getting the chance to travel around the world while bowling for Team USA or while representing Kegel, he gained a deeper appreciation for a variety of food and fashion.

“It introduced me to a lot of different cultural foods and great cuisine,” Janawicz said. “I have never been afraid to try anything food-wise, once. I have my places that I really like in certain cities.”

After winning the USBC Senior Masters, he got in his car and drove four hours to Los Angeles to stay at Parkin’s house. His celebratory meal was with longtime friend and former PBA champion Scott Norton. They went to an Italian restaurant Norton had heard good things about. They shared a meat and cheese board, and Janawicz enjoyed a pizza with prosciutto, mozzarella and some arugula. He admits it was really good and they passed on dessert because they were too full.

Lau describes herself as Janawicz’s “Asian mother.” When he visits, food and shopping are priorities.

“He always takes time to visit the brand-named shops in the big shopping malls,” Lau said. “He buys mostly designer T-shirts and jeans. He also likes Chinese food very much and he eats a lot.”

“Those T-shirts he has got, he jokes they are a major incentive for him to stay fit,” Chartrand said. “He definitely has a passion for fashion.”

Just like how Janawicz was fascinated by lane maintenance, he is intrigued by how designers put different clothing material and colors together to create something unique. Similar to how certain ingredients in food can be added together to make something delicious.

“I’m impressed by some of the quality of the craftmanship of high-end fashion,” he said. “And when preparing certain vegetables in a way that I never liked as a kid, but now you know that it’s prepared in a certain way, it tastes amazingly good. So I think that’s kind of the tie-in between food and fashion. I’m pretty fascinated at the highest level of how it’s all kind of put together and turned into an amazing product.”

Surprise 50th celebration
When Janawicz turned 50 in September 2022, his time was now to pursue his dream, but first he was surprised with an epic party with more than 90 of his lifelong friends. There were many involved with pulling off the party including Diandra Asbaty, Parkin, Harmon and even more. Janawicz admits “it was a complete shock.”

“To see that many of your friends was kind of surreal,” he said. “These are people back to when I was a teenager. You feel like you are looking at a timeline of the last 30 years of your life when I looked out in the crowd. I can’t thank all of those involved enough. It definitely meant the world to me.”

PBA50 Rookie of the Year
Janawicz ended his rookie campaign second in points, second in average at 226.59, and third in earnings with $54,300. He cashed in nine out of 10 tournaments he bowled in. He is now just three standard PBA50 titles away from being eligible for the PBA Hall of Fame.

So, in a career that includes multiple Eagles, international medals as a member of Team USA, two PBA50 regional titles, and two major championships on the PBA50 Tour there is one that takes the cake.

“I still think the USBC Hall of Fame was probably the best one because it is an accumulation of all of those years; it’s a body of work,” Janawicz said. “That probably is the one that sticks out to me the most, but the Senior Masters is right up there with the Eagles.”

He doesn’t know yet how many tournaments he will bowl during next year’sPBA50 season, but he is looking forward to defending his titles at the USBC Senior Masters and the Tournament of Champions. Plus, he plans to compete in the PBA50World Series of Bowling.

“Whenever you can win two majors in one year, that’s a pretty good season, no matter what tour you’re on,” he said looking back on his season. “It’s been quite a ride my first year at being a PBA member and I’d say it’s definitely one of the best decisions I’ve made in a long time.